Viewers on Television

Abstract

Drawing policy studies and audience studies closer together requires that the individual be conceptualized as the subject of both political and media apparatuses. This article explores such a conceptualization in the Quebec context, working with a group of activist viewer-citizens to evaluate the content and form of the television programming available to them, on the one hand, and the usefulness of some key Canadian broadcast policies, on the other. Examining the respon, dents’ media practices and expectations, the article highlights how expectations for public television are set against increasingly blurred divisions between public and private television; individualist media usage; and the pertinence of Canadian broadcasting law in this unfolding media system. By situating media use within a broader set of social practices that affect and are affected by state policy, the article seeks to contribute to an understanding of social demand in communication policy.