Although an official date has not yet been announced, Zambia is well and truly in the grip of election fever. Presidential and parliamentary elections are due to be held before October.

 

Newspapers, both state-owned and private, scream the election promises of politicians. Talk radio programs are full of the opinions of voters and TV news bulletins of the national broadcaster offer generous campaign coverage of the incumbent President, Rupiah Banda.

Strike up a conversation in a taxi in the capital Lusaka, and at some point, talk with the driver will invariably turn to politics and what is good for "the people".

It was against this background of elections that the DW-Akademie conducted a training course in Lusaka with radio journalists on Interviews and Talkshows. And, it wasn't any surprise that our participants wanted to explore political themes, develop their skills to interview politicians and discuss ways to improve talkshow programming during the election campaign.

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Interviews can be daunting and challenging for young journalists – especially if they are broadcasting live or moderating a talkshow dealing with controversial topics. In this guest blog post, Carsten von Nahmen, Head of the DW-AKADEMIE Africa Team, offers some insight on getting the basics right.

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