‘It Was a Mascara Runnin’ Kinda Day’: Oprah Winfrey, Confession, Celebrity and the Formation of Trust (original) (raw)

Marshall, C & Pienaar, K. 2008. You are not alone': the discursive construction of the'suffering victim'identity on The Oprah Winfrey Show

Southern African Linguistics and Applied …, 2008

The Oprah Winfrey Show is widely recognised as the leading television talk show worldwide (Garson, 2004) and its appeal lies in its exploration of issues which have universal currency, such as relationship problems, gender-based violence and stories of survival. The Oprah Winfrey Show exploits the television talk show as a forum for public therapy where ordinary people and celebrities alike divulge their problems, successes and the intimate details of their private lives (Marshall, n.d.). In an attempt to understand how Winfrey has blurred the boundaries between public and private to create a modern-day public confessional, this paper explores a recurring theme on the show, the theme of suffering as it is exemplified in discourses used by guests, by Winfrey herself and by viewers. The study uses the APPRAISAL system (Martin & Rose, 2003) to analyse how the attitudinal language of the talk show constructs an identifiable victim whose narrative centres on overcoming suffering. The analysis reveals that expressions of Affect, Judgement and Appreciation are powerful mechanisms for legitimising the identity of the suffering victim. This paper argues that The Oprah Winfrey Show capitalises on the universality of suffering to promote therapeutic self-help for everyone, both ‘suffering victims’ (the guests on the talk show) and ‘potential victims’ (the viewers).

Trust and the Media: Arguments for the (Irr)elevance of a Concept

Journalism Studies, 2023

This article provides a discussion of some of the recent research onmedia trust focusing on arguments for why media trust matters.What are the arguments for why trust is important? Are therereasons to accept these arguments? We identify three distinctarguments in the literature. First, that it is important for mediaorganizations and for the media as an industry. Secondly, thatmedia trust is essential for democratic citizenship and forbringing forth informed individuals with the capacity for politicalengagement. Lastly, that media trust is similar to other forms of(social) trust and connected to a wider existential discussion onontological security. None of these arguments are totallyconvincing when inspected more closely and in light of empiricalresearch. The article thus concludes that there is a lack of strongarguments for why falling levels of trust in the news media arelegitimately described as a crisis or a problem. A supposed“trustcrisis”mainly exists when viewed from what must be describedas a rather narrow ideological and normative perspective

Brand - When Stories Seem Fake

When Stories Seem Fake. Tacit Mistrust in Domestic Violence Counselling in South Africa, 2018

While it is commonly agreed that trust plays a major role in counselling and therapeutic interventions, mistrust as a constitutive component has largely been overlooked in the literature.1 Drawing on ethnographic material obtained in urban South African women’s shelters and other institutions offering coun-selling to victims of domestic violence, this chapter discusses counsellors’ generalized mistrust towards women’s stories of abuse and the ways in which mistrust materializes in the counselling encounter.

An Analysis of the Political, Cultural and Spiritual Power of Oprah Winfrey

It goes without saying that Oprah Winfrey is a household name. She is one of the most recognizable public figures in America, and worldwide. Winfrey may not grace the television screens of Americans every day anymore, but she remains relevant as a black female both in political and cultural conversations. Winfrey is almost a transcendent public figure; “Embodied in Oprah Winfrey, and all she has wrought, are all the major themes of contemporary American life: race, gender, and consumerism; celebrity, power, and self-righteousness; optimism, jingoism, and altruism” (Harris & Watson, 2007). In order to understand Winfrey’s overarching impact on public life, it is important to understand how her upbringing and career shaped her.

An Analysis of Off Record Strategies Reflecting Politeness Implicature in “Oprah Winfrey Show”

JURNAL ARBITRER, 2017

This thesis discusses strategies off the record that describes implicatures modesty in a conversation. Off record strategy is one of the five strategies. This strategy is discussed for the use of the language used in the forms of direct.The object of research are strategies off the record that describes implicatures politeness in a famous talk show in America, namely,…

Rebuilding Trust The Texture of Values and Images in Iris Murdoch

S. Conti, • Rebuilding Trust. The Texture of Values and Images in Iris Murdoch, in “Contemporary Humanism Open Access Annals 2023”, pp. 88-93, Studium.

This contribution aims to delve into the philosophical and moral reflections of Iris Murdoch, highlighting the crucial role she assigns to trust in social cohesion and shared morality. The analysis unfolds in two phases: a historical-critical examination identifies the causes that Murdoch attributes to the actual current erosion of the social bond and trust, particularly focusing on a neoliberal tendency. In the second, more substantial and constructive phase, the text aims to elucidate the strategies that Murdoch promotes to restore bonds of trust through her ethics of vision. According to Murdoch, intrinsically valuable realities, such as virtuous individuals, great art, and perhaps the very idea of goodness, which possess authoritative and unifying imaginative power, may restore the meaning of human existence and thereby renew social trust.