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TELEVISION NEWS AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT 133

covered by the programme can be elevated as a ‘sign of hope’. Thus, for
example, having failed to produce any measure of conciliation in the course of
interviewing representatives of the ‘men’ and ‘bosses’ at Chrysler’s Coventry
plant at a time when the company was seeking Government assistance to
continue operating in this country, Michael Barrett wound up the interview thus:
‘Well, at least you’re sitting together here on a very cold night tonight, and let’s
hope that kind of spirit moves on’ (Nationwide, 19 February 1976). In short, the
mere presence of the ‘representatives’ in the discourse is mobilized to suggest
that conciliation which was manifestly absent from the interview’s account.
These kinds of transformations have mainly to do with generalizing, though
they unquestionably structure the forms of appearance of issues. They are,
however, secondary aspects of journalistic story-telling in the sense that they can
only be engaged on condition that the ‘real’ has already been constructed. The
fundamental aspects of the process of informed speculation are those which
articulate the ‘real’, the processes and means by which primary definitions in the
political and economic spheres are recruited to, and incorporated within, the
overall fabric of television journalism’s accounts. Television journalism does not
initiate definitions of political and economic issues. These definitions originate in
the struggles between contending political and economic forces. Television does
not take on board each and every definition in exactly the same way. I want now
to examine this differentiating process of appropriation in some detail.
I have referred to the process of journalistic story-telling as one of informed
speculation. This is a process common to all the slots in the news and current
affairs sector, though the precise form of its accomplishment will vary according
to the particular slot. It is comprised of two relatively distinct stages. During the
first the main concern is to establish the topic and its ‘basis of reality’. Between
the first and second there is a transitional stage during which questions or points
of interest are formulated. It is these which organize the second speculative
moment in the process. Broadly speaking, it is possible to identify a repertoire of
elementary televisual forms which are mobilized in the work of informed
speculation, Together they constitute the formal paradigm of this sector of
broadcasting—a basic set of formal possibilities from which selections are made
and combined together in particular ways. This repertoire of possible forms has
been developed and modified over time, but since the mid 1950s to the present it
has remained essentially stable. It contains the following elements:
4
A live studio ‘piece to camera’
B live studio report
C live studio interview
D live studio debate
E actuality film sequence
F actuality film sequence with commentary over
G actuality film sequence with captions superimposed
H actuality extract