complusive television

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have some difficulty understanding the bracketed clause. Could anyone do me a favor?

ITN sought to portray the news in 'human terms' through reports which brought onto the screen people whose day to day lives had not often in the past been thought worth reflecting on the air. It gave a new meaning to the journalistic concept of the human interest story. In Fleet Street the term meant stories that were interesting because they were of the unusual, the abnormal, the exceptional. But here the cameras were making fascinating viewing out of ordinary everyday life, bestriding the gap between the classes- (and making complusive television out of it.)

Thanks a lot.

 

[RonBee]

Thank you for supplying the context. Without that I couldn't have made sense out of that phrase. What they mean by "compulsive television" is that it is something that people "have to" watch, not because they are required to but because they are so interested in the program that they don't want to miss anything.

8)