Jana Hoffmannová

Who is Martin McGuinness? On Contextualizing Reported Political Talk

London, Sunday 23/10/1994. Our subject, Martin McGuinness, was in London for the first time in 22 years. When he returned to Northern Ireland, he left behind him, in Mondays newspapers, some interesting headlines. These are some of them: “Major backs unity, claims Sinn Fein” (Daily Mail), “Sinn Fein claims unity “assurance”“ (Times), “Sinn Fein deputy in united Ireland storm.” (Daily Mirror), “Row as Sinn Fein Boss Exploits End of Mainland Ban (Daily Express),“Sinn Fein stir “secret deal” row” (Today), “Boast over unity by McGuinness” and “Violence may return if IRA hopes are thwarted says McGuinness” (Daily Telegraph), “Bumpy Ride.” (Guardian), and “McGuinness stirs up a storm” (Phoblacht). So we know McGuinness is a deputy leader of Sinn Fein, but what did he do to raise such a storm? He was interviewed on the BBCtelevision programme “On the Record”. This goes out every Sunday lunch time, hosted by John Humphrys. Humphrys usually interviews a political figure of some importance.His aim, like that of all the TV hosts, is to maximise the ratings of his program; he achieves this by getting his politicians to make, in public, politically significant and if possible controversial claims. He is usually successful what his guests have said is regularly reported in the next day national papers, andother politicians react. In effect, many of his interviews are significant political events, not just entertainment.The programme audience members millions; this includes journalists, politicians, and analysts of discourse.