Private Talk in the Public Sphere: Podcasting as Broadcast Talk

Abstract

With the rise of participatory media such as podcasting consumers are increasingly providers of media content. Consequently, the discourse of individual citizens, rather than only that of media professionals and elite gatekeepers, contributes to the contemporary mediated public sphere. It would seem likely that this discourse would offer social roles and speaking positions that privilege the quotidian and subsequently reconfigure public discourse. This paper uses insights from conversation analysis to study a small sample of podcasts aggregated at The Podcast Network. It focuses on the uses of institutional speech forms and expert speaking positions within three examples of pro-am media production. Rather than a direct inversion of elite discourse, these examples demonstrate a complex mixing of the mundane talk of the everyday and the abstract speech of the expert. This paper argues that the significance of participatory media is therefore not merely the empowerment of non-professional or subjugated discourse, but lies in a complication of the naturalised politics of the public sphere.

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