Media Studies – An Introduction

Andrea L. Press is Chair of Media Studies and Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia. She is the author of Women Watching Television and the co-author (with Elizabeth Cole) of Speaking of Abortion , and has published widely in the area of media reception and feminist theory. Bruce A. Williams is a Professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, and the author of After the News: Media Regimes and the New Information Environment (with Michael X. Delli Carpini) and Democracy, Dialogue, and Environmental Disputes: The Contested Languages of Social Regulation (with Albert Matheny) . His current research interests focus on the role of a changing media environment in shaping citizenship in the United States.

"If your students read just one book on the contemporary media environment, this should be it. Press and Williams deliver a masterful overview of the changing media landscape - addressing issues of ownership, politics, democracy, and identity - written in lively, lucid prose." (Laura Grindstaff, University of California at Davis) "This accessible text draws readers into the complex new dynamics shaping our media environment today. From film to news, economics to textual interpretation, Press and Williams provide an indispensable introduction to the debates that now drive media studies." (Nick Couldry, Goldsmiths, University of London) "Solidly founded on responsible media scholarship, this crisp analysis of the new media environment makes the novel seem familiar and the familiar seem novel. Press and Williams' bright and timely text demonstrates once again that there's nothing so practical as good theory." (Menahem Blondheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

• Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: Modern Life Is a Media Experience. A Tale of Two Hurricanes. What Is a Media Environment? The Importance of Changing Media Environments. The electronic media. Media in the Twenty-First Century: What Has Changed? The age of the Internet. Conclusion 2. Ownership and Control in the New Media Environment. Patterns of Media Ownership and Control. Ownership and Control of the Media: Assumptions andRealities. Alternative models of media ownership. Who owns the media? Ownership and control in a global context. Does It Matter? The Consequences of Concentration and Conglomeration. The argument for market-driven media. The argument against market-driven media. What this means today. Conclusion. 3. Media and Democracy. Introduction. Changing Media Environments and Changing DemocraticPolitics. Why nervous liberals are still with us: The enduring problem ofpropaganda. John Dewey and the reconstruction of media and democraticpolitics. Empirical research: How do media actually affect citizens? Television and the Age of Broadcast News . Politics in the New Media Environment. Conclusion. 4. Studying Popular Culture: Texts, Reception, and CulturalStudies. Introduction: Hollywood and Representations of Reality. Media Studies and the Study of Reception: A Brief History of ItsMethods and Findings. Conclusion. 5. Studying Inequalities: Class, Gender, Race, and Sexuality inMedia Studies. A Critical Perspective on Inequality in Media Studies. The Frankfurt School. Cultural studies Media studies research findings on class,gender, race, and sexuality. Gender in Media Studies Research: Are Gender Roles CulturallyReproduced? Film and gender: Issues of reception and representation. Television and gender: Issues of reception andrepresentation. Media and Race. Sexuality. Conclusion. 6. Studying Media Texts and Their Reception in the New MediaEnvironment. Transformative Images in the New Media Environment. Globalization and the new shape of media identities. Media Reception Research in the New Media Environment. Global reception in the new media environment. Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Class Inequality in NewMedia Reception: A New Study. New Studies: Gender and Social Class Identities in the New MediaEnvironment. Politics, Media Impact and Use, and the New MediaEnvironment Old and New Media in the Individualized Media Environment: TheNew Media Environment Is Never Just New Media Bias in old media and new. Civic engagement in the new media environment. Americans and Political Discussion: How the New MediaEnvironment Is Changing the Civic Landscape. Conclusion. 7. Conclusion. We Are Living in a Mediated Age. The Complexity of Our Relationship With the Media. Human Agency in Media Decisions and Directions. In Closing: The Case of the RFID. Index.