The Media Student's Book is a comprehensive introduction for students of media studies. It covers all the key topics and provides a detailed, lively and accessible guide to concepts and debates.

    Now in its fifth edition, this bestselling textbook has been thoroughly revised, re-ordered and updated, with many very recent examples and expanded coverage of the most important issues currently facing media studies. It is structured in three main parts, addressing key concepts, debates, and research skills, methods and resources. Individual chapters include:

    • approaching media texts
    • narrative
    • genres and other classifications
    • representations
    • globalisation
    • ideologies and discourses
    • the business of media
    • new media in a new world?
    • the future of television
    • regulation now
    • debating advertising, branding and celebrity
    • news and its futures
    • documentary and ‘reality’ debates
    • from ‘audience’ to ‘users’
    • research: skills and methods.

    Each chapter includes a range of examples to work with, sometimes as short case studies. They are also supported by separate, longer case studies which include:

    • Slumdog Millionaire
    • online access for film and music
    • CSI and detective fictions
    • Let the Right One In and The Orphanage
    • PBS, BBC and HBO
    • images of migration
    • The Age of Stupid and climate change politics.

    The authors are experienced in writing, researching and teaching across different levels of undergraduate study, with an awareness of the needs of students. The book is specially designed to be easy and stimulating to use, with:

    • a Companion Website with popular chapters from previous editions, extra case studies and further resources for teaching and learning, at: www.mediastudentsbook.com
    • margin terms, definitions, photos, references (and even jokes), allied to a comprehensive glossary
    • follow-up activities in ‘Explore’ boxes
    • suggestions for further reading and online research
    • references and examples from a rich range of media and media forms, including advertising, cinema, games, the internet, magazines, newspapers, photography, radio, and television.

    List of Figures

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    Section 1: Key concepts

    1 Approaching media texts

    Introduction

    Semiotic approaches

    Structuralism, difference(s), and oppositions

    Denotation and connotation

    The social nature of signs

    Debates

    Content analysis

    Conclusion

     

    Case study: Visual and aural signs

    Analysing a poster, and notes on two photos

    Voices and sound signifiers

    Audio-visual moving images

    Content analysis

     

    2 Narratives

    General theories of narrative

    Narration, story and plot

    Narratives in different media

    Long running and ‘single’ narratives

    ‘New media’ and narrative debates

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    Case study: CSI: Miami and Crime fiction

    The classification ‘crime fiction’

    Plot/story

    Applying Todorov

    Applying Propp

    Applying Barthes

    Applying Lévi-Strauss

    Narratives, institutions, ideologies

    References and further reading

    3 Genres and classification

    Classifying films: Thelma and Louise (US 1991)

    Repetition and difference

    Repertoires of elements

    Case study: Formats and genres

    Status and genres 1: ‘escapism’ and verisimilitude

    Status and genres 2: the cultural context

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    Case study: Horror as popular art The Orphanage and Let the Right One In

    The child in the horror film

    Global and local audiences

    Style and the Gothic: different repertoires

    Authorship and promotion

    Distribution patterns

    4 Representations

    ‘Representation’ now

    Stereotyping and ‘scripts’

    Case study 1: US plantation stereotyping

    Scripts and performances

    Case study 2: Representations and gender

    Stages of change, and ‘positive/negative’ debates

    Realisms and representations

    Comedy and questions of representation

    Historical and institutional processes

    Conclusion

    Reference and further reading

    Case study: Images of migration

    Introduction

    Discourses and stereotypes of ‘migration’ and other kinds of travel

    News media

    The ‘grain of truth’ in stereotypes?

    Varieties of media representations

    References

    5 Globalisation

    Your experiences of globalisation

    Global histories

    Approaches to globalised media

    Global-local flows

    Global futures?

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    Case study: Slumdog Millionaire: global film?

    The background to a global hit

    The production of the film

    Distribution

    The Bollywood connection

    Controversies in reception

    After the Oscar ceremonies . . .

