This paper reviews the newly emergent trend of audience-centered debate paradigms, such as the narrative and the issues-agenda paradigms, in light of an informal logic perspective on the argumentum ad populum fallacy. The paper demonstrates the complexity involved in the evaluation of ad populum arguments as well as the care which must be taken in…

Contending that public broadcasting has great potential to invigorate national discourses and to function as an agent of social change; at the beginning of the 21st century, many public television licensees are united solely by a core programming schedule and the need to raise funds at least four times a year. The paper traces the history of…

Surveys the field of audience studies, noting common concerns. Identifies models of the audience: audience as mass, audience as outcome, and audience as agent. Recommends exploiting the interdisciplinary potential, employing an enlightened empiricism, considering audiences as collectives as well as individuals, abandoning the active/passive…