Analysis of daily current affairs programs' content and production procedures shows that dramatic structuring plays a dominant role in determining the subject matter and the way it is portrayed. Rather than providing closer analysis, the programs offer a pre-interpreted political and social content that confirms for audiences their ‘remoteness’ from events and their ‘helplessness’ in affecting them. This is not the product of some broadcasting conspiracy but rather the result of programming responsively' to an audience that draws comfort from, and even demands, a nightly illustration of societal deviance and its attendant ‘control’.
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