Intercultural Communication as an Integral Part and Tool of the Interview

Abstract

The author analyses Russian and foreign methods and tactics of television interviewing from the standpoint of cross-cultural communication, taking into account the mentality of journalists, as well asthe personality and attitudes of their guests’ and viewers’, who sometimes represent different models of communication and interview traditions. The first part of the article defines the unwritten rules of intercultural communication, common and understandable for everyone who is able to conduct a functional dialogue of a person. The second part identifies the problems that may arise during a television interview under the circumstances when the interviewer, the interviewee, and the viewer represent different established communication models. The third and fourth parts of the article deal with specific cases of communication problems in television interviews, both publicly acknowledged and from the author’s private practice. Along the study, the author outlines certain differences between the current attitude upon the role of mass media in Russia and the Western countries