Broadcast Interviews Research Articles

The (ever)changing face of news, with broadcast interviews in focus

In this paper I intend to shed light on broadcast news interviews with a focus on the increasing role of video-mediated platforms. To do so, I first overview the rules of conduct journalists are required to follow, pondering on whether the shift to video-platforms has made substantial changes to what recommended in manuals and posited in scholarly studies. Then, I illustrate a corpus-based case study of news interviews carried out by professional journalists with Chinese and Russian diplomats. Similarities and differences between face-to-face and video-mediated interviews as well as between Chinese and Russian interviewees have been identified, with special reference to (a) the format of the questions posed by the journalists, (b) their degree of compliance to the traditional ground rules of conduct in the Q&A interface, (c) the role of the interviewees’ lingua-cultural background and (d) reference to the audience.

Language and identity in the Windrush generation

AbstractThis paper examines how the Windrush generation uses phonological and morphosyntactic elements of Jamaican Creole (JamC), London Jamaican (LonJam) and standard British English (SBE) to do identity work in interviews broadcast as part of a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush. The data comprise oral history interviews with four members of the Windrush generation. The recordings were analysed using the method of lectal focussing in interaction. Results show variation across the four speakers, with some speakers using very few LonJam and SBE features, while others’ speech contains almost exclusively standard British variants. The use of JamC features clustered around topics such as home and family reunification, whereas LonJam features were especially present when interviewees talked about their youth. The study broadens the scope of world Englishes studies by including diasporic and elderly speakers and has important implications for the study of language and identity.

The danmu discourse of user engagement with cross-posted broadcast interviews in Chinese social media

The <i>danmu</i> discourse of user engagement with cross-posted broadcast interviews in Chinese social media

Generative transcription: The interview in post-World War 2 anglophone African literary culture

ABSTRACT This article discusses the ways in which the interview form was deployed in the 1960s and 1970s as a means to engender and critique a pan-African anglophone literary public within the context of decolonization. In so doing, it argues that the transcribed interview becomes a troublesome signifier of the legacies of colonialism while also offering a generative means by which to constitute literary publics and models of authorship across a number of newly decolonized countries. To do so, the article draws on three collections: broadcast interviews produced by the BBC’s English-language African service with host Edward Blishen; broadcast interviews produced by the London-based Transcription Centre, an organization dedicated to promoting anglophone African culture and funded by the Central Intelligence Agency-backed Congress for Cultural Freedom; and satirical interviews published over several issues of the leading little magazine of African arts and culture, Transition.

“Crew, don’t go anywhere near this man!” the co-construction of celebrity and responsible capitalism in broadcast interviews with a chief executive officer

Celebrity CEOs espousing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are receiving increasing media attention. However, researchers have not yet examined how CEOs and journalists co-create meaning about CSR in broadcast talk, an unscripted genre of news making, rife with contestation and cooperation. This paper presents a Conversation Analysis of six interviews featuring Dan Price, a CEO who pledged to “solve income inequality” by restructuring salaries in his company. Findings suggest that CSR anchored a process of double branding in which the CEO promoted himself and journalists reaffirmed their news philosophy. Price’s warm embrace by journalists across the political spectrum demonstrates a collaborative process of “celebrification”. Price created a transferable persona that appealed, through a mixture of political targeting and strategic ambiguity, to diverse audiences. Journalists elevated this persona by serving pseudo-criticism and showing identification. The story thus provided corporate media with the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to “responsible capitalism”.

A Storm in Pandemic Times. The Terminological Syntagm ‘Cytokine Storm’ in the Scientific Discourse of Popularisation in Romanian

A Storm in Pandemic Times. The Terminological Syntagm ‘Cytokine Storm’ in the Scientific Discourse of Popularisation in Romanian. The object of this contribution is the occurrence of the terminological syntagm cytokine storm (Rom. furtună de citokine) in various excerpts of Romanian scientific discourse of popularisation with reference to the Covid-19 pandemic and/or the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The terminological analysis of the syntagm cytokine storm is limited to a selection of four fragments which have appeared in recent Romanian mass-media discourse. In these fragments, both physicians and journalists specialised in medical science have been asked to explain the cytokine storm anti-inflammatory reaction, which seems to have caused the death of many people during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fragments of popularisation discourse have been selected from interviews broadcast at TV stations or from articles posted on medical websites or in health sections in the online press. As a result of the phenomenon known as the scientific vulgarisation, the corresponding discourse is closely linked to the democratisation of knowledge, in which both mass-media and education play an important part. Moreover, the discourse of popularisation takes into account not only the addresser, but also the addressee of a certain message. In order to make the layman addressee correctly decode the scientific (and terminological) notions, the specialist needs to render the specialised message in a more simplified and easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, the paper aims to highlight the different linguistic means which have been used by various addressers to deliver the necessary explanations for the cytokine storm reaction, so that the non-specialised addressees could understand what the syntagm itself exactly denotes. Keywords: “cytokine storm” terminological syntagm, scientific discourse of popularisation, medical knowledge, mass-media, linguistic means of scientific vulgarisation

