'POPULARISING POLITICS': THIS DAY TONIGHT AND AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION CURRENT AFFAIRS.

This paper presents a history of the pioneering ABC TV current affairs program, This Day Tonight (TDT). This Day Tonight has mythic status in the history of Australian television news and current affairs, and is often used as a reference point for the kind of political journalism that is now generally held to have disappeared from Australian television. The research for this paper does endorse this myth to some extent, but it also reminds us of the importance of the broader cultural contexts within which television programming must find its audience. There are significant differences to be noted, and important lessons to be learnt, from the comparison between TDT and its audience, and the kinds of current affairs programming and audiences we have today. Further, the history of TDT's demise challenges the basis for the industry nostrum that audiences find politics boring and that therefore political journalism is no longer a commercial option for contemporary current affairs television. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]