Analysis of Interaction and Institutional Power Relations in MH370 Press Conferences

Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) was stricken by crisis on 8 March, 2014 when flight MH370, which was scheduled to land in Beijing the same day, lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control in Selangor, Malaysia. What happened to the flight remains a mystery till now. The incident necessitated a lot of press conferences as news of the progress of the Search and Rescue mission needed to be delivered. This study investigated how access to the floor during the MH370 press conferences was decided and regulated and how institutional power was portrayed by participants of the press conferences. Thirteen press conference videos were transcribed and analysed using the Conversation Analysis (CA) approach on institutional interaction and power behind discourse, which is part of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings showed that turn-taking was regulated through five mechanisms, namely, pre-allocated turn, turn-allocation techniques, turn-taking cues, overlaps and interruptions. Furthermore, the results also revealed that apart from the role of participants and institutional arrangements, most of the turn-taking mechanisms were used to portray institutional power. The analysis leads to the conclusion that despite the apprehensive situation faced by all involved, turn-taking appeared to have had a central role in shaping institutional interaction and power representation of the MH370 press conferences. Based on the findings, a number of recommendations for authorities involved and suggestions for future research are provided. This study contributes to the area of discourse analysis, specifically, pertaining to press conferences.