Reporting racism in broadcast interview

AbstractThis study examines invited reports of racism in broadcast interviews. Guided by discursive psychology (DP) and conversation analysis (CA), the investigation focuses on the interactional moments wherein the interviewee (is invited to) describe a racist incident. Expanding existing DP and CA research on complaints of racism, this analysis shows how reported speech is treated by speakers as an indispensable device in reproducing the incident and providing evidence for the racism reported. This investigation provides further evidence for how speakers treat reporting racism as a sensitive business. This is reflected in the interviewee's accounts as they begin by describing the circumstance of the incident, and the interviewer's collaboration in co‐constructing the interviewee's accounts and co‐managing the trajectory of the interview. Overall, the analysis spotlights how an auspicious environment for victims to talk about their experiences of racism is created and fostered at both institutional and interactional levels.

Talking about the experiences of racism: A study of reporting racism in broadcast interviews.

This study examines how experiences of racism are talked about during broadcast interviews. Inspired by discursive-psychological and conversation-analytic investigations on experience in interactions, this study approaches experience as a 'loose term' and as a participant's issue in the unfolding sequence of talks. The analysis documents a range of interactional moments wherein experiences are invoked and negotiated over the course of reporting racism in the interviews. The findings align with the existing discursive-psychological and conversation-analytic research on experiences, and provide further evidence on how speakers jointly orient to and manage the issues of who knows and owns an experience, and has the premier authority to claim an experience, in relation to reporting racism. The analysis unveils the intricacy of inquiring and talking about a victim's experience of racism. People's (use of) common sense understanding of the detrimental nature of racism is met and complicated by an orientation to our unlevelled access to an experience of racism, which is a category-based societal problem.

Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Purchase Intentions Based On the "Oriental Selection Live" Phenomenon

The explosion of live webcasting on Shake Sound has opened up a nationwide craze in which everything can be broadcast, preceded by the live streaming craze of Veya, Li Jiaqi, and Simba, and followed by the new model of live streaming of Oriental Selection. There has been little research into the specific behavioral factors of the live-streaming craze, so this paper uses questionnaires and empirical analysis to investigate the impact of the recent explosion of the Oriental Selection live-streaming craze on consumer behavior and purchase intentions. The paper conducts statistical analysis of the sample data and ultimately concludes that the professionalism, attractiveness, and interactivity of the anchors positively influence perceived value and that the mediating role of perceived value holds. Based on the analysis results, the recommendations are that the platform improves the professionalism of the anchor with the product, strengthens the promotion of the product, and invites writers and bigwigs from various industries into the live broadcast for the live broadcast interviews and conversations, etc.

“Double padded” politeness: (Im)politeness in broadcast interviews by GMA-7’s Jessica Sojo and ABC-5’s Raffy Tulfo

“Double padded” politeness: (Im)politeness in broadcast interviews by GMA-7’s Jessica Sojo and ABC-5’s Raffy Tulfo

Bloodshed and Meaning for the Life of the Sumbanese in the Pasola Tradition

Indonesia has various performing arts. One of them is Pasola, a traditional war tradition from West Sumba, NTT region. This study aims to investigate the meaning and philosophical principles underlying the Pasola tradition. The research is classified as cultural research employing qualitative descriptive techniques. According to Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-19721), culture is a complex system consisting of learned human knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, conventions, abilities, and habits. To investigate the Pasola tradition, a descriptive qualitative strategy is employed by referencing multiple literature sources and observations from interviews broadcast on social media platforms such as YouTube. The objective of this paper is first to comprehend the philosophical significance of the Pasola tradition of the West Sumba tribe in greater depth. Second, raise everyone's awareness of the need to establish a pattern of subject-subject interactions or relationships to establish a healthy relationship between humans and nature. As a result, the government stakeholders are helped by society to implement sustainable development promoting cultural preservation.

