Patrick Barwise, A. S. C. Ehrenberg: Television and Its Audience (1988)
Filed under book | Tags: · audience, mass media, television
This book by two leading experts takes a look at the nature of television, starting from an audience perspective. It draws on over twenty years of research about the audience in the United States and Britain and about the many ways in which television is funded and organized around the world.
The overall picture which emerges is of: a medium which is watched for several hours a day but usually at only a low level of involvement; an audience which views mainly for relaxation but which actively chooses favourite programmes; a flowering of new channels but with no fundamental change in what or how people watch; programmes costing millions to produce but only a few pennies to view; a wide range of programme types apparently similar to the range of print media but with nothing like the same degree of audience ‘segmentation’; a global communication medium of dazzling scale, speed, and impact but which is slow at conveying complex information and perhaps less powerful than generally assumed.
The book is packed with information and insights yet is highly readable. It is unique in relating so many of the issues raised by television to how we watch it. There is also a highly regarded appendix on advertising, as well as technical notes, a glossary, and references for further reading.
Publisher Sage Publications, 1988
ISBN 0803981546, 9780803981546
206 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-3-28)
Comment (0)Angharad N. Valdivia (ed.): A Companion to Media Studies (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · advertising, audience, cultural studies, feminism, gender, intellectual property, mass media, media studies, politics, popular culture, pornography, television, theory
A Companion to Media Studies is a comprehensive collection that brings together new writings by some of the most respected canonical and contemporary media studies scholars to provide an overview of the theories and methodologies that have produced this most interdisciplinary of fields.
* Brings together new writings by some of the most respected canonical and contemporary media studies scholars in the most comprehensive collection on media studies to date.
* Tackles a variety of central concepts and controversies, organized into six areas of study: foundations, production, media content, media audiences, effects, and futures.
* Provides an accessible point of entry into this expansive and interdisciplinary field.
* Includes the writings of renowned media scholars, including McQuail, Schiller, Gallagher, Wartella, and Bryant.
Publisher Wiley-Blackwell, 2005
ISBN 1405141743, 9781405141741
590 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-3-28)
Comment (0)Laurie Ouellette: Viewers Like You? How Public TV Failed the People (2002)
Filed under book | Tags: · audience, cultural theory, public broadcasting, television, united states
How “public” is public television if only a small percentage of the American people tune in on a regular basis? When public television addresses “viewers like you,” just who are you? Despite the current of frustration with commercial television that runs through American life, most TV viewers bypass the redemptive “oasis of the wasteland” represented by PBS and turn to the sitcoms, soap operas, music videos, game shows, weekly dramas, and popular news programs produced by the culture industries. Viewers Like You? traces the history of public broadcasting in the United States, questions its priorities, and argues that public TV’s tendency to reject popular culture has undermined its capacity to serve the people it claims to represent. Drawing from archival research and cultural theory, the book shows that public television’s perception of what the public needs is constrained by unquestioned cultural assumptions rooted in the politics of class, gender, and race.
Publisher Columbia University Press, 2002
ISBN 0231119437, 9780231119436
288 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-3-28)
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