Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power

Description

Whether we are watching TV, surfing the Internet, listening to our iPods, or reading a novel, we all engage with media as an audience. . Despite the widespread use of this term in our popular culture, the meaning of "audience" is complex, and it has undergone significant historical shifts as new forms of mediated communication have developed from print, telegraphy, and radio to film, television, and the Internet. Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power 2nd Edition explores the concept of media audiences from four broad perspectives: as "victims" of mass media, as market constructions and commodities, as users of media, and as producers and subcultures of mass media. The goal of the text is for students to be able to think critically about the role and status of media audiences in contemporary society, reflecting on their relative power in relation to institutional media producers. Cover Half Title Publisher Note Title Page Copyright Page Brief Contents Detailed Contents Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1 History and Concept of the Audience Section I Audiences as Objects Chapter 2 Effects of Media Messages Section II Audiences as Institutional Constructions Chapter 3 Public Opinion and Audience Citizenship Chapter 4 Media Ratings and the Political Economy of Audiences Section III Audiences as Active Users of Media Chapter 5 Uses and Gratifications Chapter 6 Interpreting and Decoding Mass Media Texts Chapter 7 Reception Contexts and Media Rituals Section IV Audiences as Producers and Subcultures Chapter 8 Media Fandom and Audience Subcultures Chapter 9 Online, Interactive Audiences in a Digital Media World Chapter 10 Conclusion: Audience Studies in an Era of Datafication Index Contributors