Page 247 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

A Close-up of Yasar Nuri Öztürk on
the Ayse Özgün Talk Show

Every Friday morning for more than ¤ve years (between 1996 and 2001)
Yasar Nuri Öztürk has been an “expert guest” on a talk-show program hosted
by Ayse Özgün. The program itself is modeled after a very successful televi-
sion genre (usually recognized as having been invented by the American Phil
Donahue) which brings audiences into the studio as “real people”—an “audible
public”—to create a sense of participation in a communal event. In its formulaic
form, the talk-show format simulates a sort of town-hall meeting where topical
social, moral, and political issues are debated among “ordinary people,” with
the host or hostess dashing about with a microphone in hand to catch differ-
ent speakers, who give voice to different opinions among the members of the
(studio) audience. Visually the studio audience is constructed as the focus of
the show, and the ultimate success of the program is contingent on the audi-
ence’s involvement in controversy and argumentation—each person represent-
ing him- or herself to express reactions based on personal experience—on a va-
riety of topics ranging from problems of working women to drug abuse among
youth and criminality. The role of the host or hostess is that of “mediator,” al-
lowing everyone to speak his or her mind, while simultaneously orchestrating
the discussion so that of¤cially invited “guests” (luminaries often sitting in
panel formation) are invited to contribute their expert opinion.
Needless to say, there can be an enormous range of variation within this for-
mula. The size and composition of studio audiences can vary from a “living
room” with predominantly middle-class women, for instance, all the way to
“town meetings” with a conscious mix of gender and age groups from different
class backgrounds. Studio audiences may engage in a shouting match among
themselves, or they may act as polite commentators, or their function may be
limited to a select few who wait their turn at the microphone to recite a pre-
pared statement on a particular position. The implied dynamic between “expert
guests” (representing scienti¤c knowledge) vis-à-vis studio audiences (repre-
senting ordinary common sense) can be that of one-sided deference. Or the en-
tire program may be orchestrated (by the host or hostess) so that the status
of expertise is challenged by real-life testimonials and exposed as trivial or
pompous. And since the host or hostess is the trademark of the talk-show genre,
his or her choice and handling of topics, as well as performative style, is crucial
to the success of the formula. (Carpignano et al. 1990; Livingstone and Lunt
1994).
Home-grown versions of nearly all these variants have proliferated across
television screens in Turkey. But Ay se Özgun remains the ¤rst successful talk-
show hostess, both as the “trademark” and also the producer of her own pro-
grams. Her talk show has been remarkable for its longevity, aired every morning
on one of the major infotainment channels for more than ¤ve years. Although
her show is scheduled at a time when networks target female viewers, Ayse

236 Ayse Öncü