TY - JOUR AU - Coleman, Stephen JF - Javnost-The Public TI - BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback Phone-in: Public Feedback in a Divided Public Space VL - 5 IS - 2 PY - 1998/// SN - 1854-8377 PB - EURICOM UR - http://javnost-thepublic.org/article/1998/2/1/ N2 - This article is based upon extensive research of the BBC Radio Ulster daily phone-in programme, Talkback. The wider research is investigating the role of phone-in programmes as a contemporary public sphere for democratic debate. This article places the Talkback phone- ins within the specific context of a contested society within which two “publics” seek to assert their separate identities. The relationship between on-air public talk and official political talks is considered. The socio-political functions of phone-in talk are considered empirically (within the confines of limited space) and it is argued theoretically that talk on Talkback is addressed to one of three publics: ones own public; the divided public; and the imagined consensual public (which is addressed mainly by the BBC.) U1 - Print ISSN: 1318-3222 ER -