“Pop Quizzes” on the Campaign Trail

Abstract

What are the “parameters of the permissible” when journalists interview political candidates? This article examines one form of hostile questioning that journalists use during election campaigns to interview select candidates. Journalists employ “pop quizzes”—on the names of international leaders, for example—in attempts to discredit candidates. These questions propose that the candidate should know some matter of fact, and they aim to expose that the candidate lacks definite knowledge of that matter. The article examines the interactional organization of pop quiz questioning, including some practices that candidates use to resist it. This analysis explains the controversial character of this interviewing practice. The concluding discussion situates the findings in terms of prior work on degradation ceremonies, explaining why pop quiz questions seem to do more harm to the reputations of journalists than of candidates.