"TV is so ubiquitous in the west that we forget it has any effect on people - yet it is there, quietly forming and reflecting our opinions. So too with radio and film... Here, a series of articles have been gathered to look at the Irish experience: The North; Glenroe's treatment of such topics as travelling people and the unemployed...talk radio; broadcasting in Irish... Anyone working in the media has to read this." Lucille Redmond RTE Guide Nov. 1997 "this volume, much of whose contents are published for the first time, is a welcome and timely addition to the critical literature concerning the roles of media in contemporary Ireland." Media, Culture and Society 21 (1) 1999 "The chapters in this book constitute a valuable contribution to our understanding of how meaning is constructed by media audiences." Bill Rolston, University of Ulster Irish Journal of Sociology vol 8 1998 "Media Audiences in Ireland provides useful, audience-empowering insights for both students and professionals studying and working within all aspects of culture and communication - a good, practical set-text for university courses relating to the media." Jayne Steel. Lancaster University Irish Studies Review 7 (3) 1999

• Participatory media and audience response, Mary J. Kelly; the arts show audience, Brian O'Neill; gender, class and television viewing, Barbara O'Connor; the female audience and the pleasures of the cinema, Helen Byrne; a study of community relations broadcasting in Northern Ireland, Paul Nolan; dominant ideologies and media power, the case of Northern Ireland, David Miller; Northern Ireland audiences and television news, David Miller; talk radio and the public sphere, Sara O'Sullivan; divorce referendum coverage; a history of Irish language broadcasting, Iarfhlaith Watson; "Glenroe", its audience and the coverage of social problems, Eoin Devereux; children and television pleasure, Margaret Gunning.