Abstract—This is a case study on the power relations in TV
news interviews, aiming at studying the interaction in TV news
interviews between interviewers and interviewees in terms of
power relations. Given the significant relationship between
language and power, this study adopts Fairclough’s analytical
framework to conduct a critical discourse analysis to four
Chinese TV news interviews. Data analysis is carried out from
three aspects, the description of textual features, the
interpretation of the situational context and discourse type and
the explanation of social determinants that contribute to the
power relations in discourse.
Findings based on the above analysis show that 1) the power
relations between interviewers and interviewees in these four
TV news interviews are generally equal, but interviewers still
possess more power than interviewees at average; 2) power are
exercised through discourse by the using of interrogative
clauses, interruptions, formulations, as well as initiating turns
and controlling topics; 3) the discourse type as news interview
entitles journalists, the interviewers, with some natural right to
exercise power, with the purpose of fulfilling their duty to cover
news issue; 4) social factors like higher social status which
derives from profession and age give interviewees more power
than interviewers and shape the power relations in these
interviews.
These findings have some theoretical and practical
implications for interpersonal communications and journalism,
as well as limitations for future improvements.
Index Terms—Chinese TV news interview, critical discourse
analysis, power relation.
Wenjie Huang is with the Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
(e-mail: crisyhuang1999@163.com).
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Cite:Huang Wenjie, "A Critical Discourse Analysis to Power Relations in Chinese TV News Interviews: A Case Study," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 117-125, 2019.