Talking Politics in Broadcast Media: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Political Interviewing, Journalism and Accountability

259 Pages·2011·2.2 MB·English

by  Mats Ekström (ed.)

Talking Politics in Broadcast Media
Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society
and Culture (DAPSAC)
The editors invite contributions that investigate political, social and cultural processes from
a linguistic/discourse-analytic point of view. The aim is to publish monographs and edited
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General Editors
Associate Editor
Ruth Wodak and Greg Myers
University of Lancaster Johann Unger
Editorial address: Lancaster University, University of Lancaster
County College South, Department of [email protected]
Linguistics and English Language,
Lancaster LA1 4YL, UK.
[email protected]
and [email protected]
Advisory Board
Irène Bellier Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Madrid
Maison des Sciences de Barcelona Jacob L. Mey
l’Homme, Paris, France Konrad Ehlich University of Southern
Michael Billig Free University, Berlin Denmark
Loughborough University Mikhail V. Ilyin Christina Schäffner
Jan Blommaert Polis, Moscow Aston University
Tilburg University Andreas H. Jucker Ron Scollon †
Paul Chilton University of Zurich Louis de Saussure
University of Lancaster J.R. Martin University of Neuchâtel
J.W. Downes University of Sydney
University of East Anglia Luisa Martín Rojo
Teun A. van Dijk Universidad Autonoma de
Volume 42
Talking Politics in Broadcast Media. Cross-cultural perspectives on political
interviewing, journalism and accountability
Edited by Mats Ekström and Marianna Patrona
Talking Politics in Broadcast Media
Cross-cultural perspectives on political interviewing,
journalism and accountability
Edited by
Mats Ekström
Örebro University
Marianna Patrona
Hellenic Military Academy
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Talking politics in broadcast media : cross-cultural perspectives on political interview-
ing, journalism and accountability / edited by Mats Ekström, Marianna Patrona.
p. cm. (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, issn 1569-9463 ; v. 42)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Mass media--Political aspects. 2. Discourse analysis--Political aspects. 3. Broadcast
journalism--Poltical aspects. 4. Interviewing in journalism. 5. Journalism--
Objectivity. 6. Communication in politics. I. Ekström, Mats, 1961- II. Patrona,
Marianna.
P95.8.T37 2011
302.23--dc23 2011020216
isbn 978 90 272 0633 6 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 8516 4 (Eb)
© 2011 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
Contributors vii
Appendix ix
Talking politics in broadcast media: An introduction 1
Mats Ekström and Marianna Patrona
part i. Conversational strategies in political interviewing
and political news discourse
chapter 1
Questioning candidates 1 5
Steven E. Clayman and Tanya Romaniuk
chapter 2
The accountability interview, politics and change
in UK public service broadcasting 3 3
Martin Montgomery
chapter 3
Political discourse in TV news: Conversational presentation
and the politics of ‘trust’ 5 7
Andrew Tolson
chapter 4
Political television formats as strategic resources
in achieving journalists’ roles 7 5
Eva De Smedt and Kristel Vandenbrande
chapter 5
Address terms in the Australian political news interview 9 3
Johanna Rendle-Short
 Talking Politics in Broadcast Media
part ii. Neutralism and hybridity in contemporary broadcast journalism
chapter 6
Doing non-neutral: Belligerent interaction
in the hybrid political interview 115
Ian Hutchby
chapter 7
Hybridity as a resource and challenge in a talk show political interview 135
Mats Ekström
chapter 8
Neutralism revisited: When journalists set new
rules in political news discourse 157
Marianna Patrona
chapter 9
When the watchdog bites: Insulting politicians on air 177
Zohar Kampf and Efrat Daskal
part iii. Discourse patterns for displaying accountability
in citizen participation programmes
chapter 10
“I have one question for you Mr. President”:
Doing accountability in “citizen interviews” 201
Nuria Lorenzo-Dus
chapter 11
Officials’ accountability performance on Hong Kong talk radio:
The case of the Financial Secretary Hotline 223
Francis L. F. Lee and Angel M. Y. Lin
Index 243
Contributors
Steven E. Clayman Martin Montgomery
Professor of Sociology Professor of English Linguistics
University of California, Los Angeles University of Macau
Efrat Daskal Marianna Patrona
Ph.D. candidate in Communication Assistant Professor of English
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hellenic Military Academy
Mats Ekström Johanna Rendle-Short
Professor of Media Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied
and Communication Studies Linguistics
Örebro University the Australian National University
Ian Hutchby Tanya Romaniuk
Professor of Sociology Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics
University of Leicester and Applied Linguistics
York University, Toronto, Canada
Zohar Kampf
Assistant Professor of Communication Eva De Smedt
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ph.D. candidate in Media and Com-
munication Studies, Centre for Studies
Francis L. F. Lee
on Media and Culture (Cemeso)
Associate Professor of Political
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Communication and Journalism
Studies Andrew Tolson
Chinese University of Hong Kong Professor of Media and Communication
De Montfort University
Angel M. Y. Lin
Associate Professor of English Kristel Vandenbrande
Language Education Lecturer in Politics and Popular Media,
University of Hong Kong Media and Citizenship and Qualitative
Research Methodologies
Nuria Lorenzo-Dus
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Reader in Linguistics
Swansea University

Appendix
Transcription symbols
Dynamics of the turn taking
[ marks the beginning of an overlapping stretch of talk
] marks the end of an overlapping stretch of talk
(2.0) silence/pause in seconds
(.) micropause of less than 2/10 of a second
Aspects of speech delivery
>word< talk between the symbols is compressed or rushed
<word > talk between the symbols is slowed or drawn out
wo: :rd stretching of the sound preceding the colons
↑word rise in pitch
word? rise in intonation
word. falling intonation
word, continuing intonation
.hhh inbreath
hhh outbreath
= marks two ‘latched’ turns, i.e. where one speaker follows the other
without any discernible pause between the two turns
word- a hyphen after a word or part of a word indicates self-interruption
word indicates emphasis on the underlined word or part of word
°word ° indicates that talk between the signs is markedly softer
WORD upper case indicates markedly loud talk
Other symbols
((...)) talk in the turn that is not included in the transcript
(( )) marks the transcriber’s descriptions of the interaction
( ) indicates that the transcriber cannot hear what is said