TV:s nyhetsprogram som interaktion

• During the last third of the 20th century, Swedish public and social life underwent an informalization process. The television news programmes today display the results of this development (and other trends) involving more dramaturgic variation, interactive elements, informalization and "cosiness".This thesis deals with interaction in television news from a viewer's point of view. The general purpose of the work has been to investigate the newsanchor's interaction with the viewers, the colleagues and the studio guests. The aim has been to describe the characteristic features of this interaction by using analytical tools from interactional sociolinguistics, particulary those concerning contextualization cues.The material consists of 11.5 hours of videotaped studio talk from three different news programmes (Aktuellt, Nyheterna and Tvärsnytt) during 1997–1998. The material– transcribed in extenso–is limited to the verbal and non-verbal activity of the newsreaders in four interactional situations: the newsreaders' monological quasi-interaction with the viewers, handovers, interviews with colleagues and with guests.The pervasive idea of the thesis is that news programmes can been seen as dramas in which the participants play certain roles. By using a number of devices, the participants enact these roles before the eyes of the viewers. The interaction can therefore be seen as an act performed for the benefit of the viewers. The theorethical basis for the dissortation is Goffman's ideas about participation structure (animator, author, principal, authorized and unauthorized listener), self-presentation, and framing. Of great importance is also Gumperz' notion of contextualization.The investigation shows that the newsreader uses a variety of contextualization cues and lets verbal and non-verbal means interplay to make contact with the viewers, e.g. you-pronouns, smiles, greetings and reminders. The interaction on the screen also displays an hierarchical order–the newsanchor steers the others' contributions. He/she also assigns to colleagues and guests different interactional roles. The reporter may alternately play the role of eyewitness, expert, analyst/speculator and commentator. The guest is called in to act either as expert, confrontation target, analyst/commentator, or representative.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Scandinavian languages - general

Television news

news reading

news interviews

verbal interaction

non-verbal interaction

quasi-interaction

staged interaction

participation structure

contextualization cues

institutional discourse

Swedish

Nordiska språk - allmänt

Scandinavian languages

Nordiska språk

Nordiska språk

Scandinavian Languages

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

dok (subject category)