Today, arguably more than at any time in the past, media are the key players in contributing to what defines reality for the citizens of Europe and beyond. This book provides an introduction to the way that the media occupy such a position of prominence in contemporary human existence. This expanded and fully updated third edition of the bestselling The Media: An Introduction collects in one volume thirty-six specially commissioned essays to offer unrivalled breadth and depth for an introduction to the study of contemporary media. It addresses the fundamental questions about today’s media – for example, digitisation and its effects, new distribution technologies, and the implications of convergence, all set against the backdrop of a period of profound social and economic change in Europe and globally. Key features: Expert contributions on each topic Approachable, authoritative contributions provide a solid theoretical overview of the media industry and comprehensive empirical guide to the institutions that make up the media. Further Reading and related web-resource listings encourage further study. New to this edition: New five part structure provides a broad and coherent approach to media: Part 1 Understanding the Media; Part 2 What Are the Media?; Part 3 The Media Environment; Part 4 Audiences, Influences and Effects; Part 5 Media Representations. Brand new chapters on: Approaches to Media; Media Form; Models of Media Institutions; The Media in Europe; Photography; Book Publishing; Newspapers; Magazines; Radio; Television; The Internet and the Web; News Media; Economics; Policy; Public Service Broadcasting in Europe; Censorship and Freedom of Speech; Audience Research; Sexualities; Gender; Social Class; Media and Religion; The Body, Health and Illness; Nationality and Sex Acts. Other chapter topics from the last edition fully updated A wider, more comparative focus on Europe. The Media: An Introduction will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of media studies, cultural studies, communication studies, journalism, film studies, the sociology of the media, popular culture and other related subjects.

This is a lucid and lively introduction to key concepts and developments in media and media studies. The new edition, with updated case studies and a good range of online reading, is a valuable resource for both students and lecturers. - Chindu Sreedharan, Bournemouth University "Has expanded the possibilities of what a textbook can be. Incisive questions framed through accessible and detailed examples provide a platform for a wealth of different activities that engage readers in the critical study of media." - Dr Daniel Ashton, Bath Spa University "Accessibly written and very well-structured, the book will be one of those you go back to time and time again throughout your studies. In addition it also offers that much-needed, little-found extra in a textbook: critical engagement with media and society. A joy for those of us teaching the subject. - Joke Hermes, University of Amsterdam How much of our media experience is shaped by the profit motive of media conglomerates? How much freedom and power do we have as members of an increasingly fragmented media audience? How do the media influence what we understand about friendship, globalization and even our own selves? This book teaches students how to ask critical questions of the media, and gives them the analytical tools to answer those questions. By gaining a rich understanding of how the media play a role in society, both in giving pleasures and creating power relationships, students are encouraged to become critical thinkers. Understanding the Media: Teaches the theoretical foundations and key concepts students need to get started on their own media studies Brings concepts to life with examples and case studies on everything from Harry Potter and Big Brother to the Occupy movement Shows the ‘how to’ with guided exercises and improves essay writing with a guide to the research literature Helps students take learning further with guided free online readings This is an essential guide to the how and why of understanding the media, perfect for students in media studies, sociology, cultural studies and communication studies. Companion Website now available! Visit www.sagepub.co.uk/devereux3e for a range of student and lecturer resources.

This provocative book takes a new approach toward understanding the uneven flows of global communications. Rather than guiding its discussion by geography, types of media, or traditional separations of power and resistance, Global Communications examines political economic power and communication in relation to historically specific encounters with modernity. It underscores lived experiences in its approach to globalization showing that the state and the market can both be sites of empowerment, just as civil society might also be a site of repression. Taking a political-economic analysis of communication and culture, this dynamic group of international authors looks beyond developments in the North American information and culture industries to map new forms of citizenship and exclusion. The chapters spotlight China, Ghana, India, Japan, Palestine, Russia, Singapore, and Venezuela, and foreground the transnational formations of the European Union, the pan-Arab and Spanish-speaking markets, and civil society actors in sub-Saharan African, the Middle East, and North America. Theoretically driven and empirically grounded, Global Communications defines communication broadly to include production, circulation, and consumption and addresses urgent questions about the inequalities of globalization and the possibilities of hybrid cultural forms and practices.

