Media Audiences: Is Anybody Watching?

Description

The relationship between the media and its audiences has always been a topic of research and debate. Media Audiences provides a comprehensive and succinct overview of the field of audience studies from the time of the printing press to an era characterized by online digital connectivity. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book offers a wealth of personal insight into the experience of undertaking audience research in order to illustrate the key methodological issues and challenges in the field. Addressing such topics as technologies, content and the people who are the subjects of audience research, the author challenges readers to think about the value of such research for themselves and for society at large. Comprehensive yet concise, this is essential reading for students of Media with an interest in audience studies.

Sue Turnbull is Senior Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and Discipline Leader for the Creative Industries. Her recent publications include European Television Crime Drama and Beyond, co-edited with Kim Toft Hanson and Steven Peacock (Palgrave Macmillan 2018), The TV Crime Drama (Edinburgh University Press 2014) and Media and Communications in Australia (Allen and Unwin 2014) with Stuart Cunningham. With Martin Barker, Sue is joint editor of Participations, Journal of Media and Reception Studies while her current projects include a collaborative investigation into the value of web series to the screen industries, audiences and the creative economy.

A wonderfully distinctive addition to audience studies. Taking a critical approach, Turnbull presents a historically situated account of both classic audience research and user engagement with contemporary media forms. * Eve Ng, Ohio University, USA * This book provides an important discussion of the key developments in thinking about media audiences, demonstrating the multiple different ways that scholars have thought about audiences and their relationship with media. * Emily Harmer, University of Liverpool, UK *