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Article published In:
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Vol. 27:1 (2017) ► pp.121–157

Do important questions demand respectful replies?

Analyzing televised political interviews in Japan

 | Doshisha University, Japan
 | Waseda University, Japan
This paper examines the attributes of questions asked during televised political interviews in Japan. It details the type, style, and mode of questions posed during broadcast programs to national- and local-level politicians, and nonpoliticians, including experts in different areas. Based on data gathered during 2012–2013 from three interview programs, the paper provides criteria for identifying questions and distinguishing them from other expressions, differentiates the diverse types of questions, and proposes new criteria to analyze interviewers’ questions. Furthermore, the paper replicates and modifies the “Theory of Equivocation” to examine how Japanese interviewees cope with the communicative problems posed to them during televised political interviews and the effects of these questions on the interviewees’ replies.
Keywords: Political interviews, Television, Media discourse, Theory of Equivocation, Political issues, Japan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1The Interviews
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Detailing questions and their configuration
    • 2.4Examining Responses
    • 2.5Coding
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 23 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.27.1.07fel
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