Audience-Citizens: The Media, Public Knowledge, and Interpretive Practice

Audience – Citizen brings attention to what the author describes as a glaring under-theorising in reception studies. The author explores the relations between the media, democracy and citizenship through reception analysis combining theory and cross-cultural empirical research...The book offers cross-cultural research to examine audience interpretations of television texts in India and Britain...The book is a certainly a valuable contribution to the field of audience research...The value of the book lies in its extensive literature review, sophisticated theorising as well it focuses on non fiction programmes and its attempt to raise some very crucial questions that indicate areas that needs further research.

In nine heavily worded and references infused chapters, the author outlines various theoretical frameworks where research and theory has investigated the varying factors that effects one’s interpretation of the media. Through a labyrinth of criticisms and linear thought, Harindranath presents a study conducted by him in an attempt to bridge the gap in media and audience interpretation research which is based on previous research and theory caveats.

The work breaks fresh ground in analyzing the interesting yet unexplored relationship between democratic processes and media. Students of mass communication would definitely benefit from this work. The book is undoubtedly very good for reference for further studies.

[The book] is a fresh approach to examining media and politics in contemporary India and in the developing world. Full of references from media and communication experts, this book is an outstanding piece of communication research.