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This article highlights the interdependence of the urban Indian middle class and English-language news television in terms of their particular mixing of neo-liberal commercial interests, a newfound lifestyle focus and an assertive nationalism that is largely insular. After a brief analysis of a small sample of billboard advertisements for Indian news outlets in the context of the middle-class audience for news (and advertising), the article then focuses on mapping and identifying the particular values of the emerging Indian middle class and its media. For this, the article draws on Pavan K. Varma’s polemical work on the emergence and failings of the post-liberalization middle class, on Leela Fernandes’ fieldwork and interviews with the media and advertisers, and also on Nalin Mehta’s research on India’s argumentative tradition as remade on 24-hour news television. Mostly, however, the methodological approach here is to deconstruct the news producers’ construction of the middle-class audience through industry interviews and print media commentary, and highlight how this diverges from real-life middle-class complexities and further excludes the lower classes.

Emotional complexity and complex understandings of emotions2 Emotive-cognitive rationality, background emotions and emotion work ÅSA WETTERGREN Introduction 27 Emotion and reason 27 Emotion, action and emotion work 30 Assumptions and implications of the model 32 Emotional regime vs emotive-cognitive frame 33 The Migration Board: procedural correctness 34 Conclusion 37 Notes 38 References 39 3 Conceptualising valences in emotion theories: a sociological approach

Emerging literature on the rapid rise of 24-hour commercial news television in India in the last decade, as well as popular and editorial commentary on the above phenomenon, suggests that these channels are playing the role of mediators for the middle classes. While the news content is widely believed to be sensationalised for the sake of attaining higher ratings in an overcrowded and competitive market, political talk shows have turned into the analytical and narrative extension of news segments. By including the ordinary – mostly through its mediation by middle-class experts and journalists – these talk shows have turned into the popular culture equivalent of a public sphere for middle-class discussions of pertinent political issues. This article traces the genealogy of a long-standing political talk show on one of India's longest-running commercial networks, NDTV 24×7's We the People, to demonstrate its attempts to mirror an inclusive Indian public sphere. Further, in light of the recent middle classled anti-corruption movement in India, and subsequent conclusions about the weakening of the state, an episode of the talk show titled ‘Anna and the Great Indian Middle Class' is subject to a detailed textual analysis. The purpose of this analysis is to demonstrate the show's construction of: (a) corruption as a pan-Indian, and not just a middle-class, issue; (b) the middle class itself as a homogeneous group; and (c) the televisual public sphere (and not a community consultation involving representatives of the state) as a place for establishing populist consensus. Literature on new political television and theories of the public sphere are used as theoretical springboards throughout the article.