All but naive: Patrolling epistemic territories in radio phone-ins

In this paper, we analysed Dutch and British radio phone-in conversations on ADHD and vaccination between radio hosts and callers, focusing on how interactants dispute the authority of both scientific and experiential claims to expertise. We found that interactants never challenged the authority of science and experience as such, but resisted their normative relevance. When callers offered expertise in the form of personal experience, hosts challenged its relevance for the overhearing audience by treating the experience as mere belief. When callers offered expertise in the form of scientific knowledge, hosts carefully patrolled the boundaries of ‘real’ science and who may speak for it. We discuss how our findings can explain the frequent contestation of factual sources in semi-public exchanges and offer a new perspective on the supposed diminished authority of scientific knowledge.