In my latest blogpost, I voiced my misgivings about being interviewed on radio and TV. A few days later, Alison Edwards, an Australian linguist, translator and writer living in the Netherlands, reported on some of her own media experiences. My conclusion: I’ve been lucky so far.
(Note: NRC is a major quality newspaper.)
I was lining my pencils up in preparation for sharpening when the phone rang.
It was Pauw, from the talk show. That morning the NRC had run a small piece on my research. Would I be willing to come on the show and discuss it?
‘I could, I suppose’, I said. I’ve always been underwhelmed by Pauw’s hair, and besides, the last time I went on TV to talk about my research the segment was presented by a man in a snakeskin suit and I was made to comment on unwitting sexual innuendo in the use of English by ageing Dutch footballers.
In fact it wasn’t Pauw himself on the phone, but one of his minions. The content for that night wasn’t yet set in stone, but I was on the shortlist and they’d call back soon to confirm.
I hung up and passed the afternoon pacing up and…
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