Question design and stance-taking in political interviews in Flanders

Van Praet, Wout [UCL] Lams, Lutgard Naulaers, Karel

This paper offers a linguistic analysis of question design in the Flemish current-affairs programme Terzake and how it holds up against the journalistic principle of objectivity. We compiled a dataset of 300 ‘interviewer turns’, focusing on two topics: the 2019 government formation and the covid 19 pandemic. In addition, we distinguished between interviews with politicians, aimed at accountability, and interviews with experts, with a more informative function[1]. Two coding schemes were used. First, we determined the form-function configuration of the questions: (1) yes/no-questions, either polar interrogatives or declarative questions, (2) wh-questions, (3) alternative questions (e.g. Leave or remain?), (4) statements (eliciting a reaction). Significant differences were found between both topics (e.g. more wh-questions in ‘covid’ interviews) and between questions for politicians and experts (e.g. more statements addressing politicians). We interpret these results with reference to differences in ‘open-endedness’[2] of the question types and the structural presuppositions they trigger[3]. Second, the interviewer turns were analysed along six dimensions of stance-taking in question design[4,5]: (1) initiative (e.g. prefacing of questions); (2) directness (e.g. hedging); (3) assertiveness (i.e. do question invite particular answers, e.g. positive/negative orientation); (4) opposition (to the interviewee’s viewpoint); (5) appeals to accountability; (6) persistence (e.g. question repetition). Here too, significant differences were found: interviewers were more assertive and persistent in the ‘government formation’ interviews, while they used more hedges and prefacing in the ‘covid’ interviews. They were also more direct, assertive, opposing and persistent towards politicians. Stance-taking towards experts shifts, however, as their role evolves from mere ‘informer’ to ‘policy-influencer’. From these findings, we conclude that stance-taking by interviewers is contingent on the topic and the intent of the interview. In the government formation interviews, journalists use stance-taking to elicit reactions from politicians. In the covid interviews, the focus is (initially) on information gathering, with less stance-taking and more open questions. References [1] Montgomery, M. 2008. The discourse of the broadcast news interview. Journalism Studies 9(2): 260-277. [2] Seurens, L. 2015. Wat is een vraag? Neerlandistiek. [Online: neerlandistiek.nl/2015/01/wat-is-een-vraag/] [3] Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [4] Clayman, S., & Heritage, J. 2002. The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air. New York: Cambridge University Press. [5] Huls, E., & Varwijk, J. 2011. Political bias in TV interviews. Discourse & Society 22(1): 48-65.