What does an interviewer like Damiano Realini feel about being interviewed?
«An amused excitement which, however, can decline in the fear of not feeling up to par, that is of disappointing the expectations of those who, by asking questions, seek intelligent feedback. Yes, now that I'm on the interviewee's side, I can confirm that answering isn't easy because it doesn't take much to slip into boring banality. And as I say this I already think I have evoked one. Journalism schools also warn that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. In short, the pressure here is all mine and in the words I will choose after the question marks. It is a useful exercise that will lead me to further respect my guests who generously let themselves be interviewed on TV, showing themselves without filters and in total sincerity".
Is it possible to distance oneself from the guests, to avoid feeling involved?
"No. I always try to ignite and encourage an empathic relationship with my guest. Emotions are, and remain, the basis and substance of every communicative experience. In programs like The game of the world, which we now know as The mirror, my job is to discover the personal sides of the interviewees and share the unknown part of their lives. Let's give an example: it's not up to me, in front of a politician, to solicit him on purely technical issues related to the news. Other colleagues of mine dedicate themselves to it, and with skill and profit, in other formats. My mission, if anything, is to seek out the new, unique side of the public figure, who will thus be able to abandon his usual demeanor for half an hour, revealing his most sincere, human, even fragile face. The magic doesn't always happen, but it's the kind of relationship I pursue. When the interviewee begins to tell his emotions recalling anecdotes and memories, I know I have achieved my goal. At the same time, as a journalist at the service of an institution with a public mandate, in my work I remember to maintain a professional approach in choosing guests and in conducting them».
To the public, especially on social media, today it takes very little to judge a character. But meeting a person is different from seeing them in a Tik Tok video…
«This observation has a kernel of truth, even if it recalls a proverb that I often quote: the great tango dancers recognize each other in narrow spaces. Simplifying: the value of a character goes beyond the means of expression. You can distinguish yourself, indifferently, in the sixty seconds of a TikTok video, or in an electronic post on Twitter, even in a classic prose text. The substance of a message imposes itself on the expressive form. I have thirty minutes to meet a person. But this time does not guarantee me that I get more from an interviewee than is otherwise possible in multimedia mode. In short, times, ways, even the circumstances of an encounter change, but it is confirmed that the contents of the message, the character of a person, and then his charisma and other mysterious and inscrutable factors remain to make the difference. The period of the lockdown caused by the pandemic also reminded me of it, when we were forced to program in digital mode with network connections. We overcame the distance that separated me from the guests, but it was really difficult. This convinced me of the importance of welcoming a person into the studio, observing their gestures, their pauses, their way of expressing their opinions. It may seem silly but sometimes the building of the empathic bridge with a guest, the one that will guarantee the success of an interview, starts with a joke at the coffee machine or with a handshake in the make-up room five minutes before turning on the spotlights. It is the value of the human connection which, allow me a little rhetoric in saying it, beats the digital one».
However, the physicality of the relationship with the interviewees can disappear in the cultural programs handled by the editorial staff of Turné, the current cultural magazine. For example, an exhibition or a theatrical show can be appreciated live, in person. In these cases, how can the artistic content confirm emotions to the viewers?
«In cultural programs we work on playing minutes. For Turné, we leave the television studio and propose a narration, sometimes informal, of the cultural events present in the area. In any case, mediation remains our primary task. Visiting an exhibition obliges the editorial team to select the works to offer to viewers. It is a task that we must condense into the approximately two hundred and twenty seconds we have, on average, for each event. We feel the responsibility to reconcile professional sensitivity and public sensitivity. This does not prevent us from producing, by taking care of texts, images and sound, services that generate emotions».
Which of your life experiences helps you at work?
«I consider myself a highly curious person and therefore I am attracted by all the experiences that reality submits to me with its various facets, be they dramatic or comic, black or white… I find the attitude of passing or rejecting people and situations sterile and violent on the basis of ideological, caste or cultural and territorial prejudices. Better to open up to a sensitivity that contemplates ever new perspectives. As far as I'm concerned, I could say that if on the one hand, in private, it can happen that I feel attracted by the complexity in its various manifestations (artistic and social), on the other hand I strongly feel the call, in my work, of a communicative simplicity that you try, honoring the rules of the public service, not to bore the viewers. I consider it a form of respect towards the public. During the interviews I conduct, I constantly ask myself the question: if I were at home, on the couch right now, would I change the channel? And the answer, in the studio, is given to me by a stopwatch which gives me the time of the interview and which is not visible to the public and to the guest. If the minutes slip by quickly, I have confirmation that the broadcast will also affect viewers. Otherwise, I try to encourage the guest to open up to dialogue hoping to find those emotions that unite us and make us human, even in front of a television».
