ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the details of the interaction through which the cultural recognizability of the programme format is accomplished in situ. It focuses on the closings of the discussions, asking how the relevant participant identities and the oriented-to task at hand are achieved in action. The strategy of handling the threatening situation locally displays understanding of the form and mechanisms of political activity, whereby the democratic system is oriented to by staging a scene of public discussion. The political community is equated with the national community. The chapter investigates the machinery of political identity formation in the case of current affairs discussion programmes. The category of a public servant is mobilized within the institution of public service broadcasting by an additional account of undertaking critical surveillance of those in power. One central strategy in building us'-ness is the use of moral rhetoric and references to shared values.
