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The author posits that a public is an assembly of persons who propose legitimate interpretations of a given object. Other interpretations are considered by that public to be unbearable. Those who as viewers, readers, spectators, etc. have such "unbearable" interpretations are reduced to "non-publics", denied by the accepted discourse. In the case of television, the countless "non-publics", without the support of a justificatory discourse, associate their tele-viewer lifestyles with the fictive life proposed by programmes. This act of appropriation of a TV product defines "non-publics'" reception. Communities of viewers are formed, which nurture appropriation and pleasure.