ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses a different aspect of the media diversity question, and point toward the necessary theoretical reconceptualisation of media diversity, with particular reference to South Africa. The material impact of the individual’s economic status directly impacts on their prospects of consuming a diverse range of media content. Philip Napoli recognised as early as 1997 that a central shortcoming of traditional diversity measurement approaches was that these routinely ignored the importance of the audience, which is at odds with the democratic ideal of the notion of media diversity. The Media Policy and Democracy Project’s envisagement of the audience-centred approach does not comprise the first instance of media diversity theorists’ consideration of the audience as primary to the assessment of media diversity. An audience centred approach with a view to the democratic ideal of media diversity necessitates a recognition of how people receive, consume and engage with media content on a daily basis.
