ABSTRACT
The discussion which follows makes the fundamental assumption that diversity in/and difference exists, both as rhetorical device and, as importantly, lived reality. As a result of these two publicity strategies, 353 people took part in the study, organised in 35 focus groups. All participants were paid to take part in the study: all completed a short questionnaire and most also kept a television diary for seven days prior to the group discussion and this combination of questionnaire, diary and taped interview yielded an abundant and rich data source. What follows is a discussion of the main findings of this study, together with some thoughts on how the reactions of minority ethnic audiences towards television might be usefully incorporated into broadcasting policy in the future. All the focus groups began by discussing participants' favourite programmes and this general discussion, in nearly every case, proceeded very rapidly to a consideration of the minority ethnic characters in those shows.
