ABSTRACT
The "news" thus becomes no more than another category through which any available televised event is capable of migrating. Simple depiction supercedes any issue of depictability. The newsperson's talking head registers authority, represents judgement. Daytime talk shows differ from the nighttime versions in that the former wish to maintain the pretense of their informational and news functions. With the host situated within the audience, the program devotes a significant portion of its time to the comments of audience members, who often relate their own associated stories. Oprah Winfrey, standing in the audience, orchestrates the movement among the guests' testimonies, questions and comments from the audience, and those who telephone. Television's confidential mode, and our position as silent partners in the process of hearing and validating the enunciations, needs to be emphasized. In short, the mobile nature of evidence on the daytime talk show, in particular the display value of the confession, guides the articulation of social concerns.
