Interview bites in television news production and presentation - PDF document

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233185997 Interview bites” in television news production and presentation Article in Journalism Practice · December 2010 DOI: 10.1080/17512781003711348 CITATIONS READS 24 115 2 authors: Asa Kroon Mats Ekström Örebro University University of Gothenburg 24 PUBLICATIONS 245 CITATIONS 84 PUBLICATIONS 2,206 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Political Socialization and Human Agency View project Post-television practices: Reinventing broadcasting and print media with the use of web TV View project All content following this page was uploaded by Asa Kroon on 02 March 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

This article was downloaded by: [Orebro University] On: 26 January 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 920401813] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journalism Practice Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t762290976 “INTERVIEW BITES” IN TELEVISION NEWS PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION Åsa Kroon Lundell; Mats Ekström First published on: 03 November 2010 To cite this Article Kroon Lundell, Åsa and Ekström, Mats(2010) '“INTERVIEW BITES” IN TELEVISION NEWS PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION', Journalism Practice, 4: 4, 476 — 491, First published on: 03 November 2010 (iFirst) To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/17512781003711348 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512781003711348 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

‘‘INTERVIEW BITES’’ IN TELEVISION NEWS PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION ˚ sa Kroon Lundell and Mats Ekstro A ¨m This study focuses on how interviewees’ utterances are used as resources in news production processes. We examine how these communicative units, here labelled ‘‘interview bites’’, are integrated in every major aspect of the news production process as well as in the presentation of news reports. Basically, we argue that an interview bite operates in three distinct ways, as (1) a format, (2) a mental representation, and (3) an artefact. Although we claim that it has these different functions, the three dimensions interact and collectively work as powerful motivations for the choices made by reporters throughout the news production process. The data are gathered Downloaded By: [Orebro University] At: 12:53 26 January 2011 from field observations of Swedish reporters’ work at a major news desk and from in-depth reporter interviews. Theoretically, the study re-visits Clayman’s (1995) considerations for enhancing quotability: narrative relevance, conspicuousness and extractability. While maintaining these three basic cornerstones of what makes certain statements quote-worthy, a re-definition of the rationale behind each consideration is needed in order to make them relevant for our understanding of everyday news production practices. KEYWORDS broadcast; interview; interview bite; news; quotes; sound bite Introduction A good deal of a reporter’s daily news work is oriented towards researching for suitable interviewees, collecting voices on tape and editing them for use in recorded news reports (Ekstro ¨m and Kroon Lundell, forthcoming). This paper focuses on recorded (or to-be- recorded) interview replies * here labelled ‘‘interview bites’’ * and how they are used as communicative resources in television news reports. We want to examine how the management of interview bites are integrated in every major aspect of the news production process. We believe this ambition calls for a multi-methodological mix (combining observations, interviews and textual analyses), an approach which sets our study apart from other studies on broadcast ‘‘quoting practices’’ (although see Nylund, 2006). In research, short answers inserted into broadcast news reports are in general included in the established concept ‘‘sound bite’’. Just as the interview is seen as ‘‘the fundamental act of contemporary journalism’’ (Schudson, 1994, p. 565), sound bites have, since Hallin’s (1992) much cited study, been identified as fundamental in, and for, broadcast news stories (Ekstro ¨m, 2001; Eriksson, 2006). They have also been thought of as characteristic of an interventionist kind of journalism (Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001). This means that the use of sound bites implies a more independent journalistic positioning in relation to sources’ voices. Statements, along with a mixture of voices, are used as raw material in the construction of what is essentially the reporter’s own story (Hallin, 1992; cf. Eriksson, 2006, and in press; Nylund, 2003a). However, sound bites do not necessarily derive from interviews but may be collected from a variety of contexts. In our study, we Journalism Practice, Vol. 4, No 4, 2010, 476 � 491 ISSN 1751-2786 print/1751-2794 online – 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17512781003711348

477 ‘‘INTERVIEW BITES’’ IN TELEVISION NEWS exclusively examine how interview utterances, what we choose to call ‘‘interview bites’’, are managed in television news production. Apart from tracing the use of interview bites and how these practices influence the processes of news production, our study sets itself apart from others by analysing the management of interview answers from an everyday news production perspective. With the use of observations of, and interviews with, working reporters throughout the production of news reports, we capture the entire process of producing, selecting and presenting answers from various interviewees for Aktuellt , a major Swedish news programme. By also conducting in-depth interviews with reporters at the news desk during a two-week field study, we gathered a rich empirical ground on which to discuss the practice of quoting from interviews in broadcast news. The ways in which journalistic practices are ‘‘interview bite-oriented’’ will be illustrated by presenting one news report and its materialisation from beginning to end with a special focus on how interview bites are managed throughout its production. In analogy with Fairclough (1995, p. 50), we believe there is a need to ‘‘analyse news production as transformations across chained Downloaded By: [Orebro University] At: 12:53 26 January 2011 communicative events’’. In addition, as we draw our conclusions, we will re-visit Clayman’s (1995) three basic considerations behind journalists’ selection of quotations and sound bites; narrative relevance, conspicuousness and extractability. In contrast to Clayman, we examine the production, selection and presentation of everyday quotes (i.e. interview bites) rather than extraordinary ‘‘defining moments’’ extracted from important political events. Given our focus on the everyday journalistic production of news stories based around the practice of interviewing, we believe it justifiable to propose an adjustment of the rationale behind each one of the three identified considerations while still maintaining their relevance as overarching conceptual categories. Theory and Literature In the early 1990s, Bell (1991, p. 210) stated that ‘‘how an interview becomes a news story still needs investigation’’. We believe that this is still a relevant area of research as there is much to learn about news selection processes in general, and more specifically, about the meanings that are ascribed to these processes by the practitioners themselves. Broadly speaking, our study links into classic newsroom work conducted by Tuchman (1978), Gans (1979), Fishman (1980) and others in the same tradition who have emphasised the cultural and social constructionist aspects of news making. However, we will narrow our theoretical frame to research dealing with the representation of sources’ utterances in different media. When examining the use of interview bites and their representations, the conceptualisations vary depending on the kind of media in which they are reproduced. In the press, both media scholars and journalists speak of quotes from sources, often from interviews. Quotes are used for confirmation, evaluation, criticism and to enhance a sense of presence (Ekstro ¨m, 2006; Nylund, 2003a). They lend legitimacy to a story or make it possible for the reporter to distance herself from what, for example, might appear to be a provocative statement (Tuchman, 1978, p. 96). Quotations make a story come alive. ‘‘They can capture personality and reveal inner feelings. They generate emotion. They let the journalist ‘show’ rather than tell’’ (Martin, 2007, p. 5).