ABSTRACT
Television news and current affairs address and inform, perhaps more directly than any other programming format, the viewer’s understanding of ‘popular reality’. News and current affairs on television share much the same ethical standards and professional ideologies as other forms of journalism: a commitment to balance and impartiality and a clear differentiation between news and comment. Television news has developed conventions of representation which work not only to systematise and naturalise the re-presentation of content but which also serve to authorise and legitimate the genre itself. The importance of the newsreader or presenter, for instance, is related to their embodiment of the trustworthiness of the news service; the selection of the right personality for this task is a critical decision in both the production and the promotion of the news. News has been fundamental to television in Australia from the beginning. Current affairs programs have played a crucial role in the commercial competition between networks.
