Broadcast Interviews Research Articles

Ignoring Respect: The Effects of Threat to Face on Replies and the Ensuing Questions During Broadcast Political Interviews in Japan

This article examines the effect of threat to face to both interviewers and interviewees during live televised interview programs in Japan, where the concept of “face” is of extreme importance in maintaining interpersonal relationships. Based on 2,422 questions identified during 120 interviews broadcast over a period of 12 months on four television programs, the goal is twofold: First, to assess the extent to which questions that contain a certain level of threat to face affect the interviewees’ replies, and second, to measure the extent to which interviewees’ replies affect the interviewers’ subsequent questions. The findings indicate that questions containing a higher degree of threat to the interviewers’ face resulted in less clear and comprehensible replies. Furthermore, equivocal responses to questions increased the chance of a follow-up question being more face-threatening, suggesting that interviewers who are unsatisfied with the replies of their interviewees manifest their displeasure with tougher follow-up questions.

Social semantic networks: Measuring topic management in discourse using a pyramid of conceptual recurrence metrics.

Studies of conversational encounters typically employ manual discourse analysis methods to reveal participants' topic management patterns, usually focusing on turn-by-turn interactions within a specific social context. These analyses, while powerful, are time-consuming to apply and can prove difficult to generalize. Recurrence analysis has recently been applied to discourse datasets to model how individual terms and concepts recur over whole conversation time scales and relate patterns of recurrence to topic management practices by individuals. In this paper, we propose a new multi-level quantitative method for modelling the topical interaction dynamics in conversation based on conceptual recurrence quantification analysis. The new protocol develops a hierarchy of speakers and their interactions, and partitions recurrence based on these groups. The new protocol is evaluated against expert human coding of television broadcast interviews. Our analysis reveals topic use patterns and networks of conceptual engagement (person-person and group-group) that show experts preferentially engaging with other experts rather than with laypeople, findings that are consistent with prior expectations for this discourse, although never before expressed as metrics. The studies provide a starting point for new computational protocols to provide fast, semi-automated methods for measuring the degree of conceptual interaction between individuals and groups.

Expanding factors in threat to face

Abstract This paper details aspects related to the “face” – one’s social standing, reputation, and dignity – during interactions between interviewers and interviewees (both politicians and nonpoliticians) in more than 5,000 questions posed during three different broadcast interview programs aired throughout 2012–2013 in Japan. The interactions between interviewers and interviewees are also considered as a dialogic phenomenon in which interlocutors are actors who act and react. By examining the toughness of questions posed in these programs the paper explores their extent of threat to face of the interviewees and the facets associated with this threat, including features related to the interviewees themselves. The results indicate strong evidence of socio-cultural norms and values that affect interviewers’ relationship with politicians and other sources.

Choosing a media outlet when seeking public approval

This paper considers the media outlet choice of a politician who seeks public approval for a political agenda in a broadcast interview. The available media outlets differ in their “toughness” towards the politician. An interview with a tougher media outlet is more informative, but is also more likely to yield a negative outcome. The choice of the media outlet determines the accuracy of the information that flows to the public and the volume of citizens who consume that information. The analysis shows that (1) politicians who enjoy sufficient popularity are likely to avoid tough media outlets, (2) when seeking approval for controversial agendas, politicians are more likely to appear in tougher outlets.

“Why Go on a Program and Answer in General Terms?” TV Interviews as a Mechanism for the Reproduction of the Political Order

This article explores the phenomenon of broadcast interviews with the owners of large Russian businesses. Using the example of Hard Day’s Night, an interview program on the private television channel Dozhd’, the article takes audience complaints about the interviewees’ evasiveness as a starting point for a discussion about the role that broadcast interviews play in maintaining political order. The argument unfolds in three steps. Firstly, on the basis of research interviews with channel staff and video analysis of the program, I establish a participation framework of the interview, allowing for the elucidation of the specific obligations the interviewee fails to fulfill. Secondly, I study in detail the interactional organization of the interview, using an original method of analyzing video clips along side the hosts of the program. I identify a set of implicit impersonal rules that guide what the owners of big Russian businesses can say publicly about high-ranking state officials. Finally,the article focuses on the interactional role that journalists play in the organization of the interview by using these rules as a background scheme for their actions. I conclude that the viewers’ and journalists’ belief that the interviews provide an opportunity to demonstrate the individual qualities of the interviewee, while the social and interactional contexts of this demonstration go unnoticed, contributes to the reification of the submission of the owners of large Russian businesses to high-ranking state officials. DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2017-9-2-82-111

