ABSTRACT
Presenters are the face of television and prime candidates for being the focus of the para-social interactions of viewers and the subjects of gossip and chat about viewing generally. The American practice was rarer elsewhere and mediated sociability structured communication primarily between identifiably 'real' people. Bourdieu identifies the areas in which cultural intermediaries impose 'new doctrines of ethical salvation' as 'domestic life and consumption, relations between the sexes and the generations, the reproduction of the family and its values'. When Nikolas Rose speaks of mediated professional expertise he invokes not just the therapeutic advice of medical experts or psychotherapists, but also guidance on home design, food preparation or pet care. An individual presenter can hold a single position or act 'impartially' to interrogate a range of speakers. The real usefulness of van Tiggelen's comment is in provoking consideration of the ethnic origins of television presenters. The element most shared between the various synthetic personalities is the ability to be outrageous.
