Livingstone, Sonia 
ORCID: 0000-0002-3248-9862
(2010)
Giving people a voice: on the critical role of the interview in the history of audience research.
Communication, Culture & Critique, 3 (4).
pp. 566-571.
ISSN 1753-9129
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Abstract
Inspired by the “Keywords in Communication” theme of the 2009 ICA conference, this paper observes the pivotal role played by “the interview” in the history of audience research. Although interviewing implies bidirectionality, research following Lazarsfeld constructed the powerful interviewer and obedient interviewee, a tradition challenged by the critical turn in reception studies and its emphasis on interviewee expertise. This enabled research to pose crucial challenges to media and communication theory through giving the audience a voice. Yet today, this challenge risks being undermined as textbooks emphasize traditional methods, as the analysis of new media repositions mass audiences as “passive,” and as researchers seem reluctant in practice to go out and talk to the public.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(IS... |
| Additional Information: | © 2010 International Communication Association |
| Divisions: | Media and Communications |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Feb 2013 16:18 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2024 23:49 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/48832 |
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