Interview with the Interviewer

I came across an interesting interview over at GameSpy today. The interviewer was noted freelancer Steven Kent, author of "The Ultimate History of Video Games." The respondent was Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid series of games. Kent asks some pretty good questions, and Kojima gives insightful answers, but the following section on the interview's second page gave me pause:



GameSpy: Why set the game in the '60s?



Kojima: Basically, MGS's roots are the 007 series. It's more about espionage and spies. The time frame when espionage was most lively was during the cold war era. That was the '60s.



[Personal Note: I could not agree more. In fact, I think the Bond movies should return to the '60s as well.]



To be perfectly clear, the personal note was added by Kent and not by me. Kojima's response to the question extends past the note.



Most readers probably just skipped over this throwaway note, but I found it more than a little jarring. Supposedly, I was reading this article to hear Kojima's thoughts, not Kent's. Does this little interlude add anything to the interview? Does it take anything away?



Kent follows up on the idea of his personal note in the article's conclusion:



[Kojima has] also returned his Bond-based hero to the '60s, a move United Artists and the makers of Bond have long overlooked.



Of course, there's no rule saying an interview story can only include question/response pairs and no other writing. Another interview -- posted the same day on the same site by the same author, in fact -- mixes original writing with the comments of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. But in that article, the original writing is there mainly provide analysis and context for Iwata's statements. Kent's personal opinions barely fit into the equation.



Right now I'm generally against anything that makes the questioner the focus of an interview instead of the respondent, but I could easily be swayed on the issue. Should interviewers be able to insert their own opinions into interview articles? Post your thoughts using the comments link below.