Article published in:
Argumentation in Journalism: Professional practices and the public sphere
Edited by Corina Andone and Andrea Rocci
[Journal of Argumentation in Context 5:1] 2016
► pp. 74–87

Delimiting the burden of proof in political interviews

| University of Amsterdam
This paper aims to contribute to an understanding of the politicians’ burden of proof in political interviews by explaining how politicians attempt to delimit the burden of proof which they acquire for their standpoints in response to criticism. As politicians always want to give a positive evaluation of their activities, they respond to the critics by delimiting their burden of proof in such a way that their standpoints are easy to defend. The research question to be answered is: How do politicians expediently delimit their burden of proof in political interviews in response to criticism? First, the author characterizes political interviews as accountability practices which by virtue of their institutional traits impose limits on the politicians’ burden of proof. Second, the author explains some of the possibilities for delimiting the burden of proof in the communicative practices at issue by analyzing in detail several fragments from a political interview.
Keywords: strategy, political interview, burden of proof
Published online: 24 March 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.5.1.04and
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

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