The Multilingual Pragmatics of New Englishes: An Analysis of Question Tags in Nigerian English

This paper presents a variational pragmatic analysis of multilingual question tags in Nigerian English, combining a corpus-pragmatic analysis of the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English with a survey study on the preferences and attitudes of Nigerian students toward different question tag forms. The corpus study highlights multilingual pragmatic variation in terms of form and function of variant as well as English and non-English (i.e., derived from indigenous Nigerian languages) invariant question tags in six text types: conversations, phonecalls, classroom lessons, broadcast discussions, broadcast interviews, and legal cross-examinations. Nigerian speakers combine a wide range of English and non-English invariant forms, whereas variant question tags only play a marginal role and are not characteristic of Nigerian English. Text type influences the overall frequency of question tags and – together with the pragmatic function – constrains the use of individual forms. The survey study shows diverging results as the participants generally prefer variant over invariant question tags and show a strong dispreference for indigenous Nigerian forms when speaking English. Nevertheless, their preferences for specific forms over others are guided by the communicative setting and requirements of a given situation. The students also hold most positive attitudes toward variant question tags, while non-English tags are rated less positively on items reflecting decency. However, all question tag forms are valued in terms expressiveness. Hence, Nigerian students’ dispositions toward multilingual question tag use are guided by a prescriptive ideology that is biased toward canonized English forms. While indigenous Nigerian forms are well integrated into question tag use, indicating a high degree of nativization of Nigerian English at a pragmatic level, acceptance for these local forms is lagging behind. In general methodological terms, the paper shows that question tags – or discourse-pragmatic-features in general – have high potential for studying multilingual variation in New Englishes. However, studies on the multilingual pragmatics of New Englishes need to consider the full range of multilingual forms, take into account variety-internal variation via text type, and should ideally also study the users’ perspectives.

Espectáculo de la política en 'El Hormiguero 3.0' con los candidatos a la presidencia del Gobierno: 2015-2019

El infoentretenimiento es una pieza clave para la comunicación política y los candidatos recorren los platós de televisión mostrando sus dotes comunicativas. Los programas de entretenimiento televisivo como El Hormiguero de Antena 3, han aprovechado esta situación para desarrollar una serie de entrevistas electorales a los aspirantes a la presidencia del Gobierno de España. En este artículo se analizarán estos programas que se han emitido durante las campañas electorales celebradas entre 2015 y 2019, tanto desde el contenido de los mismos, como en su estructura. Para desarrollar esta in-vestigación se han utilizado los modelos encuadrados en el paradigma cuanti-tativo, centrándose en cuestiones descriptivas a partir del análisis de conteni-do añadiendo el estudio cualitativo de los mismos. Los programas que se han realizado en los períodos electorales han mantenido una estructura idéntica en las entrevistas emitidas en cada campaña previa a las elecciones para que todos los candidatos estuvieran en igualdad de condiciones en cuestiones re-lativas a temas candentes de la actualidad.

Tracking conflict and emotions with a computational qualitative discourse analytic support approach.

Accurate inferences of the emotional state of conversation participants can be critical in shaping analysis and interpretation of conversational exchanges. In qualitative analyses of discourse, most labelling of the perceived emotional state of conversation participants is performed by hand, and is limited to selected moments where an analyst may believe that emotional information is valuable for interpretation. This reliance on manual labelling processes can have implications for repeatability and objectivity, both in terms of accuracy, but also in terms of changes in emotional state that might go unnoticed. In this paper we introduce a qualitative discourse analytic support method intended to support the labelling of emotional state of conversational participants over time. We demonstrate the utility of the technique using a suite of well-studied broadcast interviews, taking a particular focus on identifying instances of inter-speaker conflict. Our findings indicate that this two-step machine learning approach can help decode how moments of conflict arise, sustain, and are resolved through the mapping of emotion over time. We show how such a method can provide useful evidence of the change in emotional state by interlocutors which could be useful to prompt and support further in-depth study.

Longitudinal Developments in Bilingual Second Language Acquisition and First Language Attrition of Speech: The Case of Arnold Schwarzenegger

The purpose of this investigation was to trace first (L1) and second language (L2) segmental speech development in the Austrian German–English late bilingual Arnold Schwarzenegger over a period of 40 years, which makes it the first study to examine a bilingual’s speech development over several decades in both their languages. To this end, acoustic measurements of voice onset time (VOT) durations of word-initial plosives (Study 1) and formant frequencies of the first and second formant of Austrian German and English monophthongs (Study 2) were conducted using speech samples collected from broadcast interviews. The results of Study 1 showed a merging of Schwarzenegger’s German and English voiceless plosives in his late productions as manifested in a significant lengthening of VOT duration in his German plosives, and a shortening of VOT duration in his English plosives, closer to L1 production norms. Similar findings were evidenced in Study 2, revealing that some of Schwarzenegger’s L1 and L2 vowel categories had moved closer together in the course of L2 immersion. These findings suggest that both a bilingual’s first and second language accent is likely to develop and reorganize over time due to dynamic interactions between the first and second language system.

