Steven Clayman is Associate Professor of Sociology and is affiliated with the Communication Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. His articles have appeared in the following journals: American Sociological Review; the American Journal of Sociology; the Journal of Communication; Media, Culture, and Society; and Research on Language and Social Interaction. John Heritage is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His publications include Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology (1984), Structures of Social Action, co-edited with Max Atkinson (Cambridge, 1984), and Talk at Work, co-edited with Paul Drew (Cambridge, 0521374898).

'… a welcome addition to the growing number of substantive studies into the local production of media discourse … an excellent introduction to, and summary of, the authors' and others' work gathered over a number of years, and places this in the context of the evolution of political programming and interviews in the USA and UK.' Journal of Sociolinguistics

• 1. Introduction; 2. The news interview in context; 3. Framing the news interview; 4. Taking turns and 'doing' news interview talk; 5. Defensible questioning; 6. Designing questions; 7. Answers and evasions; 8. The panel interview; 9. Conclusion: the future of the news interview.