An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Yarong Xie (Research Fellow: University of Edinburgh’s Historical Links to African Enslavement and Colonialism, 2022-2024)
‘This is my country’: how a presenter responds to abuse on air
This paper examines two live radio phone-in shows, sequentially and consequentially bound by the news that is generated within the first (by chronology) show. In the first show, a caller abused the presenter. The station later clipped this phone call, topicalised the abuse as ‘bigotry’, and shared on its official Twitter and YouTube accounts. The video sparked public attention. In response, the presenter addressed the incident and the proliferating debates on social media the following day, in the same programme. Through the lenses of discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992; Wiggins, 2016) and conversation analysis (Sacks, 1992), this inquiry focuses on the use and function of language in moment-by-moment unfolding interactions. That is, what words speakers use, how speakers produce their utterances (e.g., fast or slow, with pauses, or overlapping with one other, etc.), how they orient to one another’s prior and/or in-production turns, and manage the possible interactional and social consequences of what they say. Zooming in on radio phone-in talks at a micro level will enhance our understanding of the intricacy of headlining and challenging (racial) abuse on the spot. As our analysis shows, this intricacy is complicated by the journalistic practice of neutralism (Clayman, 1992; Heritage & Clayman, 2010) and the layered membership categories/categorisations (Fitzgerald & Housley, 2002) – i.e., being a presenter, a member of the ethnic/racial minority, and becoming a victim during a live phone call. The findings will also shed light on the ways in which newsworthiness is interactively and collaboratively accomplished.
Please join in-person, or click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83178441780
Passcode: Kj7gnpP4
Please note that our weekly seminars will take place in the Moot Court in the School of Law between September and December 2023.
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