Television futures: A social action methodology for studying Interpretivecommunities

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a qualitative methodology for studying audience assessment of the mass media's service to the public. The methodology emphasizes the audience‐public's articulation of evaluations that may point to specific reforms and relevant courses of social action. An empirical study of older and younger television viewers suggests that such demographic groups, while constituting distinctive cultural formations or interpretive communities, share fundamental interests vis‐à‐vis media. The findings imply that viewers are capable of a sophisticated critique of television. The methodology raises implications both for the politics of communication and for further reception studies.