ABSTRACT
This chapter explores listening, which represents an underlying thread of this book, yet one that is not immune to being distorted and co-opted by the spectacle of development. This chapter begins by establishing a definition of listening that goes beyond the physical act of hearing. While listening implies engaging in a dialogical process of meaning-making, listening can also be co-opted into a performative façade. This chapter borrows Dutta’s (2014) term, the façade of listening, and applies to how the spectacle of development shapes listening to suit its agenda. This chapter explores how this can take place before looking at specific examples from the research data, include the way broadcasters and audience members interpret development, and the way the stations themselves are complicit in perpetuating the spectacle.
