Listening in times of crisis: the value and limits of radio phone-in shows

The article explores the democratic value of listening by examining what listening to radio phone-in programmes and listening more broadly mean to people in times of crisis. Drawing on focus groups with London residents severely affected by the cost-of-living, health and social care crises, the article discusses how participants engaged in listening and discussed its significance. Against what we call a ‘crisis of listening’, namely, a rapid shrinking of the spaces and possibilities for listening and a profound sense among people of not being listened to by the political system, the health system and other authorities, participants appreciated listening to phone-in shows and to fellow focus group participants. Listening unifies listeners around common experiences, facilitates building commonalities and enables the public expression of vulnerability in a period of increased isolation and intensifying individualism. At the same time, commercial and exploitative logics shaping phone-in shows foster polarised debate and delegitimise differing opinions, thus reinforcing a deepening crisis of listening. The article concludes by calling for a reorientation of public life around listening and a reorganisation of our commitment as researchers to contribute to listening as an ethical project.