Transmitting Reception. How political television programmes anticipate audience reaction

Abstract

Summary: French national television channels in the 1980s felt they had to put out political programmes in mid-evening for reasons of prestige and because politicians wanted their opinions aired in time to catch the first editions of the daily papers. Unfortunately, most viewers were not interested in the cliched studio format, which led programme makers to inject a note of showbusiness into their offerings. The authors show how one pioneering programme. Questions a domicile, tried to cater to a target audience by interviewing politicians in their homes, and explain why it failed.