25 Journalist Interview Questions
Assess investigative instinct, source management, and the ability to produce accurate, compelling stories under deadline.
Journalist Interview Questions
25 total- 1
How do you identify a story that others have missed?
- 2
Describe the most difficult story you've investigated — what made it hard?
- 3
How do you build trust with sources who are reluctant to talk?
- 4
What's your verification process before publishing a contested claim?
- 5
How do you handle pressure from editors or publishers to change a story?
- 6
Describe a time you had to kill a story you'd spent significant time on.
- 7
How do you approach data journalism — using data to find and tell stories?
- 8
What's your experience with FOI requests and document-based reporting?
- 9
How do you protect a source who faces genuine risk?
- 10
Describe your approach to covering a sensitive topic — trauma, crime, mental health.
- 11
How do you ensure balance and fairness when covering a polarized issue?
- 12
What's your approach to writing a story quickly vs. letting it develop?
- 13
Describe your experience with live reporting or breaking news.
- 14
How do you approach social media — how do you use it without getting misled?
- 15
What's your experience with long-form narrative journalism?
- 16
How do you handle a subject who threatens legal action before publication?
- 17
Describe how you approach multimedia storytelling — video, audio, interactive.
- 18
How do you stay independent when covering a beat where sources become familiar?
- 19
What's your approach to corrections and accountability for errors?
- 20
Describe your experience with international or foreign correspondence.
- 21
How do you approach an exclusive that a competitor is also working on?
- 22
What's your experience with podcast or broadcast journalism?
- 23
How do you approach the ethical tensions in undercover or immersive journalism?
- 24
Describe a story that you're most proud of and why.
- 25
What makes journalism matter, in your view?
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