Structural Organization of Turn Taking on News Gang Talk Show Aired on Thursday’s Night at Citizen Television; Kenya

Abstract

This paper analyzed the structural organization of turn taking on News Gang talk show aired on Thursday’s night at Citizen Television; Kenya. One of the institutions that have shown growth in terms of proliferations in Kenya is the media. Talk shows as genre on television and radio have become a major arena for the discussions of current issues in the country. Such a setting warrants a linguistic research that may reveal some interesting findings. The study applied Sacks, Shegloff and Jefferson (1974) Conversational Analysis theoretical framework. The study adopted a qualitative research design. Data was collected using notes, direct viewing and audio recording, document review. The News Gang episodes were purposively sampled. Data analysis was analyzed qualitatively by means of content analysis. The study established that News Gang talk show talk shows an identifiable structure that is routinely organized into three phases: opening, body and closing that are used to create a genre. The study therefore concludes that News Gang talk show displays a stable organization structure and the main purpose of News Gang talk show is to inform, entertain and to exchange ideas and opinions on current issues. The study recommends TV talk shows should find a way of incorporating the viewer’s opinions for it to be a more effective tool of communication to the public.