Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements--copyright permissions -- The mass media -- The mass media in a social context -- Case study: Making sense of the media: the Irish band U2 -- Asking questions about U2 -- Asking questions about the media -- Model of media analysis: production, content and reception -- Case study: Not just a dysfunctional blue-collar family ... -- Media Globalization -- Theories of globalization -- Globalization and media audiences -- Case study: Print media coverage of Third World crises -- Media Ownership: Concentration and Conglomeration -- The political economy perspective -- The Internet as public sphere -- Case study: It's all in the game: monopoly, football and satellite television -- Media Production and Media Professionals -- Production research -- Two traditions -- Theoretical underpinnings of production research -- Methodological basis -- Research on media production and media professionals -- Case study: Structure and agency in media production: Alan Parker's film Angela's Ashes -- Media Ideology -- Ideology as dominant ideology -- Discourse and ideology -- Analysing Media Content: Media 'Re-presentations' in a Divided World -- Representation/re-presentation and 'reality' -- Case study: Analysing media content: The Royle Family -- Media representations in a divided world: four approaches outlined -- Media representation of social class -- Media representations of ethnicity: a discourse analysis approach -- Media representations of gender -- Audiences and Reception -- Understanding media audiences: changing paradigms in reception research -- Fractures and factions: competing methodologies in audience-based research -- Alternative styles of reception analysis: the 'News Game' -- Qualitative audience research: three examples.