Media Talk (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies)

Media talk rev pb

24/10/05

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IN CULTURAL AND MEDIA STUDIES S E R I E S

E D I T O R :

S T U A R T

A L L A N

Media Talk

Hutchby

I S S U E S

Ian Hutchby

Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting Media Talk provides an accessible introduction to the analysis of the spoken word by examining linguistic and discursive aspects of broadcast media. Beginning with the observation that talk is central to all genres of radio and television, Ian Hutchby examines the forms of speech used by broadcasters as their primary means of communicating with audiences. He looks at a range of media forms and genres, including televised audience debates, confrontational TV talk shows such as Oprah Winfrey and Ricki Lake, open-line talk radio shows, advice-giving broadcasts, news interviews and political panel discussions.

The book not only describes the role of media talk but also provides detailed examples of analytical tools. It is key reading for students on courses in language and the media, media discourse, communication and cultural studies.

Media Talk

Hutchby argues that the study of talk provides insights into the very nature of mass communication, and invites the reader into further consideration of a range of important issues, such as the relationship between broadcasters and audiences, and the public role of media output.

Media Talk

Ian Hutchby is Professor of Communication at Brunel University. He is the author of Confrontation Talk (1996), Conversation Analysis (with Robin Wooffitt, 1998) and Conversation and Technology (2001); and editor (with Jo MoranEllis) of Children and Social Competence (1998) and Children, Technology and Culture (2001).

Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting

Cover illustration: Charlotte Combe Cover design: del norte (Leeds) Ltd ISBN 0-335-20995-5

I S S U E S 9 780335 209958

IN CULTURAL AND MEDIA STUDIES

MEDIA TALK

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in CULTURAL and MEDIA STUDIES

Series editor: Stuart Allan Published titles News Culture, 2nd edition Stuart Allan Modernity and Postmodern Culture Jim McGuigan Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities Chris Barker Ethnic Minorities and the Media Edited by Simon Cottle Cinema and Cultural Modernity Gill Branston Compassion, Morality and the Media Keith Tester Masculinities and Culture John Beynon Cultures of Popular Music Andy Bennett Media, Risk and Science Stuart Allan Violence and the Media Cynthia Carter and C. Kay Weaver Moral Panics and the Media Chas Critcher Cities and Urban Cultures Deborah Stevenson Cultural Citizenship Nick Stevenson Culture on Display Bella Dicks

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MEDIA TALK Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting

I a n H u t c h b y

Open University Press

Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121–2289, USA

First published 2006 Copyright © Ian Hutchby, 2006 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10: 0 335 20995 5 (pb) 0 335 20996 3 (hb) ISBN-13: 978 0335 20995 8 (pb) 978 0335 20996 5 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in the UK by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Chapter 4 originally appeared as Ian Hutchby, ‘Confrontation as a spectacle: The argumentative frame of the Ricki Lake show’ in Andrew Tolson (ed.), Television Talk Shows: Discourse, Performance, Spectacle (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001). Chapter 5 draws on material from two sources: Ian Hutchby, ‘Witnessing: The use of first-hand knowledge in legitimating lay opinions on talk radio’ in Discourse Studies, Vol. 3, pp. 481–97 (Sage, 2001) and Ian Hutchby, ‘Power in discourse: The case of arguments on a British talk radio show’ in Discourse and Society, Vol. 7, pp. 481–98 (Sage, 1996). An earlier version of Chapter 6 originally appeared as Ian Hutchby, ‘Aspects of recipient design in expert advice-giving on call-in radio’ in Discourse Processes, Vol. 19, pp. 219–38 (Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1995). Parts of Chapter 8 originally appeared as Ian Hutchby, ‘Building alignments in public debate: A case study from British TV’ in Text, Vol. 17, pp. 161–79 (Mouton de Gruyter, 1997).

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

v

FOREWORD

ix

NOTE ON DATA AND TRANSCRIPTION

xi

1

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DISCOVERING MEDIA TALK

2

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ANALYSING MEDIA TALK

1 17

Case Studies Part I Television Talk and Audience Participation 3

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AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION TELEVISION AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE

39

4

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THE SPECTACLE OF CONFRONTATION

65

Case Studies Part II Radio Talk 5

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LANGUAGE, INTERACTION AND POWER ON TALK RADIO

6

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DISTRIBUTED EXPERTISE: THE DISCOURSE OF ADVICE-GIVING SHOWS

81 102

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Case Studies Part III Broadcasters and Politicians 7 8

