Think-Aloud Reading: Selected Audiences’ Concurrent Reaction to the Implied Audience in Political Commentary

This chapter investigates how selected audiences react to the implied audience in Danish political print newspaper commentary. When introducing the concept of second persona, Edwin Black only uses vague expressions like “vector of influence” and “the pull of an ideology” about the impact of the discursive audience construction, but instead of taking this for granted. Bengtsson uses think-aloud protocol as a way of studying an audience’s reaction, getting a better grasp of how people understand, interpret and negotiate commentator discourse. The study finds that while some people engage in the implied audience offered, others have strong negative reactions refusing to take it upon them. The study shows how readers react to the commentators postulating manner and call for arguments to use in discussions with family and friend.