Interview with Chris Richards

When people think about the career of a music journalist, they may see glitz and glamour. The events and the high profile artist can give an illusion of a luxurious life when in actuality it is mostly comprised of hard work. Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards knows what it is like to live this life. From the critiques of albums and bands, to the interviews of high profile artist, music journalism is just as tedious as any other form of journalism.

Chris Richards graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. His love of sharing stories and need for a part time job while performing in a band caused him to land a clerical job at The Post. Richards was eventually hired as a pop music critic for the paper. From his enthusiastic love of music, Richards began his job covering the music scene around Washington D.C. After a few years at the Washington Post, Richards left and did some free lance work in New York City for six years. He returned a year ago to his old position. After a year at The Post, Chris Richards has interviewed many local talents to high profile celebrities such as T.I.

I chose Chris Richards because I am interested in entertainment journalism. I wanted to know more about the career of an entertainment journalist. This interview showed me that you have to love what you are writing about. Chris Richards really loves music and it showed through the interview and also in his articles. This also showed me the good and bad about becoming an entertainment journalist. The perks are that you can go to events for free and meet the artists that you listen too, but on the downside, many artists have attitudes.

The most important question I asked Chris Richards was about his opinion on the new wave of social media and does the age of bloggers mark the end of legitimate journalism. He says that it is a new chapter and that while bloggers can get away with mistakes, he cannot and neither can newspapers. Although bloggers can easily make mistakes, they can also easily correct them. Richards’s claims that the Internet is like “the wild wild west” now and that it will eventually settle in time.

Overall, Chris Richards said that the most important parts of an interview is being prepared and giving the readers something appealing. By coming to an interview prepared, it can save you from running out of questions, ending up in awkward situations, and the appearance of being confident. It is also important to have the readers relate to the interviewee. While they need to relate, they also need to be made aware of something new. This will cause curiosity and cause them to keep reading. Readers also want to hear the truth. If an interviewee appears in a certain way, then they need to be portrayed that way.

Chris Richard’s communication behavior was really great. It is probably because he is used to interviews and has learned proper etiquette. He was really down-to-earth and assuring of the questions that I asked. He gave great feedback to the questions and really elaborated on them. He was really comfortable and it showed through the way he laughed and interacted a lot with me.

My communication behavior could use work. I jumped onto the next question a lot instead of asking him to elaborate. I also couldn’t write down a lot of the answers fast enough so I missed some key points but I did nod in approval to his answers.

Overall the interview was a great experience and I learned a lot about the career field I would like to venture down.