Making public access television: Community participation, media literacy and the public sphere

Using ethnographic data from a study of Cape Cod Community Television in Massachusetts, we shift the focus of analysis of the critical potential of public access from the content of its programming to the participation of local citizens in the production of community television. Through documentation of experiences in television production and media literacy, we redefine traditional notions of the public sphere to include meaningful action on the part of local citizens from various backgrounds. Drawing on recent feminist critical social theory, we argue that experiences in public access production compel us to move away from fixed notions of community good to the inclusion of the so-called "fringe" and the possibilities it brings to counter the hegemony of mainstream television.