1. Social scientific and aesthetic perspectives are incomplete
2. Television is a place where various issues are discussed from various perspectives
3. Television therefore can be a platform for imagining social change
Newcomb and Hirsch (1983) note that television had primarily been studied from two distinct perspectives: social scientific and aesthetic. They argue that the social scientific perspective was often reductive, since these studies attempted to simplify television's nuances in order to create a cleaner understanding of television's effects. While the aesthetic perspective attended to television's nuance, it ignored television's social and political influence. Therefore, Newcomb and Hirsch (1983) propose a perspective of television studies that sees television as a public forum.
Newcomb and Hirsch (1983) explicitly note that their concept of the television "forum" is not intended as a metaphor. Instead, they believe that television functions as a public space in which issues are hashed out from all perspectives. This happens through a conversation between producer and consumer. Producers often address social issues in television narratives. Consumers may then sympathize with one side or another of the issue. Newcomb and Hirsch (1983) use an example of women's rights issues on television, describing a narrative in which a woman is restricted from some activities due to gender. This narrative, they argue, that be presented in a way that encourages viewers to sympathize with her or against her. The audience, in turn, can read the program, consider its meaning and implications, and choose whether to sympathize with the woman in the narrative or against this position.
Newcomb and Hirsch (1983) argue that television presents narratives that allow viewers to explore public issues from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, television offers a forum for discussion of social change and growth.
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