Clayman Steven, Heritage John. The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air

Cambridge University Press, 2004. — x, 372 pages. — ISBN: 0-511-03007-X.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 text 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. It also explores how, in the face of aggressive questioning, politicians and other public figures struggle to stay “on message” and pursue their own agendas. Through analyses of well-known interviews, the book illuminates the simultaneously symbiotic and conflictual nature of the relationship between journalists and public figures, and reveals the tensions lying beneath the surface of the nightly news. This comprehensive and wide-ranging book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, media, and communication studies.The news interview in context: institutional background and historical development
Openings and closings
Basic ground rules: taking turns and “doing” news interview talk
Defensible questioning: neutralism, credibility, legitimacy
Adversarial questioning: setting agendas and exerting pressure
Answers and evasions
The panel interview: discussion and debate among interviewees