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RHETORIC, POLITICS AND SOCIETY EA d ite G d bo ys As ni dp r e aP Mo c l D i ot ni nc e ll · A d a m S i l v e r A Gossip Politic Edited by Andrea McDonnell Adam Silver Rhetoric, Politics and Society Series Editors Alan Finlayson, University of East Anglia, Norfolk, UK James Martin, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK Kendall R. Phillips, Syracuse University, Syracuse, USA Rhetoric lies at the intersection of a variety of disciplinary approaches and methods, drawing upon the study of language, history, culture and philosophy to understand the persuasive aspects of communication in all its modes: spoken, written, argued, depicted and performed. This series presents the best international research in rhetoric that develops and exemplifies the multifaceted and cross-disciplinary exploration of prac- tices of persuasion and communication. It seeks to publish texts that openly explore and expand rhetorical knowledge and enquiry, be it in the form of historical scholarship, theoretical analysis or contemporary cultural and political critique. The editors welcome proposals for mono- graphsthatexplorecontemporaryrhetoricalforms,rhetoricaltheoriesand thinkers, and rhetorical themes inside and across disciplinary boundaries. For informal enquiries, questions, as well as submitting proposals, please contact the editors: Alan Finlayson: a.fi[email protected] James Martin: [email protected] Kendall Phillips: [email protected] · Andrea McDonnell Adam Silver Editors A Gossip Politic Editors Andrea McDonnell Adam Silver Communication Political Science and International Providence College Relations Providence, RI, USA Emmanuel College Boston, MA, USA ISSN 2947-5147 ISSN 2947-5155 (electronic) Rhetoric, Politics and Society ISBN 978-3-031-15118-7 ISBN 978-3-031-15119-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15119-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such namesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreefor general use. Thepublisher,theauthors,andtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinforma- tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen made.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmaps and institutional affiliations. Cover credits: CSA Images/Vetta/Getty Images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgments Weareespeciallythankfulfortheeffortsofthecontributors,whoseschol- arshiphasbroughtthistopictolifewithrigorandspirit,andwhosegood humor throughout the editorial process has made work on this project a pleasure and a privilege. We are grateful for the support from members of the editorial team at Palgrave, especially Shreenidhi Natarajan, who helped see the book through to completion. We also wish to thank Zachary Lebreiro and Madison Suitor for their diligence and assistance throughout the research process. Special thanks to the Ross Priory Broadcast Talk Seminar Group, whose innovative interdisciplinary spirit has fostered a number of the projects contained in this volume, and to the Political Science depart- ments at Providence College and Emmanuel College for their ongoing support of our scholarly endeavors. v Contents 1 Introduction 1 Andrea McDonnell and Adam Silver Part I Gossip and the Press 2 The Omigod no! Notes on News Talk 11 Paddy Scannell 3 Talk as News on Television 27 Michael Higgins 4 The Celebrity Interview: Gossip, Empathy and News in Oprah Winfrey’s CBS Interview with Meghan Markle 43 Jin Shen and Martin Montgomery Part II Gossip and the President 5 Hedda Hopper Meets JFK: Hollywood Gossip, Right-Wing Politics, and the Kennedys 67 Jennifer Frost 6 “Enquiring Minds Want to Know”: President Bill Clinton and the Blurring of News and Gossip 83 Jennifer Hopper vii viii CONTENTS 7 A Trickle-Down Effect of Foreign Policy on Domestic Narratives: Populism and Trump’s Espousal of Conspiracy and Gossip to “Make America Great Again” 99 Prashant Rastogi Part III Gossip and the Public 8 Media Framing of the Christine Blasey Ford Testimony: The Influence of Gossip on Sexual Violence Discourses 117 Madison A. Pollino 9 The Marriages of Celebrity Politicians: A Social Semiotic Approach to How Commenters Affiliate Around YouTube Gossip Videos 133 Olivia Inwood and Michele Zappavigna 10 GossipontheHill:Bonding,Bitching,andPoliticians’ Home Style on Twitter 155 Andrea McDonnell and Adam Silver Index 177 Notes on Contributors Frost Jennifer teaches US history at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and is the author of Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism. HigginsMichaelisSeniorLecturerandProgrammeLeaderinMediaand CommunicationattheUniversityofStrathclydeinScotland.Hisresearch focuses on the manner in which media and culture influences the political realm. Recently, this has concentrated on the rise of aggressiveness and conflict in media, including his book Belligerent Broadcasting (with Angela Smith, 2017). Michael’s other books include Media and Their Publics (2008), The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture (2010) and The Language of Journalism (with Angela Smith, 2nd ed, 2020). HopperJenniferisanAssociateProfessorofPoliticalScienceatSouthern Connecticut State University where she regularly teaches courses in American Government, the US Presidency, Congress and the Legislative Process, and Media & Politics. She is the author of Presidential Framing in the 21st Century News Media: The Politics of the Affordable Care Act (Routledge, 2017). Her scholarship has also appeared in White House Studies, Social Science History, and the International Journal of Commu- nication. Her research interests focus on political communication, the presidency, and the US news media, particularly as they relate to health care politics and policy. ix x NOTESONCONTRIBUTORS InwoodOlivia isaPh.D.CandidateintheSchooloftheArtsandMedia attheUniversityofNewSouthWales.Hercurrentresearchusesmethods inSystemicFunctionalLinguisticstoexploreissuesofmis/disinformation and deceptive communication on YouTube. In 2018, she graduated with FirstClassHonoursinMedia,Culture,andTechnology,writingherthesis onblockchaintechnologystart-upsfromasocialsemioticperspective.She has research articles written with Associate Professor Michele Zappavigna recently published in Discourse & Communication and Social Semiotics. McDonnell Andrea is Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Communication Minor at Providence College, USA, where her research examines the relationship between celebrity culture andmediaaudiences.SheistheauthorofReadingCelebrityGossipMaga- zines (2014), and co-author, with Susan Douglas, of Celebrity: A history offame (2019).HerresearchhasappearedinPsychologyofPopularMedia Culture and Critical Studies in Media Communication and has been featured in the New York Times, E! News, NPR, Buzzfeed, and the BBC. Montgomery Martin is Emeritus Professor of Literary Linguistics at the University of Macau, China, and Visiting Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. He has writtenwidelyonlanguageandthemedia—especiallyonaspectsofbroad- cast talk. His latest book is Language, Media, and Culture: The Key Concepts, published by Routledge. Pollino Madison A. is a Doctoral Student in Media and Communica- tion at Bowling Green State University. Her research uses critical, queer, and feminist frameworks to examine the role of culture in contemporary discourses regarding gendered violence. She is interested in how hegemonic representations of gender, race, and class influence societal perceptions of gendered violence as well as one’s decision to disclose their experiences in interpersonal relationships. She has published work inCriticalStudiesinMediaCommunication,CommunicationEducation, Feminist Media Studies, and Qualitative Inquiry. Rastogi Prashant is a Doctoral Candidate at O.P. Jindal Global Univer- sity, India, and a Geopolitical Risk Analyst for WoRisGo. His research lies at the intersection of International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies with research areas including Conflict Resolution, Populism, RebelCommunication,Terrorism,PublicDiplomacy,andForeignPolicy.