What does it mean to watch two-hour news bulletins on television every day? Why do some people become addicted to news broadcasts while others are indifferent? Television is an integral part of modern life, and this book explores one aspect of the process: the influence of television on how we experience the political entity of the nation and our national and supranational identities.

This study draws on anthropology, social theory, and media theory, and is based on ethnography of the television audience in Athens. This interdisciplinary approach sheds light on the relationship between media and identities. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as they are experienced and performed, the author explores the reasons for national belonging and examines how identities are articulated at the local level with the discourse of the nation on national television networks. Some of the questions raised include: Does television influence the discourse and practices related to identity, and if so, how? When do individuals question official discourses of the nation and when do they endorse them? Do the media influence issues of inclusion and exclusion from public life, especially in the case of minorities?

This book presents in a comprehensive manner the contradictory and ambiguous nature of national and supranational identities, while also providing a careful assessment of the power of the media. It argues that although the media do not shape identities causally, they nevertheless contribute to the creation of common spaces of communication that often fuel feelings of inclusion or exclusion.

This book claims an important position in the emerging ethnography of the media and is a characteristic example of the new trend in the field, which integrates the consumption of media into the broader social, economic, and political framework. It is aimed at students and researchers in the fields of cultural studies, communication studies, anthropology, sociology, as well as those studying issues related to nationalism.