When the interviewer’s smart hawkish questions were effectively blocked by suave politician, the interviewer used to come back with an  equally sharp cross-question.   That kind of interviewing skills seem to be the thing of the past. The current trend seems to be very different. Smart and assertive questioning is now giving way to pure aggression.  Calculated and well-research questions have often been substituted by loud and repeated retorts.

The breaching of the thin line separating assertive questioning and aggressive attacks is a worry and many believe could be counter productive to the way audience looks at TV interviewers.   Has the need to grab audience attention  forced interviewers to cross this line or is it that the trained interviewees are proving a handful to the seasoned journalists.

A case in point are the interviews being conducted by TV journalists around the election time. With quiet a few politicians crossing the legal line through their speeches or action, the anchors have enough fodder to munch on.

Times Now’s Arnab Goswami took on Jagdish Tytler some time back in an interview.  With many fingers being pointed at Tytler for his role in the 1984 anti-sikh riots, Arnab had all the reasons to ask assertive questions to him.  Did Arnab get carried away and become aggressive in the interview or was it that he had to use aggression to handle a well tutored Tytler.  Judge yourself by seeing this video.