Frequently Asked Questions: Public Media

Pat Aufderheide & Jessica Clark

Communicating about shared issues—whether it's traffic congestion in the neighborhood, lower wages for women, or the concerns of the families of soldiers not receiving adequate body armor—builds a group's awareness of itself as a public. In this context, public media are media that aim to increase public knowledge and cohere and mobilize audience members.

Not just limited to PBS or NPR broadcasts, such media can range from print publications to documentary films, from community radio broadcasts to international social networks and beyond. More and more, as participatory technologies and practices engage audience members to become media creators, public media projects are not only directed at, but generated by, their publics.

Want to learn more? Read our new Frequently Asked Questions document, by Director Pat Aufderheide and Research Fellow Jessica Clark.