Table Of ContentStudies in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis 5
Media Studies:
Ethnomethodological
Approaches
editor
Paul L. Jalbert
University of Connecticut
University Press of America® Inc. International Institute
Lanham • New York • Oxford for Ethnomethodology
& Conversation Analysis
Copyright© 1999 by
International Institute for Ethnomethodology
& Conversation Analysis
University Press of America,® Inc.
4720 Boston Way
Lanham, Maryland 20706
12 Hid's Copse Rd.
Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
British Library Cataloging in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Media studies : ethnomethodological approaches I editor Paul L.
Jalbert.
p. em. (Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation
analysis ; 5)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
l. Mass media-Methodology. I.· Jalbert, PaulL. II. Series :
Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis; no. 5.
pg1.3.M389 1998 302.23'01-dc21 98-45628 CIP
ISBN 0-7618-1286-5 (cloth: alk. ppr.)
ISBN 0-7618-1287-3 (pbk: alk. ppr.)
8"'
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Studies in Ethnomethodology and
Conversation Analysis
is co-published by the
International Institute for Ethnomethodology
and
Conversation Analysis
&
University Press of America, Inc.
Editorial Board
George Psathas, Chairman • Boston University
Jorg R. Bergmann • UniversiUit Geissen
Graham Button • Rank Xerox Europarc
Jeff Coulter • Boston University
Michael Lynch • Brunei University.
James Heap • Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
D. R. Watson • Manchester University
Volumes in the Series
1. George Psathas (Ed.) Interaction Competence (1990)
2. E. C. Cuff Problems of Versions
in Everyday Situations (1994)
3. Paul ten Have and George Psathas (Eds.) Situated Order:
Studies in the Social Organization of Talk
and Embodied Activities (1995)
4. Stephen Hester and Peter Eglin (Eds.)
Culture in Action ( 1997)
5. PaulL. Jalbert (Ed.) Media Studies: Ethnomethodological
Approaches ( 1998)
for Nicole and Anna
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Contributors xi
Preface XV
1 Seeking and Finding Society in the Text
Wes Sharrock and Wil Coleman 1
2 Critique and Analysis in Media Studies:
Media Criticism as Practical Action
PaulL. Jalbert 31
3 The Struggle Between Testimony and
Evidence at the Iran-Contra Hearings
Michael Lynch and David Bogen 53
4 Victim, Offender and Witness in the
Emplotment of News Stories
Jeff Stetson 77
5 "The Soccer Game" as Journalistic Work:
Managing the Production of Stories about
a Football Club
Liz Marr, Dave Francis and Dave Randall 111
vii
6 Glances, Trances, and Their Relevance for
a Visual Sociology
Douglas Macbeth 135
7 Category, Predicate and Contrast: Some
Organizational Features in a Radio Talk Show
Stephen Hester and Richard Fitzgerald 171
8 Moral Order and the Montreal Massacre: A
Story of Membership Categorization Analysis
Peter Eglin and Stephen Hester 195
9 "Frenching" the "Real" and Praxeological
Therapy: An Ethnomethodological Clarification
of the New French Theory of the Media
Dusan Bjelic 231
Appendix: Transcription Conventions 259
References 261
Author Index 277
Subject Index 281
viii
Acknowledgments
With few exceptions, no one really accomplishes anything alone. It is
with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to thank and express my
gratitude to the many people who have made this project possible. While,
for quite some time, it seemed that we would never get this collection "off
the ground," we now witness, in our hands in the form of "the book," the
fruit of our labor.
First off, to all of the contributors, I want to tell you how much I value
the expertise you demonstrated in your respective areas of analytical appli
cation and the extraordinary care you all took in the preparation of your
chapters, adhering to the highest standards of rigor in our craft.
This anthology would not have been possible without the confidence
and trust that my two long time mentors have had in me. They are George
Psathas and Jeff Coulter. Thanks to both of you, respectively Senior Edi
tor and Associate Editor of this series, for your enthusiastic support of this
project. Your continued critical appraisal of my work and that of several
of the contributors has always made our work better.
· While all contributors are responsible for the final versions of our chap
ters, the way they got to be so tidy and crisp was largely due to the impec
cable attention to detail of Bja Fehr, who organized this collection. Her
task was to compile and typeset this work; but she did much more than
that. Her persistent commitment to excellence, from syntax and grammar
to spelling and punctuation to analytical insights suggested to several of
the authors, is found on every page of this book. Words cannot express
my gratitude to you for your selfless contribution.
ix
Acknowledgments
Many thanks also to Bill Husson and Dave Bates for their assistance in
copy editing the volume, and in general lending support to this project; to
Doug Macbeth, Dave Bates, Alan Zemel, and Bob Kerr for their help in
sorting out the technical details required to produce the images in chapters
6 and 9; and to Ken Swain who lent his creative powers to the project by
creating a cover befitting the analytical power of the pages in this volume.
Thanks to Helen Hudson and Peter Cooper of University Press of
America for their help with the details of production.
I thank the Research Foundation of the University of Connecticut,
which supported this project through a grant.
Finally, I thank Mary Anne DeVeau, my life-long partner and best
friend, for her untiring love and sustenance. Thank you for being my first
and last critic.
Paul L. Jalbert
Fairfield, CT
X
Contributors
Dusan Bjelic is a professor of Criminology at the University of Southern
Maine, Portland, Maine. He received his PhD in sociology from Boston
University. His research interests are in science and in the practical
culture of media. ( His book Galileo 's Pendulum and the Quest for
Methodological Ascesis is forthcoming from SUNY Press.
David Bogen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Emerson College in
Boston, MA. He received his MA and PhD from Boston University. He
is the author (with Mike Lynch) of The Spectacle ofH istory: Speech, Text,
and Memory at the Iran-Contra Hearings (1996), and Order without
Rules: Critical Theory and the Logic of Conversation (forthcoming). His
current research focuses on the relationship between ethnomethodology
and technology design.
Wil Coleman has taught at the University of Manchester and Manchester
Metropolitan University. His central research interests lie in the philoso
phy of social science and social theory, with particular focus on the topic
of language.
Peter Eglin received his BA from University College London and PhD
from the University of British Columbia. Since 1976, he has taught at
Wilfrid Laurier University where he is currently Associate Professor in
Sociology. His ethnomethodological research concerns membership cate
gorization in deviance construction. He also conducts critical inquiry into
xi
