Microphone-pavement

The microphone-pavement is generally a journalistic technique which consists in questioning targeted people, in the street, to ask them a question and to collect their spontaneous opinion about a subject.

The question is always the same one for each questioned person. She can be closed, i.e. to ask an answer which is “yes” or “not” or “for” or “against” with a sales leaflet; or then opened, i.e. to ask developed answers, for example: “that you think of… ”, “what it is necessary to make for… ”.

By the implicit spontaneousness of the reactions obtained, a microphone-pavement is used to give an outline of the public opinion in fields varied, for example the opinion on a country, or a political idea.

Use in the media

The microphone-pavement, which in the journalese is transformed into “microphone-trott”, is largely used out of radio and television to enrich a report by “sounds” (testimonys). Testimonys of a microphone-pavement are generally inserted in a general subject. This technique in particular makes it possible to illustrate or make more alive one difficult subject while mixing, for example, the opinion of specialists and testimonys of people of the street.

In order to find people agreeing to answer their (S) question (S), the journalists generally carry out their microphone-pavement on the markets or in commercial streets. In the event of subject related to the topicality of a place, the microphone-pavement could be carried out in a station one day of strike of the railroads or museum the day of opening of a new exposure.

The microphone-pavement can also be the subject of a particular treatment. Thus, the French daily newspaper the Parisian one/Aujourd'hui in France illustrates each day an important subject of topicality with the Voix express train , a recurring heading of five testimonys (with photograph).

It is about an often décrié kind because putting forward the personal opinions at the detriment of the work of investigation.

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