Summary / Resumé
Thomas Bohrmann: More than Entertainment – Discourses of values on the television as a leading medium
Because of its common availability Television has become of outstanding cultural importance – it often takes on the role of a leading medium in the viewers’ private lives. Apart from its entertaining function the audience is being addressed – on a second level – with topics relevant to life in general and questions of meaning. By, for instance, soap operas, series and game shows Television displays moral standards and notions of values. It presents some particular form of ”everyday life ethics“ and thus contributes to the general discourse of values. With regard to these values, social change can be observed: The distinction between privacy and public is abandoned in documentary game shows, thereby diminishing taboos in the presentation of daily life. This effect is reinforced by putting on stage the private lives of prominent politicians in popular talk shows.