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[[File:Interview.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A vox pop interview]]
[[File:Interview.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A vox pop interview]]

American television personality [[Steve Allen]] as the host of ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' further developed the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter – unrehearsed persons, not selected in any way. As such, broadcast journalists almost always refer to them as the abbreviated '''vox pop'''.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} In U.S. [[broadcast journalism]] it is often referred to as a '''man on the street''' interview or MOTS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3299|title=Easy to Do, But Often Worthless|last=Prato|first=Lou|date=April 1999|publisher=American Journalism Review|accessdate=28 December 2010}}</ref>
American television personality [[Steve Allen]] as the host of ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' further developed the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter – unrehearsed persons, not selected in any way. As such, broadcast journalists almost always refer to them as the abbreviated '''vox pop'''.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} In U.S. [[broadcast journalism]] it is often referred to as a '''man on the street''' interview or MOTS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3299|title=Easy to Do, But Often Worthless|last=Prato|first=Lou|date=April 1999|publisher=American Journalism Review|accessdate=28 December 2010}}</ref>


Revision as of 20:18, 7 March 2017

"Voice of the people" redirects here. For other uses, see Voice of the people (disambiguation).
"Man on the street" redirects here. For the Dollhouse episode, see Man on the Street.
For other uses, see Vox populi (disambiguation).

In broadcasting, vox populi (/ˈvɒks ˈpɒpjuːli/, /-laɪ/ VOKS POP-ew-lee, -⁠lye)[1] is an interview with members of the public. Vox populi is a Latin phrase that literally means "voice of the people".[2]

Man on the street

A vox pop interview

American television personality Steve Allen as the host of The Tonight Show further developed the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter – unrehearsed persons, not selected in any way. As such, broadcast journalists almost always refer to them as the abbreviated vox pop.[citation needed] In U.S. broadcast journalism it is often referred to as a man on the street interview or MOTS.[3]

Because the results of such an interview are unpredictable at best, usually vox pop material is edited down very tightly. This presents difficulties of balance, in that the selection used ought to be, from the point of view of journalistic standards, a fair cross-section of opinions.

Although the two can be quite often confused, a vox pop is not a form of a survey. Each person is asked the same question; the aim is to get a variety of answers and opinions on any given subject. Journalists are usually instructed to approach a wide range of people to get varied answers from different points of view. The interviewees should be of various ages, sexes, classes and communities so that the diverse views and reactions of the general people will be known.

Generally, the vox pop question will be asked of different persons in different parts of streets or public places. But as an exception, in any specific topic or situation which is not concerned to general people, the question can be asked only in a specific group to know what the perception/reaction is of that group to the specific topic or issue; e.g., a question can be asked to a group of students about the quality of their education.

With increasing public familiarity with the term, several radio and television programs have been named "vox pop" in allusion to this practice.

Proverbial use

Often quoted as, Vox populi, vox Dei /ˌvɒks ˈpɒp[invalid input: 'ju:']lɪ ˌvɒks ˈdɛɪ/, "The voice of the people [is] the voice of God", is an old proverb often erroneously attributed to William of Malmesbury in the twelfth century.[4]

An early reference to the expression is in a letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne in 798, although it is believed to have been in earlier use.[citation needed] The full quotation from Alcuin reads:

Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.[5]

English translation:

And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.[6]

The usage indicates that the phrase had long since become an aphorism of common political wisdom by Alcuin and Charlemagne's time, since Alcuin advised Charlemagne to resist such an idea.[7] Of those who promoted the phrase and the idea, Archbishop of Canterbury Walter Reynolds brought charges against King Edward II in 1327 in a sermon "Vox populi, vox Dei"[8]

Cultural references

See also

References

  1. ^ "Vox Populi". Oxford Dictionaries (online). Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Merriam Webster; Random House
  3. ^ Prato, Lou (April 1999). "Easy to Do, But Often Worthless". American Journalism Review. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  4. ^ Vox populi, vox Dei: Definition of vox populi, vox Dei, sacklunch.net
  5. ^ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations,uie third edition, Oxford University Press, 1993.
  6. ^ Alcuinus on Vox pops, Vox populi, Vox pop (oxfordreference.com) at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 May 2009)
  7. ^ David Lagomarsino, Charles T. Wood The Trial of Charles I: A Documentary History 2000 "As far back as 1327, in pronouncing the deposition of Edward II, the Archbishop of Canterbury Walter Reynolds had taken as his justifying text the old Carolingian adage Vox populi, vox Dei, “The voice of the people is the voice of God."
  8. ^ Philip Hamburger Law and Judicial Duty 2009 Page 74 "At the meeting of this high court early in 1327, Archbishop of Canterbury Walter Reynolds brought charges against the king, ... homage to the prince, and Archbishop Reynolds — the son of a baker — preached on the text Vox populi, vox Dei
  9. ^ Francis Galton. "Vox Populi". 7 March 1907.
  10. ^ Alabama State Legislature
  11. ^ Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 783. ISBN 0195343344. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
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