    6 Ideologies and discourses

    Introduction

    ‘Ideology’ and its histories: Marxist approaches

    The persistence of class and its (in)visibility

    Post-Marxism and critical pluralism

    Discoures

    Lived cultures

    Conclusion?

    References and further reading

     

     

    Case study: The Age of Stupid (UK 2009) and Climate Change Politics

    Introduction

    Context: images and discourses

    The term ‘propaganda’

    Textual approaches to the film

    ‘Cinema’ and its ‘everyday practices’

    Conclusion

    7 Media as Business

    Studying business organisations

    Ownership and control

    The experience of conglomerates

    New players in India and China

    Public or private funding?

    Public or private in filmed entertainment

    The new digital environment

    Business models

    Different perspectives

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    Case study: Music and movies – digital and available

    The challenge of copying

    Piracy

    Changing models in the film industry

     

     

    Section 2 : Debates

    8 ‘New media’ in a ‘new world’?

    Introduction

    ‘Newness’ and histories

    Academic approaches

    Openness, collaboration and ‘users’

    ‘The long tail’

    Digital copies and the ‘enclosure’ of information

    New media, old metaphors

    ‘New media’, vanishing resources

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

     

    9 The future of television

    Introduction

    Ownership and control in the television industry

    Paying for television

    Business models for television broadcasting

    Public service broadcasting

    Network television

    Subscription

    10 Regulation now

    Introduction

    Politics and media economics

    Regulation and ‘freedom’

    Historical background

    Changes in the orthodoxy of economic policies and new models

    Deregulation, liberalisation and media institutions

    The contemporary regulatory environment

    A ‘free market’ for classification, censorship and sex and violence?

    The public gets the media it deserves?

    ‘Free choices’ and free speech?

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    11 Debating advertising, branding and celebrity

    Introduction

    Advertising, marketing and branding

    Debates

    Histories

    Hollywood and branding

    Hollywood: the brand(s)

    Case study: ‘Brangelina’

    Citizenship and consumption

    References and further reading

    12 News and its futures

    Introduction

    The importance of news, and views of ‘the public’

    The construction of ‘news’

    ‘Impartiality’ and accuracy

    ‘News values’

    Debates on the influence of news

    Futures: ‘new’ news?

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    13 Documentary and ‘reality’ debates

    Recent issues in documentary

    Documentary and assumptions about ‘realism’ and truth

    ‘Direct Cinema’

    Performance and documentary

    Ethics and documentary

    Recent hybrids 1: ‘pranksters’

    Recent hybrids 2: ‘reality TV’

    Recent hybrids 3: forms of ‘drama documentary’

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

    14 From ‘audience’ to ‘users’

    Introduction

    Academic representations of audiences

    The effects model

    The uses and gratifications model

    From ‘effects’ to ‘influence’: factual forms

    ‘Cultural’ approaches

    Re-mediating audiences

    Conclusion

    References and further reading

     

    Section 3 : Research methods and reference

    15 Research: skills and methods

    Introduction

    Basics

    Using the internet, and print forms

    Fear of ‘theory’

    Methods

    Qualitative and quantitative

    Textual approaches

    Samples

    Focus groups

    ‘Ethnographic’ methods

    Footnote : Wikipedia

    References and further reading

    Glossary

    Index

    Biography

    Gill Branston is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Roy Stafford is a freelance lecturer, writer and examiner in media education and training.

    "This book does precisely what you want a textbook to do. It brings students to a wide range of concepts, issues and debates in media studies and sets them within critical, yet accessible, contexts. Through a guided and fully illustrated tour of textual, political, economic, social, technological and regulatory concerns the reader is encouraged to grasp the fundamentals of the field. It is littered with both contemporary and classic examples, links to online resources and probing questions to both cement understanding and challenge assumptions. It is effortless to read and should be the bread and butter of every media student’s diet." – Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths, University of London

