The best question I’ve ever heard asked in a live interview came from Jim Moore. He also happens to be the author of the worst question I’ve ever heard asked in a live interview. In fact, I was sitting right beside him as a co-host at 710 ESPN Seattle when he did it.
Both of those questions were rooted in the same interview technique, but yielded very different results. That’s the thing about using trigger words, though. They’re going to make something happen, you just can’t control what exactly it is.
I was introduced to the concept of trigger words by John Sawatsky, an investigative journalist from Canada. For years he worked for ESPN where he workshopped interview techniques and reporting tactics. Two days of listening to Sawatsky taught me more about interviewing than I had in my entire career up until that point.
Don’t ask double-barreled questions, stacking requests on top of each other. Ask open-ended questions that start with how, why and what. You’re more likely to get an explanation from your subject as opposed to closed questions that can be answered with a yes or a no. His insights and recommendations changed the way I looked at interviews specifically and reporting in general.
One of the most interesting concepts Sawatsky introduced related to trigger words, which he described as a term or phrase so charged it would overpower the rest of the question and demand a reaction from the subject of your interview. A great example of this happened in Buffalo last year, when old boy Jerry Sullivan asked this question after the Bills lost to the Patriots in a game in which New England attempted only three passes.
“Forty years since a team has won a game passing that few times,” Sullivan said. “Is that embarrassing?”
Bills safety Jordan Poyer: “What kind of question is that?”
Bills safety Micah Hyde: “What are we doing, bro?”
Poyer: “I think we gave up seven points?”
Hyde: “Fourteen to 10, is that the final score?”
Poyer: “We made stops when we had to. They had one big run. I mean, they have good backs. They kept coming back to a couple runs. I don’t know how you want us to answer that question.”
Was it a good question? It certainly created compelling video. It generated hundreds of stories about Bills players “snapping” at a reporter. I now know Sullivan’s name, which I did not prior to this, though my impression of him is not favorable. I think he asked a question designed to antagonize, and I think questions should be judged by the quality of answer that is produced. I don’t think the responses from Poyer and Hyde showed much more than how much they were annoyed by the question. Their reaction to the question tainted the rest of the interview, and when they left the stage, Hyde addressed Sullivan specifically.
That’s the gamble you take when you put a trigger word in your question whether it’s intentional or accidental. Sawatsky even developed a Richter scale to judge the severity of the reaction:
1 — No visible reaction
2-3 — Temporary irritant
4-5 — Subject becomes less engaged
6 — Visibly irritated
7 — Hostile outburst
8 — Interview terminated
9 — Physical attack
I would rate the reaction of the Bills player at a 6. I would put Jim Everett flipping over Jim Rome’s desk at a 9. When you use a trigger word, you’re taking the chance that not only that interview, but any future contact with that subject is going to go south.
Which brings me back to Moore’s questions. To make it very clear, I find Jim absolutely hilarious, a true character and one of the very best writers I know. He absolutely needs to finish his book on athletes and their dogs. I worked with Jim first on the staff at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and later at 710 ESPN Seattle where we were co-hosts on the afternoon drive show for 5 years.
I thought Jim was the best interviewer at our station. He asked simple, unique questions that often produced compelling answers and occasionally produced very awkward moments. He also used trigger words though I’m not sure he ever realized he was doing it until afterward.
In September 2013, Jim was interviewing Jack Zduriencik, the Mariners general manager, who was discussing his surprise at the fact the team’s manager, Eric Wedge, said earlier that week he felt he was left hanging by the organization.
“Was I surprised? Yes,” Zduriencik answered.
“Can you blame him, though, Jack?” Jim asked.
Silence for a full second. Then came an, “Umm.” Then an, “Again.” After regaining his balance, Zduriencik then provided the most honest criticism he would ever provide over Wedge’s decision not to return as manager after that 2013 season.
“I think that we’ve operated here in good faith,” Zduriencik said. “I think that those above me have operated in good faith with me. That is one of the things that I’ve said to Eric, I think you’ve got to trust people.”
It was absolutely riveting.
Jim’s question six years later to Zduriencik’s successor was equally memorable. The Mariners were in the first year of (another) rebuilding process. Jerry Dipoto was the general manager, and after a particularly rough stretch of fielding, Jim offered the observation that while he understood this was a rebuilding effort, there was a certain amount of competence expected of a Major League team. Jim then said it was possible he had seen a cleaner game from the youth baseball team his 14-year-old twins played four compared to the Mariners.
Silence. For three seconds.
“We’ve obviously had some challenges in the field,” Dipoto said, proceeding to provide a totally innocuous answer. It wasn’t the last time Dipoto joined our show for what had been a weekly interview. It was pretty close to the last time. Later that year after Jim mentioned in a column that he didn’t know if he could trust what Dipoto was doing, Dipoto has not participated in an interview with Jim since. I don’t believe they’ve even spoken.
That’s the risk with trigger words, though. Sometimes they cause a scene. Sometimes, they provoke a great reaction. Sometimes, they burn a bridge. And while that doesn’t mean you should steer clear of them, you also shouldn’t be entirely surprised if the whole thing blows up.
