How do celebrities respond to criticism in media interviews? The case of an Egyptian TV show

Figures & data

Figure 1. Proposed model for criticism-response strategies in media interviews

Table 1. Frequency of criticism-response strategies

Strategy	Number	Frequency
Agreement	10	2%
Explanation	10	2%
Offer to repair	4	1%
Total acceptance	24	5%
Agreement with one part	4	1%
Partial acceptance	4	1%
Disagreement	78	16%
Justifying speaker’s action	82	17%
Justifying critic’s comment	23	5%
Expressing surprise	4	1%
Criticizing the critic	46	9%
Providing counter-evidence	120	24%
Irony	19	4%
Indicating a standard	46	9%
Correction	21	4%
Seeking evidence	17	3%
Total resistance	456	92%
Digression	10	2%

Figure 2. Number of criticism-response strategies

Table 2. Frequency of combinations of criticism-response strategies

Combination of Strategies	Number	Frequency
Disagreement + Justifying speaker’s action	10	6.8%
Disagreement + Providing counter-evidence	8	5.5%
Disagreement + Justifying speaker’s action + Providing counter-evidence	5	3.4%
Agreement + Explanation	4	2.7%
Justifying critic’s comment + Providing counter-evidence + Indicating a standard	4	2.7%
Justifying speaker’s action	4	2.7%
Providing counter-evidence	4	2.7%
Disagreement + Justifying critic’s comment + Indicating a standard	3	2.1%
Disagreement + Correction	3	2.1%
Justifying speaker’s action + Criticizing the critic	3	2.1%
Justifying speaker’s action + Providing counter-evidence	3	2.1%
Providing counter-evidence + Indicating a standard	3	2.1%

Table 3. T-test results for the effect of gender on the criticism-response strategies

Strategy	Gender	Mean	SD	T	Sig
Partial Acceptance	Male	0.0000	0.00000	−2.043	0.043
	Female	0.0548	0.22915
Indicating a Standard	Male	0.2192	0.41655	−2.194	0.030
	Female	0.4110	0.61994
Correction	Male	0.0548	0.22915	−3.148	0.002
	Female	0.2329	0.42559

Table

Type	Examples
1. Total acceptance:
a. Agreement	“Yeah, that’s right” (NE), “yeah I haven’t paragraphed it” (L).
b. Offer of repair	“I won’t do that next time” (L), “I’ll pay attention to it” (L), “I’ll make it more simple” (L).
c. Seeking help	“How would you change if you were me?” (L), “What is the best way to reorganize?” (L), “Can you give me some advice?” (L), “What you would have done differently?” (NE)
d. Admission of difficulty	“I didn’t know what to write then” (NE), “I’ve never been good at that” (NE).
e. Explanation	“I was just trying to make it to the word limit. I had written all I had wanted to say, yet still hadn’t reached the word limit. So I had to add in words to make up for it” (NE).
f. Complimenting	“You know when I talk about my ah my own writing I think we should be ah (.) I should have used some kind of opposing ideas, that is in the case because I can LEARN this from your ah your writing” (L).
2. Partial acceptance:
a. Agreement with one part and disagreement with another	“I think sometimes my essay lacks in kind words but as a whole my essay is coherent” (L).
b. Offer of alternatives to the critic’s suggestions	“But I think I should use general examples, not specific examples” (L).
3. Total resistance:
a. Disagreement	“Well, regarding this point, I don’t think adding something about my own experience would really increase the value of my argument” (NE), “I think I used enough and relevant linking words” (L).
b. Return of criticism	“As we talk about structures I also want to say that you used only ‘That’ structure. That, that, that, that all the time” (NV).
c. Justification	“I thought that putting in thoe points were relevant as they explained my argument further” (NE).
d. Seeking evidence	“Could you point out where?” (L), “In what way did I wander off track?” (NE)
e. Opting out	Anything else?

L, Learner; NE, English native speaker; NV, Vietnamese native speaker.

