ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses broadcast interviews from the standpoint of the linguistic and interactional practices that comprise them, and what issues are at stake as media have evolved. It examines the media interview, before going on to review current research and explores future challenges in the field. The chapter deals with research in that area: turn-taking and participation; question design and journalistic norms; answering and resisting; and adversarial questions over time. It addresses other genres, mainly celebrity talk shows. The chapter shows that the significance of the media interview in shaping how public figures communicate with members of society, and the central role played by media professionals in this process. Most linguistic and discourse research on broadcast talk and interaction focuses on journalistic or news interviews. The most fundamental and pervasive characteristic of news interview interaction is that it unfolds as a series of questions and answers between interviewers and interviewees.
