This project examines questions of national identity and democracy in television through
the analysis of the production processes of audience discussion programmes. The study
of television debates, as public spaces through which members of particular communities discuss topics of common concern, shed some light on two different questions. On the one hand, this project explores whether the (re)construction of national and cultural identity intervenes in the process of programme-making within stateless nations. On the other hand, audience discussion programmes are examined to assess whether they can function as democratic spheres of social representation in the media.
These two strands of research are developed through ethnographic insights into two
television debates: Scottish Women - produced by the commercial company Scottish
Television (STV), and La Vida en un Xip - transmitted through the. Catalan public
televisionchannel TV3 and produced by the production company DCo.S.A. A comparative study of these two programmes and their respective broadcasting contexts is
provided. Also, the distinctive political status of Scotland and Catalonia within their
respective states - Britain and Spain - and the European and international contexts, is
examined in relation to the media.
The current debates concerning nationalism, the nation and national identity are discussed on the basis of culture as the essential element of the nation-building process. This study explores the process of cultural identity fonnation in Scotland and Catalonia and the role of their respective media structures as potential actors in the (re)construction of collective identities. Thus, the analysis of television production is regarded as a key instrument with which to assessh ow this medium intervenesi n such processes.
Audience