    "The fifth edition of The Media Student’s Book is the best textbook on the media available on the planet today. It is an invaluable resource not just for students, but also for scholars of media and cultural studies. Beautifully produced, with full-colour images, informative sidebars and information boxes working in tandem with Gill Branston and Roy Stafford’s engaging text, the new edition addresses every and any topic in media studies today: documentaries, new media, globalization, advertising, news, and media regulation. With a key chapter on research methods and innumerable ideas for activities, assignments and projects, this book will find a home in media studies courses everywhere." – Imre Szeman, University of Alberta, Canada

    "A terrific new edition, a re-write which takes on the challenges of Web 2 and uses it to explore and analyse the complexity of media production and use. A brilliant introduction to media studies with a range of accessible and up-to-date examples and student exercises which are thought-provoking and engaging. The re-design presents the material vividly and the cross-referencing to the companion website makes this a superb resource. Case studies provide an excellent basis for course activity while the clear advice on research methods and references is invaluable support for project work. The editors are experienced teachers and it shows.

    Branston and Stafford’s enthusiasm for a wide range of media is infectious but they don’t shy away from tricky issues like media ownership, regulation and environmental impact. In such a fast-moving world, updating this classic text book was an almost impossible task; to do it so well is a tremendous achievement." – Christine Geraghty, University of Glasgow

    "This is an excellent core text for first year undergraduates, offering breadth, balance and a wealth of guidance towards further reading and research. " – Christa van Raalte, Teesside University 

    "The fifth edition of The Media Student’s Book is the best edition yet. Its reorganized and revised contents make the material more accessible and also provide valuable updated overviews of contemporary developments in both new and longer-standing forms of media. One of the book’s major strengths is its combination of detailed up-to-date accounts of contemporary media forms together with a deeper historical and theoretical perspective. The widespread inclusion of discussions and case studies on media texts and genres which have emerged since the fourth edition also ensures the book’s continuing ability to dialogue with media students and to provide a focused account of the contemporary media landscape." –Hilary Dannenberg, University of Trier, Germany

    "This book breaks down the discipline into concepts, then shows how each one links to others. It makes sense of the huge interdisciplinary area of media studies by providing clear definitions of key concepts, illustrated with up-to-date examples and a wealth of external links. The language is simple and direct without being patronising. As well as allowing students to understand different approaches within media studies, this book will be a useful tool in essay writing and other assessment projects. Perhaps most importantly, because of the range of examples used and its thought-provoking style, I think after reading this, students will apply what they read and through that at least begin to understand the media around them. I think both lecturers and students will find this interesting, stimulating and very useful." – Carole Fleming, Nottingham Trent University

    "Branston and Stafford still offer the best, one-stop resource for media studies with an incredible range of material and contemporary case studies presented in a conversational style. The book links itself to the broader mediasphere through the archiving of additional material online and references sending students to youtube clips and short films, encouraging students to be active participants in the process of learning about media rather than simply passive readers of the text.

    Through the expansive coverage, information distilled and ideas on display, The Media Student’s Book will remain a valuable resource for students throughout their studies, as well as for many academics and those involved in the analysis and creation of media more generally." – Jason Bainbridge, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

    Student Feedback:

    "The new edition is great! It is accessible and easy to relate to. The use of normal everyday examples that a student will have come across instead of academic (probably unseen ones) makes understanding difficult theories and philosophies easy and straight-forward. It is like somebody your age is explaining it. I like how it acknowledges the change in the way people learn, with a greater reliance on the internet and absorbs this into its design and layout. The 'Explore' sections are also really well put together as they make you aware of all the media things that saturate your day-to-day life that you have grown to ignore or take for granted, and they make you take a step back and critically analyse them."Charlotte Dean, Media Studies student at St Andrews University

    "I think that the new edition is fantastic. It's very comprehensive and the examples used are very relevant to the topics discussed. I like the side information as it explains key concepts for readers who may not be aware of their meaning. Also, the extra websites and exercises I feel will enhance learning and allows the student to interact more with the topics covered. In the introduction, I like how readers can feedback to the publishers directly by email. I think it displays two-way media and new media culture very well."Anna Jordan, Media Studies student at Stirling University