Media and Audiences: New Perspectives (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies) (Paperback)

*How has the concept of 'the audience' changed over the past 50 years?

*How do audiences become producers and not just consumers of media texts?

*How are new media affecting the ways in which audiences are researched?

The audience has been a central concept in both in media and cultural studies for some considerable time, not least because there seems little point exploring forms of increasingly global communication in terms of their content if the targets of media messages are not also the focus of study. This book ranges across a wide literature, taking both a chronological as well as thematic approach, in order to explore the ways in which the audience, as an analytical concept has changed, as well as examining the relationships which audiences have with texts and the ways in which they exert their power as consumers. We also look at the political economy of audiences and the ways in which they are 'delivered' to advertisers as well as attending to the ratings war being waged by broadcasters and the development of narrowcasting and niche audiences. Finally, the book looks ahead to the future of audience research, suggesting that new genres such as 'reality TV' and new ICTs such as the internet, are already revolutionising the way in which research with audiences is taking place in the 21st century, not least because of the level of interactivity enabled by new media.

From the Back Cover
MEDIA AND AUDIENCES
New perspectives
* How has the concept of ‘the audience’ changed over the past 50 years?
* How are audiences more than just consumers of media texts?
* How are new media and technologies affecting the ways in which audiences are researched?

Media and Audiences: New Perspectives looks at the various ways in which ‘the audience’ as a concept has changed and examines the relationships between audiences, texts and technologies. A chronological as well as a thematic approach is used to explore a wide range of themes, including:
* Audiences exerting their power as consumers
* The political economy of audiences
* The ways in which audiences are ‘delivered’ to advertisers
* Broadcasters and the ratings war
* The development of narrowcasting and niche audiences

The book looks ahead to the future of audience research and suggests that new interactive genres, such as reality TV, and technologies such as the internet, are already revolutionizing the nature and scope of audience activity and research taking place in the 21st century.

Media and Audiences: New perspectives is a key text for the study of audiences and is suitable for students working in a range of disciplines including culture and media studies, journalism, sociology and social psychology.

Also available is a collection of essays written to accompany this text, entitled Critical Readings: Media and Audiences (Open University Press, 2003). These two books can be used to complement each other or as separate texts.

Karen Ross is Reader in Mass Communication at Coventry University, UK. She has published extensively in the broad area of audience and identities. Her recent books include: Mapping the Margins (2003), Women, Politics, Media (2002) and Black and White Media (1996).

Virginia Nightingale is Associate Professor in the School of Communication, Design and Media at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on audience theory and research practice. She is the author of Studying Audiences: the Shock of the Real (1996).

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