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NEWS INTERVIEWS: JOURNALISTS AND POLITICIANS ON THE AIR

121

POLITICAL RHETORIC AND TELEVISED DEBATE

141

Postscript 9

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MEDIA TALK AND CONVERSATION ANALYSIS: SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS

163

GLOSSARY

170

REFERENCES

174

INDEX

183

FOREWORD

Serious public discourse, the late Pierre Bourdieu declared during a passionate debate about the French media, is becoming little more than ‘cultural fast-food’. He believed that it is consistently losing out to those forms of media reporting that give priority to simply entertaining members of the audience. In-depth current affairs interviews on French television, for example, are routinely being transformed into ‘mindless talk show chatter’ between ‘approved’ (that is to say, ‘safe’) speakers willing to participate in what are largely staged ‘exchanges’. This relentless search for the sensational and the spectacular, he argued, ensures that an undue emphasis is placed on certain types of dramatic events, namely those that are simple to discuss. Moreover, Bourdieu maintained, because media people are ‘so afraid of being boring, they opt for confrontations over debates, prefer polemics over rigorous argument, and in general, do whatever they can to promote conflict’. In other words, he lamented, ‘the focus is on those things which are apt to arouse curiosity but require no analysis, especially in the political sphere.’ In privileging for investigation ‘media talk’ as a conceptual problematic on its own terms, Ian Hutchby offers a different perspective on the relationship between media and public discourse. Media Talk begins with the deceptively simple observation that radio and television broadcasting involves talk in all its genres, before explaining why both ‘serious’ and ‘entertaining’ talk are more complicated – and, indeed, more deserving of our attention – than might first appear. From there, Chapter 1 describes and assesses the emergence of an empirical interest in broadcast talk as a key development in media sociology. Chapter 2 provides an accessible introduction to the methods of conversation analysis, and proceeds to highlight the contribution made by this approach to exploring relevant concerns – such as the relationship between broadcasters and audiences, and the public role of media output in civic life. Subsequent chapters focus on a range of talk-based media genres, including radio phone-ins,

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MEDIA TALK

controversial talk shows, news interviews, advice programmes and current affairs debates. Across a series of case studies, Hutchby not only describes the communicative imperatives of talk on radio and television, but offers ongoing illustrations of how the analysis of media talk can be carried out in practical terms. Overall, this book makes a compelling case for the study of broadcast talk as a significant contribution to media and cultural studies, demonstrating why media conversations need to be prioritized for examination. Indeed, as Hutchby shows, such conversations are both involved in – and, crucially, are partly constitutive of – an everyday awareness of the social realities around us. The Issues in Cultural and Media Studies series aims to facilitate a diverse range of critical investigations into pressing questions considered to be central to current thinking and research. In light of the remarkable speed at which the conceptual agendas of cultural and media studies are changing, the series is committed to contributing to what is an ongoing process of re-evaluation and critique. Each of the books is intended to provide a lively, innovative and comprehensive introduction to a specific topical issue from a fresh perspective. The reader is offered a thorough grounding in the most salient debates indicative of the book’s subject, as well as important insights into how new modes of enquiry may be established for future explorations. Taken as a whole, then, the series is designed to cover the core components of cultural and media studies courses in an imaginatively distinctive and engaging manner. Stuart Allan

NOTE ON DATA AND TRANSCRIPTION

The data used in this book comprise transcripts of television and radio programmes recorded off air. The transcription and presentation of actual examples of broadcast media talk is key to the approach being described in the book. Therefore the reader should treat the transcripts as a central part of each chapter. Even though I comment in detail on most transcripts, it is important that they are read closely in their own right. Initially, due to the technical nature of the transcripts, this may not be easy. It is therefore important to read and, where necessary, refer back to the following glossary of transcription symbols used in the book. The main aim of these symbols is to provide a sense, in written transcription, of how a stretch of talk ‘sounds’ on the tape. Therefore the main things to look out for are symbols indicating stress or emphasis, pauses, loudness or quietness, and overlapping or interruptive talk. (For more detailed information on data and transcription the reader should consult Chapter 3 of Hutchby and Wooffitt, 1998.)

Transcription conventions (0.5) (.) =

[]

Numbers in brackets indicate a gap timed in tenths of a second. A dot enclosed in brackets indicates a ‘micropause’ of less than one tenth of a second. Equals signs are used to indicate ‘latching’ or absolutely no discernible gap between utterances; or to show the continuation of a speaker’s utterance across intervening lines of transcript. Square brackets indicate the points where overlapping talk starts (left bracket) and ends (right bracket). Although the start of an overlap is always marked, the end is only sometimes marked.

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