« How to Handle the Hardest Conversation in Journalism - Yoav Gonen »

Yoav Gonen returns to Capture Your Flag to build upon his 2009 interview with a 2010 conversation with host Erik Michielsen. In Chapter 6 of 17, Gonen, a New York Post education reporter, shares why interviewing a parent who has lost a child is the most difficult conversation in journalism. As a general assignment reporter, Gonen was tasked with knocking on doors of families who lost a loved one. He finds himself sympathetic to families and has found warm reception from families who want to talk about their lost loved one. The most difficult door knock Gonen faced involved going to a family whose son murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide. Gonen diffuses an initial hostile confrontration and discusses why the story should be written. Gonen earned his BA in English from the University of Michigan and his Masters in Journalism from New York University.