The Case For: A Supremely Serviceable Medium

Against the hostile voices, Silvester places a strong defence of the interview. Some, he says, make quite extravagant claims for it — that in its highest form it is a source of truth, and in its practice an art. Silvester himself judges that, despite all its drawbacks, the interview is "a supremely serviceable medium of communication." He supports this with the words of Denis Brian, who wrote that "these days, more than at any other time, our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews," and that "almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another." Because of this, Brian adds, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence. On this view the interview …