WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/westminsterresearch The production and mediatisation of political talk television in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom Neil Stevenson Faculty of Media, Arts and Design This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © The Author, 2015. This is an exact reproduction of the paper copy held by the University of Westminster library. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] The Production and Mediatisation of Political Talk Television in The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom Neil James Stevenson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2015 Abstract This thesis is a cross-national study that investigates political talk television. The first and main part looks at political talk show production. By talking to senior political talk producers working in different countries, newsrooms and political talk shows, this study constructs a general framework – involving structural, agency, and ideational factors – which explains how political talk shows are produced, and more importantly, why they appear the way they do. The thesis argues that the traditional divide between structures and agency needs to be abolished to truly understand news production. A typology of talk is constructed – parliamentary talk, participatory talk and advocacy talk – which demonstrates that although the general production framework applies to all shows, different forms of talk are more or less responsive to different production elements. The second part interrogates the content of political talk shows by looking at marketisation and mediatisation. To what extent can marketisation and mediatisation explain political talk content? A cross-national methodology is employed that categorises the three countries according to their marketisation levels. The relationship between marketisation and mediatisation is then examined in a qualitative content analysis of political talk shows. Evidence suggests that American talk is more mediatised than British or Australian talk – it is more interpretive, more likely to view politics as a game, more likely to personalise politics, and more likely to rely on aesthetic aspects – and some weaker evidence shows British talk as slightly less mediatised than Australian talk, in-line with marketisation expectations. However, no relationship has been identified between more or less commercial news institutions and mediatisation of political talk content other than to conclude that advocacy talk is the most mediatised style of talk overall. These results highlight that the antecedent of mediatisation is most evident at the macro level of analysis. However, they also point to a problem with the mediatisation theory at lower levels of analysis: political talk is at least partly a mediatised format, but the drivers of this mediatisation do not relate simplistically to more or less marketisation because institutional marketisation does not relate to mediatisation of content, and therefore, the mediatisation of political talk shows might very well relate to wider cultural and political factors. i Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i List of Tables ................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. viii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 2 Political communication in post-broadcast democracy................................................... 2 Political talk television and research focus ..................................................................... 4 Structure ........................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2: Marketisation ................................................................................................ 11 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 11 Marketisation theory and broadcasting ....................................................................... 11 Marketisation in cross-national perspective ................................................................. 14 Marketisation and regulation ................................................................................... 14 Tabloidisation........................................................................................................... 15 Mediatisation ........................................................................................................... 18 Discussion: marketisation and mediatisation ............................................................... 24 Marketisation, mediatisation, and political talk ............................................................ 25 News fragmentation and the democratic implications of political talk ..................... 25 National contexts and regulation ............................................................................. 26 Media institutions .................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: News production and political talk television ................................................ 29 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 29 Television and political media ...................................................................................... 29 Fragmentation ............................................................................................................. 30 Fragmentation and political talk shows .................................................................... 33 Defining political talk television.................................................................................... 34 The anatomy of political talk television ........................................................................ 35 Rationale: The production of political talk .................................................................... 37 News production and talk ............................................................................................ 38 ii Primary insights from broadcast news production ................................................... 38 Broadcast talk .............................................................................................................. 43 Primary insights........................................................................................................ 43 Political talk television: past research ........................................................................... 47 The production of political talk television ..................................................................... 48 Conclusion: communicative ethos and political talk ..................................................... 50 Chapter 4: Comparative methodology ............................................................................ 52 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 52 Why go comparative? .................................................................................................. 52 Comparative approaches to the media ........................................................................ 53 A better comparative approach ................................................................................... 57 Comparative methodology and political talk ................................................................ 58 Selection of cases ......................................................................................................... 59 Similarity and difference .......................................................................................... 60 Countries in comparative context ................................................................................ 61 Sociological-economic factors .................................................................................. 61 Political factors........................................................................................................