The Analysis of Power Relations between Participants in The Oprah Winfrey Show Episode of J.K. Rowling (A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach)

ABSTRACT Mahardhika Bekti Prasetya. C0311029. The Analysis of Power Relations between Participants in The Oprah Winfrey Show Episode of J.K. Rowling (A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach). Thesis: English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Sebelas Maret University. This research was conducted to analyze the power relations between participants, the interviewer (the host) and the interviewee (the guest) in The Oprah Winfrey Show episode of J.K. Rowling. In this research, the way how the participants in The Oprah Winfrey Show demonstrate their power was described. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The data were collected by using criterion-based sampling. The source of data is the video of talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” taken from You Tube. The data in this research are all interactions during the interview which contains power struggle between participants. There are 23 data which were analyzed to reveal the power relation between the participants. Some results are found in this research. First, the relation between the interviewer and interviewee in the talk show is unequal. The interviewer dominates the interaction during the interview. The interviewee is restrained by the capabilities of the interviewer who is able to control the contribution of the interviewee. Second, some indicators of power which show the interviewer’s authority in controlling the interview are initiating the interaction, intiating the topic of the interaction, aligning the position of herself and the guest, providing questions, and performing interruptions. The interruptions are used by the interviewer to change the topic of the interviewer, to ask clarification, to give assessment, and to provide repairs. Meanwhile, the interviewee sometimes performs power struggles to gain power. The interviewee performs interruptions to take the control of the interview from the interviewer. In some occasion, the interviewee produces questions which cause a role-switching between the interviewer and the interviewee. However, the interviewer is always able to overcome the role-switching and retakes the control of the interviewe. Third, the interviewer is the one who has more power within the interview. The interviewer sets and maintains her position as the one who controls the interview within the talk show. Keywords: critical discourse analysis, talk show, power relations.