When did it become a journalists job to be an angry questioning interviewer? Journalism has a long history from the Romans who first started publishing a newsletter for those who could read. We like to read news so as to educate ourselves as to recent happenings around the world. There is so much daily news and interviews that it can be overwhelming so we pick and choose which journalists we read from. This morning I watched yesterday’s CNN’s interview by Dana Bash of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I was surprised and quite disturbed of Ms. Bash’s aggressive and quite unfriendly manner. One was made to question if she was being paid by Trump to be an unfriendly interviewer.

The woman interviewer was decidedly angry and joker-faced, using aggressive questions, putting Kamala and Tim on the defensive. Trump has given Americans an angry, and mad offensiveness since he gained the office of President of the United States in 2016. There is nothing respectful in how he behaves or how he encourages others too. If we as a Nation are to continue we must change this.

I believe we can do better. Was she behaving in such an unfriendly manner because she doesn’t like Kamala or Tim? Even if this were true she still should have behaved in a polite, friendly manner asking interview questions. She is not a judge or prosecutor. Her job was to gain information for the anyone watching to have. An interviewers job has always been to be a friendly non-biased, polite conversation to gain or collect a recording and then publish it on behalf of a news organization.

I have done several interviews myself, and every time I did one, it was with friendliness, politeness and respectfulness. Thoughtfulness and being empathetic of the person being interviewed is in my opinion essential skills of the journalist.

Definition of Professional journalist:

Professional journalist means a person regularly engaged, for gain or livelihood, in collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing news on behalf of a news organization.

I hope that we can at least take away from this how not to behave and treat our fellow humans and be skillful with our words and not enticing anger and fear.