Clayman2002a

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Clayman2002a
BibType ARTICLE
Key Clayman2002a
Author(s) Steven E. Clayman
Title Tribune of the people: maintaining the legitimacy of aggressive journalism
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Conversation Analysis, Broadcast, Journalism, News interviews
Publisher
Year 2002
Language
City
Month
Journal Media, Culture and Society
Volume 24
Number 2
Pages 191–210
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/016344370202400203
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Public service is both an ideal that journalists aspire to, and a resource that they invoke strategically to maintain the legitimacy of their more aggressive conduct. Using a database of transcripts from broadcast news interviews in the USA, this article examines the circumstances under which journalist-interviewers present themselves as asking questions on behalf of the general public. Journalists deploy the practice selectively, most notably when engaged in aggressively probing or adversarial lines of questioning. This is because aligning with the public neutralizes and legitimates a question, and thereby increases the pressure on the interviewee to be forthcoming in response. This practice tends to be effective in inducing public figures to acquiesce to aggressive forms of questioning. Moreover, recurrent use of this practice affects the public image of journalism itself, giving it a distinctly populist cast.

Notes