Analysis On The Features Of Communication Of The Television Talk Show Behind The Headlines With Wentao

Behind the Headlines with Wentao,a late night talk show produced by Phoenix TV,has been broadcasted for 18 years since 1st April,1998.During the past years,this talk show has won the hearts a broad audience because of many factors including the unique style of its host,selection of guests and topics and design of the scene,achieving a success that is unparalleled and difficult to be copied elsewhere.Behind the Headlines with Wentao has also stood out among all talk shows and been awarded“The 2008 Benchmark Brand in Chinese Media” by the Chinese edition of Columbia Journalism Review(the program was categorized as talk shows instead of interviews).The numerous awards the program received both home and abroad proved that it has not only won great reputation in the Chinese Mainland,Hong Kong and Taiwan regions,but also gained recognition from the international community.Ever since the show Tell It Like It Is met with the audience in 1996,talk shows have emerged as a shining star on television screens in mainland China.The star went through a process of rise and fall in the next 20 years,but the success of Behind the Headlines with Wentao doesn't happen by chance.Instead,it can be attributed to the help of various factors and can be looked into through different angles.Despite the dominance of comprehensive,systematic analysis on this program in today's academic circles,this thesis chose to focus on the features of communication of this program to analyze its success.By reviewing the entire 257 editions broadcasted in 2016,the author tries to conduct research by analyzing factors including the communicator,and the content and method of communication.In analyzing the features of the communicator,the author noticed that the “1+2” model,with a host that plays the partof the “winning factor” and two guests acting as the “opinion leader”,is the primary feature of the program and,at the same time,provides unique advantage in communication.Meanwhile,in analyzing the features of the content,the author found that through building up itself from the grassroots,the program offers diverse interpretations of hot issues,unique and reasonable opinions and a humanistic spirit,contributing greatly to guiding public opinion and constructing the public sphere.As for the methods of communication,Behind the Headlines with Wentao creates a unique scenario of interpersonal communication and combines it with corresponding approaches of mass communication,and a prose-like narration.Based on the above arguments,we will be able to obtain a clear picture of the features of communication of the program,and lay a good foundation for other programs to learn from it.