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1. Introduction Media, Culture, Society Starting Points: Shaping,Mirroring and Re-presenting The Communication Process Transmitters,Receivers and Noise 'Who Says What...?' and Other Questions Linear andOne-Dimensional Elements of Media in Socio-Cultural Context Media,Power and Control Media, Identity and Culture Making Connections PARTONE: ELEMENTS OF MEDIA 2. Media Technologies Introduction ContrastingMedium Theories McLuhan: The Medium is the Message Kill Your TelevisionTechnological Determinism Hot, Cool or Both? Generalization andReification Technologies and Social Contexts Capacities and ConstraintsInto the Digital Age Convergence Interactivity Mobility TheInternet: A Cure for Social Ills? Conclusion: Technologies in Context 3.Media Industry Introduction Media Organizations Commercial OwnershipConcentration of Ownership = Concentration of Ideas? The Bottom Line:Sources of Revenue Advertising Revenue Direct Audience PaymentsPayments Between Media Companies Maximising Audiences The Role ofSponsors Governments and Regulation Access Restrictions OwnershipRestrictions Content Regulation Deregulation Supporting theIndustry: Copyright Conclusion: Economic Determinism? 4. Media ContentIntroduction Media Texts as Arrangements of Signs Signs as Arbitrary?Levels of Meaning Signs as Relational Uncovering MythologyLimitations of Semiology Narrative, Genre and Discourse AnalysisNarrative Analysis Genre Analysis Discourse Analysis From Quality toQuantity: Content Analysis 'Systematic, Objective and Quantitative'Categories and Coding Population and Sample Case Study: Gerbner andTelevision Violence Limitations of Content Analysis Conclusion: PuttingTexts into Context 5. Media Users Introduction US Empirical Traditionsof Audience Research Effects Research Limited Effects and Two-Step FlowUses and Gratifications Functionalist and Complacent? CulturalStudies: Dominant and Oppositional Readings Encoding, Decoding andPreferred Meanings Social Context and Differential Readings Audiencesas Cultural Producers Ethnographies of Audiences, Fans and UsersConclusion: An Uncritical Celebration? PART TWO: MEDIA, POWER AND CONTROL 6.Media as Manipulation? Marxism and Ideology Introduction Marxism andIdeology: Basics The Culture Industry as Mass Deception UnsupportedElitism? Ideological Meanings Beyond Marx's Materialism Case Study:Consumerist Myths Political Economy and Ideology Manufacturing ConsentCultural Imperialism as Globalization of Ideology Arguments andCriticisms Political Economic versus Cultural Approaches ComplexCommunication Flows and Consumer Resistance Conclusion: Avoiding EasyDismissals 7. The Construction of News Introduction Selection,Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting News Values Case Study: September 11th2001 Constructing Stories Differences Between News Providers MediumStyle and Market Position Political Stance Similarities: Back to Biasand Ideology? Class Bias Institutional Bias Infotainment andDepoliticization Conclusion: Bad News? 8. Public Service or PersonalEntertainment? Controlling Media Orientation Introduction PublicService Broadcasting (PSB) Reith and the BBC Differing PSB ArrangementsDeveloping PSB Principles Enabling or Imposing? Censorship:Preventing Harm and Offence Avoiding Majority (and Minority) OffencePornography Violence Preventing Harm or Inhibiting Freedom?Commercial Competition and Consumer Choice Neo-Liberal Approaches USBroadcasting: A Free Market Model A Toaster with Pictures: The Decline ofRegulation Conclusion: A Rosy Commercial Future? Decline of the NationalPublic: Commercialization, Fragmentation and Globalization IntroductionMedia and the Public Sphere Habermas' Public Sphere Media and PublicEngagement Nation as 'Imagined Community' Decline of the Public SphereFrom Facilitators to Shapers Commercially Driven Content DigitalDilution of the Nation Fragmentation Globalization The Internet:Interactive but Fragmented Conclusion: National Public - Good Riddance?PART 3: MEDIA, IDENTITY AND CULTURE 10. Media, Ethnicity and DiasporaIntroduction Racism and Exclusion RepresentationUnder-Representation Stereotypical Representations The Reproduction ofSubordination Promoting 'Positive' Images Reversing Stereotypes ofPassivity Successful, Well Adjusted, Integrated The Burden ofRepresentation New Ethnicities and Diaspora New Ethnicities DiasporaRepresenting Diaspora Audience Segregation Newspapers, Video andGlobal Bollywood Digital Specialization Online Diaspora Conclusion:Empowerment or Ghettoization? 11. Media, Gender and Sexuality IntroductionConstructions of Femininity Female Marginalization The Male GazePatriarchal Romance and Domesticity Post-Feminist Independence? TheEnduring Gaze Elitist Critics? Empowering Possibilities Reading theRomance Subversive Pleasures? From Consumers to Producers RemainingCritical Media and Masculinities Masculinity or Masculinities? Lads'Mags and Contradictory Representations Beyond HeterosexualityConclusion: A Balanced Approach 12. Media Communities: Subcultures, Fans andIdentity Groups Introduction Media versus Community Homogenizationand Atomization Resisting Mass Culture (and Media): Youth SubculturesMoral Panic and Mass Media Stigmatization Targeting Community LocalMedia Niche Magazines and Consumer Groupings Niche Digital Media DIYMedia and Internet Communication Fanzines Online Micro-CommunicationVirtual Community Communities or Individuals? Conclusion: All AboutDefinitions 13. Saturation, Fluidity and Loss of Meaning IntroductionSaturation as Loss of Meaning Consumerism: Expansion and Speed-UpInformation Overload Media = Reality From Truth, to Ideology, toSimulacra Celebrity Culture as Hyperreal Identity: Fragmentation andFluidity Recycling and Pastiche The Internet As Virtual PlaygroundSimulated Identity? Internet as Extension of Everyday Life Case Study:Social Networking Sites Conclusion: Saturated but Real? Glossary Glossary