This paper considers the performativity of shaming in investigative TV-journalism. Itargues that the construction of shame is not only a constituent element in investigative TVjournalismbut also an important factor in pursuing some of its main objectives: establishingmorals, exercising social control, reinforcing journalistic identity and ideology, and competingfor attention in a diversified media theatre where drama, entertainment and emotionalthrills are the hard currency. An empirical study of the Swedish TV programme Uppdraggranskning, is used to inductively propose three categories of shaming and to give someexamples of the ways in which shaming is performed. The core of the paper is a theorydriven analysis in which the performativity of shaming in investigative TV-journalism isanalysed in the light of some converging media and societal trends.