Online fan communities can hold TV producers accountable for scripts

Evidence

At the same time, as shown throughout this book, audiences have launched effective challenges to the commercial media’s production of archetypes. Internet fan sites, where viewers discuss and respond to TV shows, are increasingly popular and an important element in an emerging interactive economy. Such participation demonstrates that viewers are not passive consumers who merely imbibe dominant images but are actively creating a community of viewers who serve as virtual production assistants. In addition to watchdog groups that lobby TV shows to urge them to make changes to their scripts, fan sites now also have the potential to make TV producers more accountable to viewers. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1391

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter on how audiences and advocacy groups successfully pressured shows to diversify representations.