The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air: 16 (Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics, Series Number 16)

by JohnHeritage (Author), StevenClayman (Author), Clayman / Heritage (Author)

New
Paperback
2008
$53.84

The news interview has become a major vehicle for presenting broadcast news and political commentary, and a primary interface between the institutions of journalism and government. This much-needed work examines the place of the news interview in Anglo-American society and considers its historical development in the United States and Britain. The main body of the book discusses the fundamental norms and conventions that shape conduct in the modern interview. It explores the particular recurrent practices through which journalists balance competing professional norms that encourage both objective and adversarial treatment of public figures. Through analyses of well-known interviews, the book explores the relationship between journalists and public figures and also how, in the face of aggressive questioning, politicians and other public figures struggle to stay 'on message' and pursue their own agendas. This comprehensive and wide-ranging book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, media and communication studies.

Synopsis

The news interview has become a major vehicle for presenting broadcast news and political commentary, and a primary interface between the institutions of journalism and government. This much-needed work examines the place of the news interview in Anglo-American society and considers its historical development in the United States and Britain. The main body of the book discusses the fundamental norms and conventions that shape conduct in the modern interview. It explores the particular recurrent practices through which journalists balance competing professional norms that encourage both objective and adversarial treatment of public figures. Through analyses of well-known interviews, the book explores the relationship between journalists and public figures and also how, in the face of aggressive questioning, politicians and other public figures struggle to stay 'on message' and pursue their own agendas. This comprehensive and wide-ranging book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, media and communication studies.

$53.84

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12 Jan 2008
ISBN 10: 0521011914
ISBN 13: 9780521011914
Book Overview: This much-needed work examines the place of the news interview in Anglo-American society as well as its historical development.

Media Reviews

'... a welcome addition to the growing number of substantive studies into the local production of media discourse ... an excellent introduction to, and summary of, the authors' and others' work gathered over a number of years, and places this in the context of the evolution of political programming and interviews in the USA and UK.' Journal of Sociolinguistics
'... a fascinating account of the process of news interview. ... this is an eminently readable book which readers with an interest in news media should find thoroughly interesting and useful.' Debate
Scholars who study, analyze, and compare such ephemera need a way to record interviews statistically. The authors present a method for in-depth analysis of news interviews and a framework students and journalists can use to do so. Recommended. Choice

Author Bio

Steven Clayman is Associate Professor of Sociology and is affiliated with the Communication Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. His articles have appeared in the following journals: American Sociological Review; the American Journal of Sociology; the Journal of Communication; Media, Culture, and Society; and Research on Language and Social Interaction. John Heritage is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His publications include Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology (1984), Structures of Social Action, co-edited with Max Atkinson (Cambridge, 1984), and Talk at Work, co-edited with Paul Drew (Cambridge, 0521374898).