Media Studies

Lisa Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wolverhampton. She has extensive experience of teaching media studies on both further and higher education. She is currently undertaking research on the cultural space of gardens. Andy Willis is a lecturer in Media and Performance at the University of Salford. He has considerable teaching experience in both further and higher education and has acted as Chief Examiner for the AEB 'A' level media studies. He is currently completing a book on American martial arts cinema and editing a collection of essays on film stars.

"Written in a clear and concise manner this introductory textbook offers a comprehensive overview of the central theoretical, empirical and analytical debates and issues in contemporary media studies. This is a valuable resource for undergraduate students on media studies or media-related courses who are new to the field; and those more familiar with its debates and issues." Sharon Lockyer, Bookends

• Introduction IXPart I Texts1 How the Media Communicate 3Media forms and conventions 4Different mediums, different conventions: The X-Files 5Suggestions for further work 112 Reading Media Images 13Mise-en-scène analysis13Semiotic analysis 19The problems with textual analysis 27Suggestions for further work 283 Ideology 29What is ideology? 29Althusser 31Hegemony 33Suggestions for further work 384 Representation 39Representation: a definition 39Stereotypes 40Content analysis 44A hegemonic approach 47Images of youth 49Suggestions for further work 565 Genre 57Genre: a definition 57Genre and production 58Genre and film 60Genre study and film criticism 61Genre and television 62The television western 62Genre and ideology 63Suggestions for further work 656 Narrative 66Narrative models: some definitions 67Conventions of narrative across media forms 68Why is narrative important to the media industry? 69Structuralism and narrative theory 71The impact of structuralism on film studies 77The problems with structuralist narrative models 78Suggestions for further work 797 Intertextuality 80Definitions 80Postmodernism and intertextuality 81Intertextuality and advertising 83Intertextuality, politics and popular music 84Intertextuality and film genre 85Suggestions for further work 87Part II Institutions8 Approaches to Media Institutions 91What is a media institution? 91Critical approaches to media institutions 94Media institutions in the context of globalization 103Suggestions for further work 1069 Public Service Broadcasting and the Market 107The development of broadcasting in Britain 107Information as a commodity not a service 119Deregulation and consumer choice 120The future: responses to change 121Suggestions for further work 12210 Media Professionalism and Codes of Practice 123The professional: definitions 123Occupational ideologies 125Professional practice and newsroom studies 126Professionalism and political conflict 129Suggestions for further work 13111 Independent Media 132What is an independent? 132Media structures 133British television 135Community radio 136Independent cinema exhibition 138Independent film distribution in the UK 140Undercurrents 141Suggestions for further work 143Part III Audiences12 Conceptualizing and Measuring Media Audiences 147Conceiving the audience: television schedules 147Measuring media audiences 151Suggestions for further work 15513 The Effects of the Media on Audience Groups 156What are the aims of effects research? 156The historical development of the effects tradition 157The limitations of effects research 160An early challenge to the effects tradition: uses and gratifications 161The dominance of effects research in the 1990s 163Suggestions for further work 16714 Contexts of Media Consumption 168The developmental context of the cultural studies approach 169The cultural studies challenge to the power of the text 171The cultural studies turn to ‘lived’ contexts of consumption 174The power relations of media reception and technology 178Cultural studies and consumption 181Suggestions for further work 18315 Minority Audiences and the Media 184What do we mean by minority? 184Black women as cultural readers 185Sexual minorities and the media 187Star images and gay men 189Fans and fan culture 191Suggestions for further work 19316 New Technologies and Media Audiences 194Technology and society 194The development of colour cinema 196Media technology and the individual 199Suggestions for further work 20217 Media Consumption and Social Status 203Theories of consumption and social distinction 204Television: a case study of a ‘vulgar’ medium 207Media technologies, taste and social status 209Suggestions for further work 21418 Public Participation in the 1990s 215The increase in audience participation in the 1990s 215The ideological implications of ‘talk’ for audiences 219Suggestions for further work 225Epilogue: Research Methods in Media Studies 227What do we mean by research? 227Researching for assignments 228Establishing objectives 228Selecting relevant material 231Using libraries 233Writing up 235Conclusion 239Bibliography 242Index 251