Is television dead? The classic television era of the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by limited choices of programs broadcast on over the air channels to families as if they were seated around a hearth - and to a nation as if gathered around a campfire - has indeed ended. That early stage of "sharedness" and "scarcity" gave way to the television of "plenty," when satellite and cable and competition reigned, choice was suddenly expanded, and every room in the home had its own television set. And now television offers infinite choices where we can view what we like; when we like; where we like; on a variety of screens, telephones, and Web sites. Some researchers assert that television is not dead but has merely moved from a "collectivist" to an "individualist" phase. Throughout the drastic evolution of this media, thousands of studies have examined the short-term effects of television, such as the evaluation of persuasion campaigns. Yet there is scant research on the overreaching sociological impacts of television and its centrality to Western culture over the past 60 years. This compelling volume of The ANNALS is the first collection of rigorous articles devoted to studying ways in which television has impacted our values, ideologies, institutions, social structure, and culture. Focusing on classic television, these leading experts in media studies delve into the effects on social institutions (namely family and politics) and its effects on values and everyday behavior. These seminal articles lay the groundwork for innovative studies of the numerous ways that television has impacted democracy; social integration (nation and family); trust and suspiciousness; materialism; and identity (social and physical). Students and researchers will find a wealth of inspiration for new research projects. It is a must-have resource for social scientists interested in media studies.

Media and Communication traces the historical development of media and communication studies in the 20th century.  Paddy Scannell explores how the field formed and developed in both North America and in Europe, expertly introducing and explaining a host of essential media thinkers, ideas and concepts along the way. Including a new chapter on media events, this second edition of a classic text provides a comprehensive yet personal – and always accessible – analysis of media and communication theory and history. It is an invaluable resource for students across media and communication studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Media and Communication traces the historical development of media and communication studies in the 20th century. Paddy Scannell explores how the field formed and developed in both North America and in Europe, expertly introducing and explaining a host of essential media thinkers, ideas and concepts along the way. Including a new chapter on media events, this second edition of a classic text provides a comprehensive yet personal - and always accessible - analysis of media and communication theory and history. It is an invaluable resource for students across media and communication studies, cultural studies, and sociology.

Paddy Scannells Buch bietet eine faszinierende, erhellende und sehr gut verstandliche Einfuhrung in die Medien- und Kommunikationstheorie. Scannell entwickelt anhand der historischen Entwicklungen in Nordamerika und Europa eine sehr zugangliche, systematische und gleichzeitig differenzierte Analyse der verschiedenen Zugange der Beschaftigung mit Medien- und Kommunikation. Immer wieder schoepft er aus verschiedenen Disziplinen und fordert so insgesamt die Leserinnen und Leser heraus, sich mit Kommunikation und Medien in ihren Gesamtzusammenhangen auseinander zu setzen. Das international vielfach beachtete Werk des bekannten britischen Wissenschaftlers und Professors fur Kommunikationswissenschaft an der University of Michigan liegt nun endlich in deutscher Sprache vor.

Is television dead? The classic television era of the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by limited choices of programs broadcast on over the air channels to families as if they were seated around a hearth - and to a nation as if gathered around a campfire - has indeed ended.

Throughout the drastic evolution of this media, thousands of studies have examined the short-term effects of television, such as the evaluation of persuasion campaigns. Yet there is scant research on the overreaching sociological impacts of television and its centrality to Western culture over the past 60 years. This compelling volume of The ANNALS is the first collection of rigorous articles devoted to studying ways in which television has impacted our values, ideologies, institutions, social structure, and culture.

"This is a much-needed and timely follow-up to an earlier reader by the well-respected British communications journal, Media, Culture & Society. . . . This reader is much needed and timely for several reasons. It re-establishes the politico-economic dimension in the study of the relation between culture and power. . . . Another and probably even more significant reason why this reader is sorely needed is that it capsulizes the most damaging criticisms of postmodernist theory and its curious obfuscation, if not total denial, of the structuralist concern with the role of domination in the study of culture. . . . This volume is certainly correct in making explicit its full-toned apprehension about the dubious postmodernist pretensions to valid social inquiry. . . . This comprehensive reader of integrated critical media research will surely become an invaluable asset for all those scholars and students of media studies struggling to place power relations back at the center of the debate about the nature and dynamics of the culture-society relationship." --Canadian Journal of Communication On the cutting edge of media studies, Culture and Power presents a solid introduction to the current issues and debates central to media studies. The chapters derive from major articles published in Media, Culture & Society from 1985-1991. The book divides into three parts. The first part outlines and surveys some key theoretical developments in media studies, including the increased use of feminist and cultural studies approaches to the media and the development of the postmodernism debate. The second part addresses the pivotal area of recent research around the audience; the last section addresses the public sphere as a whole. This broad-ranging volume will be an invaluable text in communication, cultural studies, and sociology.

A major study on the discourses of broadcasting, Broadcast Talk demonstrates the relevance of talk and its relationship to the understanding of the communicative process in radio and television. This volume addresses central questions of who decides what programs are produced, how these programs influence audiences, and how those audiences make sense of the programs. The focus here is on radio and television because both media are fundamentally similar. The term "talk," rather than "speech" or "spoken language," is preferred because it indicates more exactly the character of communication transmitted in these media. Talk may be more or less formal, determined by the context and intended audience--a political speech or the news versus a talk show. The approach taken by Scannell and the contributors is largely influenced by discourse and conversational analysis, pragmatics and critical linguistics, the sociology of Goffman and Garfinkel, and Habermas' concept of the public sphere. Certain to stimulate interest in a new way of analyzing the institutions of broadcasting as systems of communication, Broadcast Talk has appeal for students and scholars in communication studies, cultural studies, discourse studies, and linguistics.