Infelicitous talk

Abstract This article explores how the mediatisation of politics is evolving by analysing the different ways in which three political “gaffes” in recent British politics have been configured by the media environment. The article draws on theories suggesting that contemporary political action is enveloped by media scrutiny and the technological forms of mediation are diversified and hybridised rather than concentrated and uniform. Using case studies, the analysis examines the varying ways in which the broadcast interview can be part of a wider ecology of media technologies that afford an expanding range of discursive strategies for the negative construal of political actions.

De frente com as Gabis: a construção de uma celebridade do tecnobrega

This article proposes to examine the Place of Speech of Gaby Amarantos during two different interactions: an interview with Marilia Gabriela, on the TV show De frente com Gabi , aired by SBT, in 2012, and another interview on the same show, in 2014. The goal of this study is to understand how the artist’s actions while interacting with Marilia Gabriela are full of a speech about values of the cultural production that she is engaged with, as much as with the growth of media exposure that her career was going through at the time. Through a contextual approach of the artist’s media path, and a parallel between the two broadcast interviews, it was possible to understand how the context of social insertion of the artist, and the reach of success and media visibility, turning her into a celebrity, affected her discursive speech and the place that her cultural productions have been given. Keywords: Gaby Amarantos, place of speech, celebrity, cultural appreciation.

Legitimising expertise: analysing the legitimation strategies used by economics experts in broadcast interviews

ABSTRACTFew would doubt that economists have taken a prominent role as experts on policy issues [Maesse, J. 2015. Economic experts: A discursive political economy of economics. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 10, no.3: 279–305] and some contend that no other social science discipline has gained such prominence [Fourcade, M., E. Ollion, and Y. Algan. 2015. The superiority of economists. Journal of Economic Perspectives 29, no.1: 89–114]. This prominent societal role has long been evident and leans on their perceived objectivity with regard to the economy and policy advice. Yet, the Great Recession of 2008 put past understandings of the economy, and public confidence in economists, under significant strain [Colander, D., M. Goldberg, A. Haas, K. Juselius, T. Lux, and B. Sloth. 2009. The financial crisis and the systemic failure of the economics profession. Critical Review 21, no.2–3: 249–267]. Faced with this challenge of public confidence, the question of how economics experts, whose expertise on the economy was so dominant before the crisis, maintain their legitimacy in the face of this crisis is of interest. This paper draws on the work of Van Leeuwen [2007. Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication 1, no.1: 91–112] to analyse the legitimising strategies used by economics experts during radio interviews, and echoes the work of Maesse [2015. Economic experts: A discursive political economy of economics. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 10, no.3: 279–305] in arguing that economists benefit from the legitimacy of their profession that has been created in academia, but also acknowledging that economists still have to work for societal legitimacy.

Don’t make me laugh: Responsive laughter in (dis)affiliation

This paper examines laughter as a methodical resource for marking a just-prior turn as laughable, even when that turn has not been designed as such by its producer. It focuses in particular on one usage, where laughter targets a prior turn as preposterous and thus laughable: laughter is seen to be but one possible response in such contexts, and, as such, highly disaffiliative. By examining instances of video-taped family interaction and audio recordings of broadcast interviews, I examine the sequential environment both leading up to the production of the laughter – what makes the targeted turn so laughable – and subsequent to it, that is, how the laughter is elaborated verbally. I also examine the features of the laughter itself, and specifically what makes it recognizable as marking a highly negative stance with respect to what it targets. But who exactly produces the responsive laughter is here critical: when the laugh producer is not the ostensible recipient of the prior, laughable turn, the laughter produced is heard both to disaffiliate from that prior but in so doing, to affiliate with its recipient. Such uses show how a single action can be simultaneously both affiliative and disaffiliative.