Table

Strategy	Definition	Example
Agreement	The speaker expresses agreement to the critic’s comment.	Hostess: They said that you did not have enough experience to handle this episode. Celebrity: Certainly, certainly, that’s for sure
Explanation	The speaker explains why s/he actually commits the action under criticism.	Hostess: They said that you hate the press. Celebrity: … … … … … … … When I got married, a news headline read that I joined the divorced club after two months of marriage. This was because I had joined a TV series with the title “The Divorced Women.” And so many other headlines bother me. They write strange headlines … why so?
Offer to repair	The speaker proposes a way to repair his/her action which was criticized.	Hostess: They said that you did not have enough experience to handle this episode. Celebrity: … … … … … … … . If I were to go through the same situation with the same guest now, I wouldn’t tell him, “Go” if he said “I’d like to go.”
Total acceptance	A main category including agreement, explanation and offer to repair.
Agreement with one part	The speaker expresses partial agreement to the criticism.	Hostess: They said that you regret criticizing the January rebels. Celebrity: I don’t regret my opinion, but I regret the way I expressed it
Partial acceptance	A main category including total acceptance.
Disagreement	The speaker disagrees to the criticism.	Hostess: They said that you insult people in the studio. Celebrity: No, I never say bad words at work.
Justifying the speaker’s action	The speaker rejects the criticism and justifies why his/her action is acceptable.	Hostess: They said that you were trying to get close to a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in this phone call. Celebrity: … … … … … … . I am a journalist. I meet everyone and interview everyone. I am not a politician. I am not a member of a political party. And if he gets out of jail, I’ll meet him and interview him. This is just normal.
Justifying the critic’s comment	The speaker rejects the criticism and explains why the critic cited this criticism.	Hostess: They said that you insult people in the studio. Celebrity: … … … . What this actress said is untrue. Her role consisted of 4 scenes. When she read the scenario, she said she’d do it. After she played the role, she thought that this was too little. You see? So, she claimed that I insulted her and removed her role.
Expressing surprise	The speaker expresses surprise to the criticism.	Hostess: They said that your hot scenes at the movies made men run away from you. Celebrity: Run away from me?!!
Criticizing the critic	The speaker expresses criticism against the critic.	Hostess: [This actor] said that you criticized the revolution, but then celebrated its success. Celebrity: [This actor] turned out to be a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood … . He and others, receiving fund to instigate the people, were issuing daily statements of insults against us because nobody at that time imagined that the media of Egypt could point out to the conspiracy.
Providing counter-evidence	The speaker provides evidence to prove the criticism wrong.	Hostess: They said that you have a grudge against the Ministry of Interior. Celebrity: The only one in Egypt, and your TV channel stands as a witness, … . who kept defending the Ministry of Interior and its people during the January 25 Revolution throughout the first 18 days was me. People even called me “the Ministry of Interior’s guy.”
Irony	The speaker makes fun of the criticism.	Hostess: They said that your marriages are all marriages of convenience. Celebrity: Certainly. This is a must. My first husband, the film producer, made me 40 films … . I was looking for my interests from the first day.
Indicating a standard	The speaker indicates a standard that the criticism fails to fulfill.	Hostess: They said that you have a grudge against the Ministry of Interior. Celebrity: … … … … … … The Ministry of Interior must accept criticism as much as it accepts praise.
Correction	The speaker mentions information that provides correction to the criticism.	Hostess: They said that you were trying here to please the Muslim Brotherhood. Celebrity: … … … … … … … I was trying to serve my country and wanted my country’s best interests.
Seeking evidence		Hostess: They said that you play seductive movie roles to gain wide fame. Celebrity: Where are these seductive roles? I don’t know of any seductive roles for me. Where are these seductive roles?
Total resistance	A main category including disagreement, justifying the speaker’s action, justifying the critic’s comment, expressing surprise, criticizing the critic, providing counter-evidence, irony, indicating a standard, seeking evidence and correction.
Digression	The speaker provides information that does not directly address the criticism.	Hostess: They said that you agreed to let your guest leave the studio to make ends meet. Celebrity: I am happy that you started [the show] with such fierce attack.