Media Talk: Spoken Discourse on TV and Radio

Over the past twenty years, a focus on broadcast talk has emerged as an innovative approach to studying the media. Adapting perspectives derived from Discourse and Conversation Analysis, this approach investigates distinctive forms of mediated speech on TV and radio. It provides original insights into the ways in which broadcasting stages ‘discourse events’ (interviews, debates, commentaries and verbal performances) which are designed to attract and involve overhearing audiences. Media Talk is the first book to provide a comprehensive review of this important work, in terms which are accessible to students and non-specialist readers. It is, however, much more than a textbook, being augmented throughout by the author’s own research into contemporary, and sometimes controversial developments. An introduction to the field, and its distinctive methodologies, is followed by chapters which focus on: news talk, current affairs debates, sports talk, youth TV and radio, celebrity talk, talk shows and forms of ‘reality TV’. Particular themes explored include:. the so-called ‘dumbing down’ of news and current affairs in increasingly ‘conversational’ forms. the design of particular forms of talk to appeal to target, or niche audiences. the development of new forms of ‘reality’ programming featuring ordinary people in unscripted verbal performances. In these ways Media Talk provides an illuminating perspective on some key issues in contemporary media studies.