An idiot's guide to interviews - Steve Mallia

My brief was to focus this article on my relationship with the Times of Malta. But I can deal with that in two words: like family. So instead, I’m going to pollute this space with a yarn about the encounters I had with others through the media house that commandeered my life for 18 eventful years – and offer up a solemn guide to the hazardous art of interviewing:

1. Always know your subject… though this will be of no use whatsoever if you suddenly discover you’re talking to a person who happens to share the same name as the one you were supposed to be interviewing but isn’t actually them. Cringe and carry on.  

2. Listen carefully to what your interviewee is saying… and if he storms out of his own office because he feels you’re not doing that, be sure to have a map of the building so you don’t walk into all the wrong offices while attempting to make a hasty exit. Apologies to Alfred Sant and his irate assistant.

3. Always have the most up-to-date equipment… or upon seeing a bulky cassette player (millennials, consult Google), someone like Austin Gatt will holler: “What the *bleep* is that? Looks like a *bleep* wardrobe!” When I eventually bought a digital recorder, Eddie Fenech...