ABSTRACT
The link between the future of media and labour is one that has become a common topic of research in discussions heralding the end of television. Critical media scholars are increasingly interested in, and concerned about, the kinds of labour that television viewers and media users more generally are asked and expected to contribute. In television studies, Mark Andrejevic’s research is exemplary in this regard. In his work tracing the changing power relations between actors, producers and audiences, he positions reality television as a key site for observing the shifting of labour from the industry to audiences while allowing industry elites to retain control and profits. Contrasting his position with those who see such developments as promising a better, more democratic media experience, he writes,
Spanning the extremes is the promise that interactivity will tear down the barriers associated with mass society: between audience and spectacle, consumer and producer, passive viewing and active participation […] However, the result has not been a transfer of power and control from the power elites of Hollywood to the masses but rather a shift in the burden of labour from paid actors and writers to the viewers from whose ranks the cast is drawn and whose few labour on fan sites helps add value and interest to often lacklustre performances (Andrejevic 2004: 89).
