NPR's Tonya Mosley on the art of the interview

Описание: Award-winning journalist Tonya Mosley (https://www.npr.org/people/856763118/...) joins Storyboard contributor Christina M. Tapper (https://niemanstoryboard.org/authors/...) for a discussion about interviewing, live coverage, and how to tell complex family stories. 


Mosley is the co-host of NPR’s “Fresh Air (https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/) ,” where she has in-depth conversations with newsmakers like politician and author Stacy Abrams (https://www.npr.org/2025/07/15/125569...) , actor George Clooney (https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-...) , and artist Mickalene Thomas (https://www.npr.org/2024/12/03/121684...) . It’s not just Mosley’s ability to have conversations with a wide range of people that make her one of the most notable interviewers in journalism and media. It’s also her research. 


“I have a wonderful team at ‘Fresh Air’ who puts together a research document and it's all the things that they can find out about the person, and they break it up: here's television work, here's audio work, here's what's been written about them. I read all of that,” she says. “But then the fun thing to do after that is to find the things that weren't in the document. So then I go digging myself.” 


In her own research, Mosley scours non-mainstream platforms, including Black media. It’s Mosley’s way of covering all of her bases and honoring the guest’s time.


Read the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2026/01/...


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Show Credits


Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong


Episode producer and interview by Christina M. Tapper


Episode editor: Kelly Araja


Audience editor: Adriana Lacy


Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle


Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova






Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu


Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue (http://www.sessions.blue) )


Cover design by Adriana Lacy



Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard (https://nieman.harvard.edu/) .