TasteA B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWthe speaker, and weakens the impact of what is
said. However, there is some debate here. Tag
questions can serve a range of functions, some
relating to the content of speech, others relating
to the facilitation of interaction and the relation-
ships and attitudes of the participants to one
another.
When used to facilitate interaction, tag
questions do not seem to be associated with
tentativeness; indeed, the tendency here is for
tags to be associated with powerful speakers.
Several studies suggest that women use more tag
questions than men when acting as facilitators in
an interaction.
Take See shot.
Talkies See synchronous sound.
Talloires Declaration, 1981 Concerned at the
attempts by the United Nations Educational,
Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
seemingly to impose upon world information
systems a ‘New Order’ which would be charac-
terized by far-reaching controls, representatives
from news organizations of twenty countries
met in the French village of Talloires in May 1981.
Th ey issued a Declaration which insisted that
journalists sought no special protected status, as
was perceived to be UNESCO’S intention, and
that they were united in a ‘joint declaration to
the freest, most accurate and impartial informa-
tion that is within our professional capacity to
produce’. The Declaration asserted that there
could be no double standards of freedom for
rich and poor countries. See macbride commis-
sion; media imperialism. See also topic
guide under global perspectives.
Tamizdat See samizdat.
Taste In a media sense, the notion of good or bad
taste generally relates to decisions about how
much and how far; the answers to these ques-
tions depend upon audience expectations and
readiness, and the degree of access and imme-
diacy. A photograph of an execution, reproduced
in a newspaper or magazine, is sufficiently
controlled by the frame of print and the fact that
the event took place in the past, to escape the
accusation of bad taste.
However, there were vigorous protests when, on
TV news, a Vietcong prisoner had a pistol put to
his head, and the trigger pulled. Th is was bringing,
as it were, too much reality into the sitting room.
It may have been the truth, ran the argument,
but somehow the reproduction and presentation
turned reality into theatre, indeed into macabre
entertainment. As such it appeared an insult to
human dignity, to that of the victim and to that of
the audience cast in the role of voyeurs.to achieve a desired, often long-term, goal.
Numerous tactics may be employed within a
strategic plan: for example, a public relations
(pr) practitioner may use tactics such as press
conferences, press releases or launch events
within a long-term strategy of raising the profi le
of a client.
Michel de Certeau in Th e Practice of Everyday
Life (University of California Press, 1984), when
analysing everyday cultural consumption, draws
a distinction between the strategies of the
powerful controllers of the cultural industries
and the tactics of the relatively powerless ordi-
nary consumers in fi nding their own space for
creating meaning, by adapting to their own use
mass-produced cultural artefacts.
Some of these tactics subvert or resist the
intentions and intended messages of the power-
ful. De Certeau’s distinction, whilst acknowledg-
ing that audiences/consumers may be active in
their consumption, does not imply that they have
by any means the degree of power over cultural
consumption exercised by those who own and
control the cultural industries.
A more recent example of the use of such
strategic power by those who own or control
companies within the media, culture and
communications sector can be seen in the use
of social media within the protests that occurred
in 2011 in areas of the Middle-East. Margareta
Pagano in the 13 February 2011 edition of Th e
Independent on Sunday, commenting on the-
then current protests in Egypt, noted that some
mobile operators and Internet service providers
bowed to pressure from the Egyptian govern-
ment and closed down their services for several
days, despite their obligations to their custom-
ers. However, this government strategy was
undermined by a tactical response from those
protesters able to use their technical knowledge
to circumvent the shutdowns and continue
mobilization of support for the protests. See
audience: active audience; semiotic
power; smart mobs.
Tag A key word or phrase used for quick and
convenient identifi cation in online postings; a
pointer to the nature of the content or theme.
Take, for example, a posting on the topic of
news values. The following tags might be
employed to attract the attention of users/
visitors: amplification, frequency, familiarity,
correspondence, etc.
Tag questions Th e addition of phrases such as
‘Isn’t it?’ or ‘Don’t you think?’ at the end of a
statement as tag questions, according to some
linguists, suggests tentativeness on behalf of