An exploration of the argument that TV exempli$es the production and reflection of surplus value and that watching, as an activity, reflects the organization of human labor in the economy as a whole.Does the audience "work" at watching television? Is the notion a real economic process, or does it serve as a metaphor? Our short answer is: It is both. It is a metaphor because it is a real economic process, specific to the commercial media, that produces value. How this process occurs is the argument of our article.The metaphorical power of "watching as working" arises from the particular relationship of the media and the economy as a whole. In the media, the whole economy exists as an image, an object of watchingmore precisely, an object ofthe actizjity of watching. At the same time, the media exist as a reflection of the whole economy of which they are a

The goal of media literacy is to help people become sophisticated citizens rather than sophisticated consumers. The authors argue against a purely ‘text‐centred’ approach in which media texts can be deconstructed and analyzed so we can choose among them. Instead, media literacy should integrate a textual analysis with questions of production and reception. An analysis of the structure of media institutions is particularly important if Americans are able to appreciate and argue for alternatives to a lightly regulated commercial media system. Media literacy is, therefore, a way of extending democracy to the place where democracy is increasingly scripted and defined.

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