How to get Americans to talk to you about their politics

Getting on the road is the best part of being a reporter – but not everybody wants to chat. There certainly is a method to getting people to air their views, writes Andrew Buncombe

Word on the street: local politics can generate a good story (Andrew Buncombe)

For a very long time, my favourite thing about being a reporter has been going out and talking to people.

Some can get their fix pounding the phones for scoops. Others love the adrenaline rush that goes with live-blogging a press conference or congressional hearing, publishing the “breaking news” only seconds after a person’s words have been said.

Since my first job at the Hull Daily Mail in northeast England, nothing has given me a greater buzz than going and speaking to people in the street, in their homes, or at a political rally.