About the Book

Endorsements

Read what teachers and students say about the current and previous editions.

'Branston and Stafford have once again exceeded the high standards they set themselves. This is the best introduction I know to media studies with an extraordinary range of examples and highly effective suggestions for student activity. Brilliantly updated, making great use of web resources, the new sections on migration, J-horror movies, CSI and free markets show how cleverly the authors take the pulse of media culture. The analysis is commendably clear but never underplays the full complexity of the media's roles or the approaches needed to understand them.' - Christine Geraghty, University of Glasgow

‘Popular with students and a value-for-money work to have in multiple copies in school, college and university libraries supporting media studies courses... The new edition reflects the structural shift to digital, changes in the industry, the effect of convergence, and above all the need to apply regular media concepts like representation and ideology, genre and narrative, audiences and media practices to new and topical issues and examples... Will continue to open up exciting and topical media issues to students, and do it in a media-savvy way using layout and colour and interactivity and an unfussy tone to do it. It all adds up to an effective introduction to its field and a lead-on to the numerous other more specialist works.’- Stuart Hannabus, Library Review

'I plan to adopt the Media Student's Book for my Upper Sixth students doing the AQA exam and welcome the fact that the book is pitched at a higher level than other available texts. The layout matches very well with areas studied in the A Level exam. I found the examples used and detail on theoretical background to media studies very useful.' - Tom Kavanagh, HOD Drama/Media Department, St Malachy's College, Belfast

THIRD EDITION:

'A wonderful teaching tool.' - Ralph Beliveau, University of Oklahoma

'Brilliantly conceived and executed, this is simply the best introduction to media studies we have' - Toby Miller, University of New York

'What is by now evident, however, is the authors' exceptional genius at modernising their text, examples and case studies... As a set text, this is now in a class of its own.' - David Lusted, Southampton Institute

'Does a better job than the existing competitors of introducing the field at undergraduate level, and in communicating something of the field's critical animus while also providing an entrée into the underlying and important debates that define the field of current scholarship. Whilst managing to be accessible and student-friendly it also keeps in view the academic complexities just over the horizon. ... It also manages to bridge the former academic divides, now disappearing, between humanities/cultural studies and social science/mass communication research traditions and approaches' - Simon Cottle, Professor/Director of Media and Communication Program, University of Melbourne, 2004

SECOND EDITION:

'An outstanding book that will be valuable as a resource for both students and teachers' - David Carr, Weald College, Middlesex

'A book which no college or first-year undergradute student of media studies can afford to ignore ... indispensable.' - Andrew Beck, Coventry University

FIRST EDITION:

'Imaginative, accessible, comprehensive and shrewd - all textbooks should be like this. No student could read it without coming away thoroughly prepared for the pleasures, pitfalls and challenges of media studies, and no teacher in the field could fail to find it a superb and timely source of ideas.' - Andy Medhurst, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Sussex

'An indispensable text which no A-Level student of media and communication studies can afford to ignore.' - Andrew Beck, Chief Examiner A Level Media Studies, UK

'I particularly liked the extended section on key concepts. Some of the case studies include excellent data which is highly relevant to A-Level students.' - Andy Freedman, Cirencester College

'The Media Student's Book was an exceptional help in completing my A Levels last year. I read many other books but I and my class friends all preferred it as the key text for our course. I read every word ... the skills I learnt from it are amazing.' - Shofiq Miah, Student, Maiden Erlegh Sixth Form College, Reading, UK

Submit your own review of The Media Student's Book, Fourth Edition by using the online form.