Choosing a Media Outlet When Seeking Public Approval

This paper considers the media outlet choice of a politician who seeks public approval for a political agenda in a broadcast interview. The available media outlets differ in their toughness towards the politician. An interview with a tougher media outlet is more informative, but is also more likely to yield a negative outcome. The choice of the media outlet determines the accuracy of the information that flows to the public and the volume of citizens who consume that information. The analysis shows that (i) politicians who enjoy sufficient popularity are likely to avoid tough media outlets, (ii) when seeking approval for controversial agendas, politicians are more likely to appear in tougher outlets.

Speaking Rate among Adult Hebrew Speakers: A Preliminary Observation

Background: Speaking rate is an important basic temporal characteristic of speech, essential for research as well as clinical applications. Accordingly, it has become a common measure in studies conducted in various fields, such as speech science, speech pathology, behavioral psychology, neuropsychology and emotions. Yet, normative speaking rate data, which are language specific, are still required. This study was aimed to provide preliminary data on speaking-rate and articulation-rate among Hebrew speaking adults, and to examine differences between genders and age-groups. Methods and Findings: Recordings of 78 Hebrew speaking adults (39 men and 39 women) in three age-groups (20-40 years, 41-60 and 61-above) were analyzed. All recordings were obtained from radio broadcast interviews. Speaking rate and articulation rate were quantified using two metrics: syllable-per-second (SPS) and word-per-minute (WPM). Results revealed a mean overall speaking rate of 5.60 SPS and 154.11 WPM, while articulation rate was 6.26 SPS and 175.70 WPM. A gradual reduction in both metrics was observed between the three age-groups. This reduction reached a statistical significance only between the younger and older age-groups (p<0.001). In contrast, no differences in speaking- and articulation-rate were found between men and women. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary data on speaking- and articulation-rate values for adult Hebrew speakers. Data support previous reports on a general reduction in speech rate of the older age group, while demonstrating a lack of gender difference. Results facilitate a comparison of rate measurements performed in Hebrew with those obtained in other languages. Data also provide a baseline for future comparison of speech and fluency characteristics in various pathological groups with normally fluent speakers.

Use of research in local alcohol policy-making

Purpose – On-premise trading hours are generally decided at the local level. The purpose of this paper is to identify relevant advocacy coalitions and to assess to what extent and how these coalitions used research in the alcohol policy-making process concerning changes in on-premise trading hours in Norway. Design/methodology/approach – Theory-driven content analyses were conducted, applying data from city council documents (24 Norwegian cities) and Norwegian newspaper articles and broadcast interviews (n=138) in 2011-2012. Findings – Two advocacy coalitions with conflicting views and values were identified. Both coalitions used research quite extensively – in the public debate and in the formal decision-making process – but in different ways. The restrictive coalition, favouring restricted trading hours and emphasising public health/safety, included the police and temperance movements and embraced research demonstrating the beneficial health/safety effects of restricting trading hours. The liberal coalition of conservative politicians and hospitality industry emphasised individual freedom and industry interests and promoted research demonstrating negative effects on hospitality industry turnover. This coalition also actively discredited the research demonstrating the beneficial health/safety effects of restricting trading hours. Originality/value – Little is known about how local alcohol policy-making processes are informed by research-based knowledge. This study is the first to analyse how advocacy coalitions use research to influence local alcohol policy-making.

Using visual text analytics to examine broadcast interviewing

Broadcast interview hosts are increasingly adopting hybrid forms of interview through the utilization of interview techniques from different genres within the one interview (Ekström and Kroon Lundell, 2011; Montgomery, 2008). Methods that can visually represent interviews in their entirety have the potential to assist in tracking and tracing genre shifts within a single interview. In this paper we examine traditional genres and hybrid forms of broadcast interviewing using a visual text analytic software Discursis (Angus et al., 2013, 2012a, 2012b). Discursis provides visual representations of whole interviews at-a-glance as well as the ability to focus into particular sections for closer analysis. Drawing on a corpus of 101 interviews from a single television program, this study examines if Discursis can meaningfully visually represent forms of interviewing genres (Montgomery, 2008) and highlight where shifting techniques (Ekström and Kroon Lundell, 2011) are used within a single interview.

