Description

2004 UNSW Media and Communications Honours thesis for Tim Bennett. Received honours first class. Abstract: "The Special Broadcasting Service not only produces programs, but also constantly produces and
makes use of traces of its own audiences. Its many feedback channels are geared towards
generating information that serves two purposes. Firstly, feedback empowers SBS to refine its
production practices in the never-ending task of fulfilling its core goals. Secondly, audience
feedback allows SBS to ascertain its success in achieving those goals; it provides SBS with
measures for judging performance. The politics of control are at work in these audience relations.
Producers attempt to discern how (or if) their control over audiences functions. Audiences in turn
exert influence over how producers approach their tasks. This relationship is in constant flux, for
contemporary feedback techniques ensure that the nature of the audience (as SBS knows it) is
heterogeneous and fluid. "

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