Article published In:
Journal of Argumentation in ContextVol. 5:2 (2016) ► pp.191–217
Maneuvering strategically in a press conference to diminish political responsibility for a critical event
The case of the soma mine disaster
It is an essential requirement of democracy that politicians provide account of their words and actions to the public. However, being able to account is especially important when a politician or the party he/she is representing is assumed responsible for a critical event that has undesirable consequences for the public. Under such a condition, political press conferences serve as an instrument for a politician to justify the position of the government by means of argumentation. By adopting the pragma-dialectical framework, this paper sets out to explain how a politician maneuvers strategically in a press conference for the purpose of diminishing political responsibility when his party which is in charge of the government is assumed responsible for a critical event. The paper draws its data from the political press conference held by Erdoğan, a former Prime Minister of Turkey, following the mine accident that took place in Soma, Turkey, in 2014.
References
Andone, C
2013 Argumentation in Political Interviews: Analyzing and Evaluating Responses to Accusations of Inconsistency. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 
2015 “The Burden of Proof in Dealing with Political Accountability.” In Persuasive Games in Political and Professional Dialogue, ed. by R. Săftoiu, M.-I. Neagu, and S. Măda, 19–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
APA (American Press Association)
Besette, J.M
2001 “Accountability: Political.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, ed. by N.J. Smelser and P.B. Baltes, 38–41. Retrieved from [URL]. DOI:
Bhatia, A
2006 “Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Press Conferences.” Discourse and Society 17 (2): 173–203.
Clayman, S
2006 “Arenas of Interaction in the New Media Era.” In News from the Interview Society, ed. by M. Ekström, Å. Kroon, and M. Nylund, 239–264. Göteborg: Nordicom.
Clayman, S., and Heritage, J
2002 The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CSGB
Dutwin, D
2003 “The Character of Deliberation: Equality, Argument, and the Formation of Public Opinion.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 15 (3): 239–264.
van Eemeren, F.H
2010 Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentative Discourse: Extending the Pragma-Dialectical Theory of Argumentation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
van Eemeren, F.H., and Grootendorst, R
2004 A Systematic Theory of Argumentation: The Pragma-dialectical Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
van Eemeren, F.H., and Houtlosser, P
1997 “Rhetorical Rationales for Dialectical Moves.” In Proceedings of the Tenth NCA/AFA Conference on Argumentation, ed. by J.F. Klumpp, 51–56. Annandale, VA: Speech Communication Association.
2002 “Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentative Discourse: Maintaining a Delicate Balance.” In Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp and Woof of Argumentation Analysis, ed. by F.H. van Eemeren and P. Houtlosser, 131–159. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
2005 “Theoretical Construction and Argumentative Reality: An Analytic Model of Critical Discussion and Conventionalised Types of Argumentative Activity.” In The Uses of Argument: Proceedings of a Conference at Mcmaster University, ed. by D. Hitchcock and D. Farr, 75–84. Hamilton, ON: Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation.
Erdem, K., and Solak, M
Eriksson, G
2011 “Follow-up Questions in Political Press Conferences.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 3331–3344.
Eshbaugh-Soha, M
2003 “Presidential Press Conferences over Time.” American Journal of Political Science 471: 348–353.
2012 “The Politics of Presidential Press Conferences.” American Politics Research 41 (3): 471–497.
Excerpts from President’s Remarks on Investigation into Attacks
God-given Nature
Retrieved May 27, 2015, from [URL]
Goffman, E
1986 Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press. (Original work published in 1974.)
Harris, S
1986 “Interviewers’ Questions in Broadcast Interviews.” In Belfast Working Papers in Language and Linguistics, ed. by J. Wilson and B. Crow, 50–85. Jordanstown: University of Ulster.
Hinck, E.A
1993 Enacting the Presidency: Political Argument, Presidential Debates, and Presidential Character. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Jasinski, J.L
2001 Sourcebook on Rhetoric: Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies. California: Sage.
Lanoue, D.J., and Schrott, P.R
1991 The Joint Press Conference: The History, Impact, and Prospects of American Presidential Debates. New York: Greenwood Press.
Sapir, E
1934 “Symbolism.” In Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, ed. by E.R.A. Seligman, 492–495. New York: Macmillan.
Smith, C
1990 Presidential Press Conferences: A Critical Approach. New York: Praeger Publishers.
TMMOB
2014 18 September. “TMMOB Soma maden kazası raporunu açıkladı [TMMOB declared the report on the Soma mine accident]”. In The official website of the Chamber of the Mining Engineers of Turkey. Retrieved June 26, 2015 from, [URL]
Thornborrow, J
2002 Power Talk: Language and Interaction in Institutional Discourse. London: Longman.
Zarefsky, D
2008 “Strategic Maneuvering in Political Argumentation.” Argumentation 221: 317–330.
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Hansson, Sten
2018. Analysing opposition–government blame games: argument models and strategic maneuvering. Critical Discourse Studies 15:3 ► pp. 228 ff. 
Hernández, Alfonso
2021. Journalists’ moves in political press conferences and their implications for accountability. Journal of Argumentation in Context 10:3 ► pp. 281 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.