Television News Narrative

Abstract

Examines how TV news narratives convey meaning to viewers & work to construct a mythology of the existing social order, drawing on data from an investigation of Swedish TV news. It is shown that, although TV news functions at one level to broadcast information, at another level it operates to construct a mythic portrayal of the social order. This mythology consists of recurrent symbolic displays of the state & other social institutions as a coherent totality, a constant monitoring of social conflict & controversy in a way that renders them safe for public consumption & an invitation to viewers to establish personal loyalty to the social order. This mythology insinuates itself into the public consciousness through its resonance with the everyday life of viewers. It is concluded that scholars are quite right to be critical of the ideological work performed by the TV news, but they ought also to recognize the utopian dimension of this mythic function. D. Ryfe