The sequential organisation of South African business-news interview openings

Abstract

The principal aim of this research article is to explore whether the discourse features of news interview openings identified by Clayman (1991) are replicated in opening segments of South African business-news interview talk. An important justification for this discourse-based study derives from the fact that there is at present little information available about the formal organisation of South African news interview openings. Moreover, it is shown that the study of news interview openings is regarded, not as an end in itself, but as a means of enabling language practitioners to pinpoint the knowledge and skills news interviewer trainees need to initiate news interview interaction.