Aggressiveness and deference in Arabic broadcast interviews

Arab journalists and interviewers are often accused of taking a soft approach with officials and public figures on the government-controlled channels, addressing questions to them in an overly polite and cautious way. However, although some previous Arabic studies have pointed out that Arabic talk shows and interviews on the new independent channels have introduced new topics and expanded the limitations of several issues that were previously restricted in the state-owned sector, this shift needs to be investigated with empirical methods and compared to the practices used in Western media.After examining empirically the format of Arabic interviews, employing some methods from conversation analysis approach, the current paper found out that not only the content of these interviews has been expanded, but also the independent channels have provided a freer environment for their interviewers, allowing them to use higher levels of aggressiveness with officials and public figures. Their findings, however, did not reach the same level of aggressive questions that are found in some conversation analysis studies, conducted on Western journalistic questions.

Curating a Nation’s Past: The Role of the Public Intellectual in Australia’s History Wars

Curating a Nation’s Past: The Role of the Public Intellectual in Australia’s History Wars

Good News, Bad News

Good News, Bad News

Technology Transfer and Business Partnerships in BRICS: Development, Integration and Industrialisation

South Africa joined the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) group of emerging economies in 2010. The group subsequently became known as BRICS. The group hosts summits to seek common ground on areas of importance and convergence for these major economies. This paper is descriptive and analytic in nature, providing background on economic relations and inequalities existing between the BRICS countries. It also provides details of the economic deliberations and partnerships agreed upon and concluded at the 5th BRICS Summit held in Durban South Africa. The research methodology applied to collect data and information about this topic is qualitative in nature, analysis content published about the summit in mass and online media and also a semiotic analysis of interviews broadcast on national television where government and business officials involved with BRICS commented on and abou the summit. These processes involve the analyses of secondary as a form of data collection. Data analysis involved identification of discussion themes raised by these officials in the data gathered, a discussion and commentary on the issues raised, and an interpretation of these issues by making use of international relations theories. This paper also compares the South African economic indicators and the status of the country to those of the other BRICS nations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p284

Desarrollo histórico y actualidad de la entrevista política televisada en España.

This study analyzes the broadcast political interview in Spain, both from a historical standpoint and from its current practice. Its history is reviewed, departing from the beginning of the journalistic interview in the United States until its popularization in Spanish television in the nineties. With the aid of conversation analysis, a fragment of a broadcast political interview televised by a private broadcaster is examined. The results indicate that the political interviews broadcast in private channels display a tendency towards personalization with the intention of providing entertainment, thereby contaminating the public sphere.

English discourse markers in mediatised political interviews

The present case study takes a discourse-pragmatic approach to some of the most frequently used discourse markers (henceforth DMs) in spoken English: I mean, of course, oh, well, I think and you know. The point of departure in this research is a set of discourse-pragmatic relations and functions, such as conversation management, thematic control, concession, elaboration, reformulation, ventriloquizing, and marking evidentiality. After looking at which DMs signal these relations and functions in our corpora, we identify a set of English DMs whose members display markedly different pragmatic behaviours across various subgenres of spoken English such as naturally-occurring conversations and mediatised political interviews. We examine their use in a corpus of political interviews broadcast in English by the BBC and CNN between 2003 and 2011, and compare our results with previous research, performed on the basis of spontaneous, everyday conversations. Our paper has a threefold goal: (1) to present examples of the various discourse-organizing roles and strategic uses of the DMs; (2) to discuss the differences between the selected English DMs’ functions across different subgenres of spoken English discourse; and (3) to answer whether or not the uses of the selected discourse markers differ across the various discourse types/genres (spoken English vs. different types of political interviews).

Political interviews in public television and commercial broadcasters: A comparison

In this article I examine the differences between broadcast political interviews in commercial and public service broadcasters in Spain. The study focuses in particular on political interviews broadcast on ‘morning show’ type programmes. The analysis distinguishes the characteristics that make up the news interview turn-taking system in order to explore the degree to which information and entertainment come together in political interviews broadcast on morning shows. The results show, primarily, that political interviews shown on public service broadcasters’ morning shows adhere to the journalistic standards of neutralism and adversarialness. This is precisely how they strive to make the politician publicly accountable. In political interviews broadcast by commercial broadcasters, however, these rules are followed intermittently. The aim of these interviews appears to be different: to penetrate politicians’ personal sphere with the discernible purpose of entertaining. These differences reflect different interview styles which, in turn, reveal different conceptions of journalism, politics and society. This investigation utilizes the research tools developed in conversation analysis (CA).