• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.50
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• pp.121-142
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• 2010

Can law be combined with television entertainment programs? This paper explores the ways in which law systems and law culture are reflected in and reflect the television legal series. TV legal series, such as legal dramas and infotainment shows, provide platforms for the audiences, who otherwise have few opportunity in real life, to engage with legal systems in societies. Adopting loosely dramatized reality programs, these legal series not only entertain and inform audiences but also educate citizens. This paper combines analyses of theoretical debates on law and television with analysis of TV text. The result shows that , dramatized enactment based on true stories and criminal cases, may have an important ideological role in which fictionalized dramas mask the hard realities and authoritative legal systems. By doing so, TV legal shows play their roles not as mere symbolic representation but as powerful institutions that construct the image of law and reality.