Wolf Blitzer is in the Situation Room and he won’t let you forget it.

Several times each weekday afternoon, the bearded newscaster reminds viewers they aren’t just passively watching the CNN political program, they’re IN it:

“I’m Wolf Blitzer. You’re in the Situation Room.”

“For our viewers: You’re in the Situation Room.”

“Stay with us. You’re in the Situation Room.”

“Fredericka Whitfield is monitoring some stories incoming into the Situation Room.”

“Thanks, Fred. And to our viewers: You’re in the Situation Room.”

Even when Blizter is away, the curious phrasing remains the same:

“Wolf Blitzer is off today. I’m John Roberts in New York. You’re in the Situation Room.”

Why the semantic shift? Why not just tell viewers they’re watching the Situation Room — like every other show on the tube?

The Situation Room is special because it represents a new breed of program, one that is more interactive than previous newscasts. CNN producers insist on the repetition so the folks at home get the impression they’re taking part in the show, not just watching it. They’re participants, not mere viewers.

At least that’s the theory.

Being inside the Situation Room isn’t about competing with Fox News Channel or any other cable news outlet, it’s about competing with the web and video games. Just watching Wolf would be boring. That’s so 1991. Being in the same psychic space with him is an experience, possible only when the invisible wall between viewer and anchor has been torn down.

Situation Room producers use all kinds of gimmicks to heighten that experience.

For instance, when Blitzer interviews a pundit such as David Gergen we actually see Blitzer looking at the screen that displays Gergen’s face. So we’re watching a screen on which a broadcaster is watching a screen (on which another journalist is talking). Television doesn’t get any more postmodern than that.

Then there’s Jack Cafferty. Believe it or not, CNN employs a host whose only job is to read e-mails on air sent in by angry viewers. Well, there is a little more to Cafferty’s assignment: He reads viewer e-mails, then reacts like a crusty old geezer who believes the world is going to hell.

His function is to make us feel like we are an integral part of the broadcast by sharing our disgust with the politicians Blitzer has just been politely interviewing.

This is what TV has come to in the age of the internet.

And CNN isn’t alone. Viewers of YTV’s afternoon block of programming are told they are “in the Zone.” On Sirius Satellite Radio, those who listen to the mellow Channel 30 are invited to check out new singer-songwriters “in the Coffeehouse.”

The terminology is becoming widespread because new media has made the competition for eyeballs and ears so intense.

The viewers watching at home must be made to feel involved. That’s the real reason Wolf Blitzer is in the Situation Room.