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July 3, 2003
Rhetorical framing...
Jack Shafer offers free advice to guests of Tim Russert's Meet the Press about how to beat a tough interview. A set of instructions for constructing something also shows how to deconstruct that something. While Shafer's advice is certainly cogent, the real value may be found in its critical application.
From Shafer's perspective, Russert, commonly thought to be TV's toughest interviewer, appears to be just another TV entertainer.
Allow me to add another bit of advice: Don't allow Russert (or any TV interviewer) to frame a question without clarification; don't merely accept a question as valid. Shafer touches on this to some extent. I want to emphasize that questions are never innocent or politically neutral (this does not mean questions are always overtly biased). A question frames an issue by emphasizing some aspects of an issue over others. It's a rather easy matter to elicit the answer you want by framing the question just so, i.e. overt bias.
Constructing "neutral" questions takes real talent. Academics who employ survey instruments struggle to compose questions that do not lead respondents.
But TV interviewers do not need such talent. Or, rather, they need a different talent--well exposed by Shafer's take-down of Russert. You'll also notice that a talent for framing makes TV flame wars (a.k.a. TV news-talk) possible. How do you suppose FOX's Hannity & Colmes would change if Alan Colmes actually challenged Sean Hannity about the framing of a question.
Hmmmm...that might be even more entertaining.
Posted by acline at July 3, 2003 7:25 AM | | Spotlight