The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender offers a comprehensive examination of media and gender studies, charting its histories, investigating ongoing controversies, and assessing future trends. The 59 chapters in this volume, written by leading researchers from around the world, provide scholars and students with an engaging and authoritative survey of current thinking in media and gender research. The Companion includes the following features: With each chapter addressing a distinct, concrete set of issues, the volume includes research from around the world to engage readers in a broad array of global and transnational issues and intersectional perspectives. Authors address a series of important questions that have consequences for current and future thinking in the field, including postfeminism, sexual violence, masculinity, media industries, queer identities, video games, digital policy, media activism, sexualization, docusoaps, teen drama, cosmetic surgery, media Islamophobia, sport, telenovelas, news audiences, pornography, and social and mobile media. A range of academic disciplines inform exploration of key issues around production and policymaking, representation, audience engagement, and the place of gender in media studies. The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender is an essential guide to the central ideas, concepts and debates currently shaping media and gender research.

Research on and with digital technologies is everywhere today. This timely, authoritative Handbook explores the issues of rapid technological development, social change, and the ubiquity of computing technologies which have become an integrated part of people′s everyday lives. This is a comprehensive, up-to-date resource for the twenty-first century. It addresses the key aspects of research within the digital technology field and provides a clear framework for readers wanting to navigate the changeable currents of digital innovation. Main themes include: - Introduction to the field of contemporary digital technology research - New digital technologies: key characteristics and considerations - Research perspectives for digital technologies: theory and analysis - Environments and tools for digital research - Research challenges Aimed at a social science audience, it will be of particular value for postgraduate students, researchers and academics interested in research on digital technology, or using digital technology to undertake research.

The Routledge Companion to Alternative and Community Media provides an authoritative and comprehensive examination of the diverse forms, practices and philosophies of alternative and community media across the world. The volume offers a multiplicity of perspectives to examine the reasons why alternative and community media arise, how they develop in particular ways and in particular places, and how they can enrich our understanding of the broader media landscape and its place in society. The 50 chapters present a range of theoretical and methodological positions, and arguments to demonstrate the dynamic, challenging and innovative thinking around the subject; locating media theory and practice within the broader concerns of democracy, citizenship, social exclusion, race, class and gender. In addition to research from the UK, the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, the Companion also includes studies from Colombia, Haiti, India, South Korea and Zimbabwe, enabling international comparisons to be made and also allowing for the problematisation of traditional - often Western - approaches to media studies. By considering media practices across a range of cultures and communities, this collection is an ideal companion to the key issues and debates within alternative and community media.

Communication and the Globalization of Culture: Beyond Tradition and Borders, by Shaheed Nick Mohammed, examines the modern and historical evolution of conceptualizations of culture as well as the concept of culture itself. The book suggests that modern corporate globalized me...

Sport offers everything a good story should have: heroes and villains, triumph and disaster, achievement and despair, tension and drama. Consequently, sport makes for a compelling film narrative and films, in turn, are a vivid medium for sport. Yet despite its regularity as a central theme in motion pictures, constructions and representations of sport and athletes have been marginalised in terms of serious analysis within the longstanding academic study of films and documentaries. In this collection, it is the critical study of film and its connections to sport that are examined. The collection is one of the first of its kind to examine the ways in which sport has been used in films as a metaphor for other areas of social life. Among the themes and issues explored by the contributors are: Morality tales in which good triumphs over evil The representation and ideological framing of social identities, including class, gender, race and nationality The representation of key issues pertinent to sport, including globalization, politics, commodification, consumerism, and violence The meanings ‘spoken’ by films – and the various ‘readings’ which audiences make of them This is a timely collection that draws together a diverse range of accessible, insightful and ground-breaking new essays. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Cultural Diversity and Global Media explores the relationship between the media and multiculturalism. Summarises and critically discusses current approaches to multiculturalism and the media from a global perspecive Explores both the theoretical debates and empirical findings on multiculturalism and the media Assumes the new perspective of mediation of cultural diversity, which critically combines elements of previous theories in order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the media and cultural diversity Explores media ‘moments’ of production, representation and consumption, while incorporating arguments on their shifting roles and boundaries Examines separately the role of the internet, which is linked to many changes in patterns of media production, representation and to increased possibilities for diasporic and transnational communication Contains pedagogical features that enable readers to understand and critically engage with the material, and draws upon and reviews an extensive bibliography, providing a useful reference tool.