Middle Ground Between Light and Shadow

148 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 48 (2021) [and] permits bypassing in many instances the reptilian part of our brain that holds onto ideologies and fears precipitating violent conflict and overreactions” (166). Murphy’s chapter has already been addressed above, while Sperling’s investigation of fungal themes and what she calls “weird embodiment” in VanderMeer’s oeuvre (195) and Bishop’s examination of ekphrasis also situate the place of the new weird in plant studies. Bishop’s interest in ekphrasis, or the linguistic description of art or the image, is a fascinating trope to examine speculative fiction’s construction of the visual and holds much potential for further research within and beyond plant studies. Bishop contends that the linguistic expansion of the image via interpretation draws attention to the previously overlooked: “When paired with speculative fiction, the interpretative operations of ekphrasis are powerfully political, particularly when tuned to a vegetal key, reanimating that which we take for granted as safe, sessile, if not controlled then controllable’ (229). Plants in Science Fiction establishes key theoretical concepts and offers approaches that point the way for further studies addressing the dearth of critical studies on plants in sf. Perhaps reflective of the novelty of this emerging discipline, and providing a coherent thematic thread for the collection, multiple chapters cite several academic and popular scientific works, including journalist Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: A Plant’sEye View of the World (2001), T.S. Miller’s “Lives of the Monster Plants: The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies” (2012), and those by Stefano Mancuso (for example, Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, co-authored with Alessandra Viola [2015], and Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life, coedited with František Baluška and Dieter Volkmann [2006]). This book rightly acknowledges that plants have been neglected in sf studies and in wider literary and cultural criticism, despite—as Bishop shows in the introduction—how frequently they appear in sf and how important they are to those narratives. The book demonstrates a complementarity among different approaches to the representation and meaning of plants in sf. Plants in Science Fiction is a much-needed study of plants in sf that offers potential for synthesis with human-animal studies and broader ecological and environmental criticism.—Chris Pak, University of Swansea Middle Ground Between Light and Shadow. Barry Keith Grant. The Twilight Zone. Wayne State UP, TV MILESTONE SERIES, 2019. v+121 pp. $19.99 pbk. Each study in Wayne State UP’s TV MILESTONE SERIES is designed to offer a close examination of an individual television series, placing it within its industrial, historical, and cultural contexts while also offering space for more detailed analysis of the qualities that make it stand out against other shows. The series titles are diverse, encompassing comparatively recent programs alongside classics of television history, as well as representing a wide selection of television genres. The inclusion of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959- 149 BOOKS IN REVIEW 1964) in the series positions it as a key title in televisual history and in the growing canon of quality television shows. While its presence in such a canon may seem obvious to many fans and sf scholars, Grant offers an insightful and convincing rationale for its significance. Building upon a wealth of production histories, tv scholarship, episode guides, and published and broadcast interviews with Serling, as well as his own close analysis, Grant offers a compelling discussion of this show and its distinctive legacy. As he explains, The Twilight Zone remains a highly recognizable and eminently quotable television series and an established icon of popular culture. Grant begins the book by acknowledging this influence, citing numerous contemporary pop-culture references to the show, including Family Guy (1998-) and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015-). These citations not only allude to specific episodes but also assume that modern audiences will be familiar with the narrative, generic, and stylistic qualities that underpin the series, such as its fantasy elements, its twist endings, and its renowned theme music; this is not an assumption that one would make about many of its contemporaries. Grant provides a lengthy breakdown...

Journalists interviewing elite athletes: Dumb answers or bad questions?

Broadcasting journalists use short, ad hoc interviews for newsworthy events. Because these interviews typically last for just a few minutes, it is a challenge for both journalist and interviewee to address the audience. This study explores journalistic questioning techniques in sixteen live broadcast interviews with athletes carried out by Estonian journalists during the 2018 Olympic Winter Games plus a few examples from sports interviews collected from the Spanish, Italian, Finnish, German and American television. Analysis shows the questioning technique of journalists does not help interviewees to provide well-focused and interesting explanations. The main problems are related to the scope of the questions, blurred focus and the journalists’ inability to use listening-based questioning. As a result of the analysis, we propose a universal model that would help journalists in any field (not just sports journalism) to carry out better ad hoc questioning.

