Announced refusal to answer : a study of norms and accountability in broadcast political interviews

• This article investigates the announced refusal to answer asa form of dispreferred and challenging response in broadcastpolitical interviews. The aim is to study how the rightnessand wrongness of conduct is dealt with in situations of announcedrefusal. More specifically, the paper focuses on: (1) announcedrefusal as a particular type of conduct; (2) the orientationto norms and accountability in situations of announced refusal;(3) how the legitimacy of politics and journalism is negotiatedin broadcast interviews. The data consist of 23 cases from Swedishelection campaigns, and the analysis is based on ConversationAnalysis, focusing on how the participants treat themselvesand others as normatively accountable. The study indicates thatthe politicians understand themselves as accountable and avoidhostile actions in the interviews. Their refusals are designedmainly to be understood as appropriate distancing actions withoutexplicitly complaining about the interviewers’ conduct.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Keyword

SOCIAL SCIENCES

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Other social sciences

Övrig samhällsvetenskap

Media and communication studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Media and Communication Studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)