Adversarial Challenges and Responses in Greek Political Interviews: A Case Study

Abstract

Previous research on media discourse in Greek television has indicated that informal conversation features in the conversational practices of hosts in TV (panel) discussion programmes and prime time news discourse either echo the attested conversationalization of the genre (Patrona 2006, 2009) or create an atmosphere of solidarity (Tzanne 2001). This article provides a data-driven analysis of adversarial challenges and responses to them in a different genre – the Greek political news interview. Within this political interview, the journalist tends to challenge the interviewee by: 1) predicting the interviewee’s answer and immediately after finishing his question explicitly asking him not to answer along specific lines, 2) explicitly stating that the interviewee either repeats himself when answering or has given an evasive answer, 3) using colloquial language, jokes and layman’s words as the outside source (footing), 4) presenting contrasting opinions as a ‘matter of personal disagreement.’  In turn, the interviewee responds by: 1) issuing direct attacks on the interviewer as a professional, 2) issuing indirect attacks on the interviewer as a person, 3) using questions to answer a question. It is argued that, within the context of this Greek political news interview, co-participants (re)shape the ever-changing confrontational institutional norm of the political news interview, co-constructing a new form of neutralism.