Key characteristics and habits of the recreational opioid user.

To identify key characteristics and habits of recreational opioid users. The data were compiled from volunteers who participated in clinical studies at a contract research organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from 5,018 male and female recreational opioid users via telephone and face-to-face screening interviews. Five recreational opioid users participated in a live interview broadcast on the internet. Demographic data, recreational drug use history, routes of recreational drug administration, alcohol use, and smoking status. A subset of the demographic information and recreational drug use history was summarized separately using data collected between 2013 and 2016 from 114 recreational opioid users who were not dependent on opioids. Interview excerpts were included from five recreational opioid users who described their real-world experiences with drug abuse, including the impact of abuse-deterrent opioid formulations on their drug abuse behavior. The preferred route of administration of opioids was oral (52 percent), followed by intranasal (36 percent), intravenous (10 percent), and buccal (chewing on a patch; 2 percent). Other substances used included nicotine, alcohol, and non-opioid psychoactive drugs (primarily cannabis). Oxycodone was the most frequently reported opioid of abuse. Recreational opioid users have distinct drug-related behaviors and preferences. Monitoring current trends and examining these behaviors is an important component to understand the potential safety risks associated with recreational opioid use.

'We just don't talk about it': Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' perceptions of cancer in regional Queensland.

Disparities in cancer outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are well reported. Some Australian Indigenous communities' beliefs about cancer may influence health behaviours, support for those with cancer and ,ultimately, treatment outcomes. This project was instigated by request of a cultural adviser from a regional Queensland community and aims to make community perceptions of cancer visible, facilitate development of resources representing these perceptions and briefly evaluate the project from the community's perspective. The project was guided by qualitative, participatory and visual research methodology. Community participation was engaged by identifying community champions who helped recruit interested community members and continued project momentum. The project was defined and driven by community, and a consensus decision making approach was used to select resources or activities to represent community perceptions of cancer and raise cancer awareness. Qualitative data were collected from yarning groups at two community forums and subsequent group sessions to explore and define community perceptions of cancer. Informed consent was obtained prior to audio-taped yarning groups. Data were also included from publicly available interviews broadcast on radio and television. All data about community perceptions of cancer and of the project were thematically analysed. Photovoice using cameras was the visual method chosen to capture images and stories representing community cancer beliefs. Three main themes were derived from thematic analysis of data collected about community perceptions of cancer, identified by participants as important to improving cancer outcomes: (1) silence in the community, (2) support is important for survivorship and (3) awareness of cancer and the importance of sharing positive stories. A consensus decision-making approach resulted in the community choosing two resources to stimulate community discussion about cancer, raise awareness and reduce stigma. These were creating a community quilt, with each quilt square representing community perceptions of cancer, and producing a community calendar, with messages promoting healthy behaviours and cancer screening. The overall project was viewed as valuable for facilitating and improving the conversation about cancer with family, friends, the broader community and health professionals. Group sessions were considered important for providing a shared, safe space for support, for asking health related questions and as an instigator to share cancer related knowledge and stories with others. Silence around cancer may influence awareness and discussion about cancer, screening participation and help-seeking behaviour in this community. In this project, engaging with the community created a safe space for conversation around a previously taboo topic, which could lead to improved screening and help seeking behaviour. The role of primary health care in reducing health disparities by partnering with community to conduct awareness and prevention activities and by providing culturally appropriate care for Indigenous people is emphasised.

How gestures contribute to the meanings of idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs in TV broadcast interviews. A multimodal analysis

This study aims at shedding light on the representation of some peculiar indicators of spokenness (i.e. idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs) across TV interviews featuring different interviewees: politicians, business people and personalities from showbiz. More precisely, the purpose of this work is to observe how, to what extent, and with which function these traits, which are more typical of oral and informal language, permeate TV interviews pertaining to different specialized knowledge domains. In order to develop a deeper understanding of the usage and the meaning-making of idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs in TV interviews, some multimodal aspects will be considered throughout the analysis. Drawing from the findings, it was noticed that these complex indicators of spoken style are abundant in the language of both interviewers and interviewees across all three domains, where they seem to work as lubricants that help smooth interaction and thus engage the audience. Furthermore, gestures with arms and hands appeared to occur together with idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs quite consistently, often pointing to their figurative meanings.