This talk with discuss a research paper by Dr. Claudia Abreu Lopes and Dr. Sharath Srinivasan. This paper makes two important contributions to our understanding of interactive broadcast media. First it provides empirical evidence that such shows are convened social spaces. It does this by introducing, and providing evidence of, the distinct role of the ‘mediation context’ as a determinant of audience participation. Secondly, the paper looks more closely at why the mediation context and the convened nature of interactive broadcast matters to whether and how these social spaces may constitute ‘publics,’ that involve active citizen engagement in public and political affairs. In so doing, the paper makes a distinctive contribution to theoretical understandings of how participatory digital media – specifically here, the convergence of broadcast media with new ICT – are shaping African democracy.