The Media Studies Toolkit

In this critical primer, Michael Z. Newman introduces newcomers to the key concepts, issues, and vocabulary of media studies. Across ten chapters, Newman examines topics from text and audience to citizenship and consumerism, drawing on a myriad of examples of media old and new. Film and TV rub shoulders with mobile games and social media, and popular music and video sharing platforms with journalism and search engines. While the book takes a critical, cultural approach, it covers topics that apply across many kinds of media scholarship, bridging the humanities and the social sciences and looking at media as a global phenomenon. It considers media in relation to society and its unequal structures of power, and relates media representations to their conditions of production in media industries and consumption in the everyday lives of audiences and users. Spanning the historical periods of mass media and online participatory culture, it also probes assumptions about media that were formulated in a previous era and looks at how to update our thinking to address an ever-changing digital mediascape. With its clear and accessible style, this book is tailor-made for undergraduate students of media, communication, and cultural studies, as well as anyone who would like to better understand media.

Written by experienced teachers and examiners, A2 Media Studies builds solidly on the groundwork laid by the AS Media Studies syllabus and develops key topics in greater depth and introduces students to the notion of independent study. Bang up-to-date, this full colour, fully-illustrated text is designed to support students through the transition from a focus on textual analysis to the consideration of the wider contexts that inform any study of the media. Specially designed to be user-friendly, A2 Media Studies includes: sample AQA exam questions activities and practical assignments further reading case studies a glossary of key terms and resources. This is a book no A2 level media studies student can afford to be without.

AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for AQA is fully revised for the current specification with full colour throughout, over 100 images, new case studies and examples. The authors introduce students step-by-step to the skills of reading media texts, and address key concepts such as genre, representation, media institutions and media audiences as well as taking students through the tasks expected of them to pass the AQA AS Media Studies exam. The book is supplemented with a companion website at www.asmediastudies.co.uk featuring additional activities and resources, further new case studies such as music and sport, clear instructions on producing different media, quizzes and tests. Areas covered include: an introduction to studying the media the key concepts across print, broadcast and e-media media institutions audiences and the media case studies such as Heroes, Nuts, and The Daily Mail guided textual analysis of real media on the website and within the book research and how to do it preparing for exams a production guide and how to respond to a brief. AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for AQA clearly guides students through the course and gives them the tips they need to become proficient media producers as well as media analysts.

This book explores the place of Media Studies in the age of ‘fake news’, analysing the calls for a curriculum of critical news literacy as part of a cyclical policy debate. With the need for young people in democracies to understand mainstream news agendas and take a critical perspective on social media news, including so-called ‘fake news’, this book argues for Media Studies as a mandatory subject. However, ‘fake news’ is not presented in the book as a stable, neutral term with a clear definition, but is instead defined as an idea that risks obscuring the key critical and political premise of Media Studies. All media representation requires critical deconstruction: therefore, any distinction between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ media is a false binary. The author draws together two narrative strands: one analysing contemporary news and journalism, featuring interviews with journalists and news commentators, and the other re-appraising the discipline of Media Studies itself. This bold and innovative book will appeal to all those interested in the nebulous and often confusing media landscape, as well as students and practitioners of Media Studies.

There have been seismic shifts in what constitutes (the) media in recent years with technological advances ushering in whole new categories of producers, consumers and modes of delivery. This has been reflected in the way media is studied with new theories, concepts and practices coming to the fore. Media Studies: The Basics is the ideal guide to this changing landscape and addresses core questions including: Who, or what, is the media? What are the key terms and concepts used in analysing media? Where have been the impacts of the globalization of media? How, and by whom, is media made in the 21st century? Featuring contemporary case studies from around the world, a glossary and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to media studies today.

A unique collection of resources for all those studying the media at university and pre-university level, this book brings together a wide array of material including advertisements, political cartoons and academic articles, with supporting commentary and explanation to clarify their importance to Media Studies. In addition, activities and further reading and research are suggested to help kick start students' autonomy. The book is organized around three main sections: Reading the Media, Audiences and Institutions, and is edited by the same teachers and examiners who brought us the hugely successful AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction. This is an ideal companion or standalone sourcebook to help students engage critically with media texts - its key features include: further reading suggestions a comprehensive bibliography a list of web resources.

Advanced Studies in Media has been designed to offer a comprehensive and stimulating textbook for all students on advanced level media studies and communications studies courses.

This book offers corporate writers, producers and directors an accessibly-written, hands-on guide to practical techniques important in producing high-quality, nuanced work in a corporate environment. Exploring each phase of media development—project inception, client interactions, scriptwriting, preproduction, casting, auditions, production and postproduction—author Ray DiZazzo teaches readers how to "know what works" in corporate media, as well as an ability to focus on the nuance and subtleties that elevate typical media to a higher quality standard, whether it’s crafting an intelligent script, framing and lighting a shot correctly, or knowing what transition to use in the editing suite. The book also features case studies illustrating real-life scenarios from the author and other corporate professionals, demonstrating these crucial techniques in practice. The Corporate Media Toolkit is a must-read for professionals and newcomers alike to bring their corporate media skills to the next level.