A good friend of mine, Eric, asked me a great question a few weeks ago. He lives in Milwaukee, but still keeps up with my segment online. He asked, “What makes a Good Question?”
What a great question. But it’s a really hard one to answer. However, I think I’ll answer it two ways.
First — every question is a good question. I know…it sounds like your elementary school teacher back in the day. But it’s true…there are no bad questions.
But I think Eric was going more so for an answer related to my weekly TV segment. We’ll phrase it, “What make a Good Question for TV?” This is a great one, as well…because we get quite a few emails every week — many of them unfortunately are not “Good Question” worthy. Here’s why:
A “Good Question,” first off, has to be one that is visual. We work in a very visual medium…so those pictures are very important.
Second — while it’s not hugely important, having a topic that’s timely is great. Today’s TV story was a perfect example: “What’s the reason behind all this cold weather?”
Third — it has to have an answer that’s not too complex…but also one that’s not just a simple one sentence answer. We have to try to fill a few minutes in our newscast!
In the case of our TV segment…I will say, yes, there is such a thing as a bad question! I once had a viewer email me, asking me if we could help her sell her like-new, slightly used dishwasher. Clever…but no! That’s what Craigslist is for.
Hopefully that gives you some insight on what kind of Good Questions we’re looking for. While it’s true that every question is a good question…they have to meet some criteria for our weekly Good Question segment.
Thanks for the “Good Question,” Eric! Now get to work…send me some questions! My inbox is always open: goodquestion@channel3000.com.
