NPR Analysis

For this journal assignment I analyzed Terri Gross, from Fresh Air. Gross discusses the issues of Chalabi and the CIA funding in Iraq with the help of her interviewee, Aram Roston. Her interview had to do with how Chalabi was using CIA’s funding to launder money for terrorist acts. When going over the topic Gross highlights Roston’s points and then leads it into a question, which I found it to be quite clever of her because it got Roston to explain the topic in more further details and provided more information than needed. It also helped him to be more open to the topic while feeling comfortable with talking about the issue. Although her questions were simple they were good open ended questions that kept Roston talking:
-Were the Chalabis goals different from the CIA’s goals?
-How credible was he...he left Iraq in 1958?
-After the monarchy was grown and his family was banking…correct me if I’m wrong…after the CIA funded him he was charged for embezzlement with this bank what was he charged for?
What else helped were her excellent listening skills. While keeping her questions short she listened very well to Roston’s information without adding her own opinions which is very hard to do. Many people sometime forget to focus on the interviewee by bringing in their own opinions or information towards the subject.
I thought that Gross was well prepared for this interview and it worked out smoothly because she knew what she was talking about by having some background information on Roston and her topic. The relationship she had with Roston was professional. Gross was an excellent reporter who I enjoyed listening to with her calm and soothing voice.