This essential set brings together leading articles on the three major domains of the communication process: 1) Institutions/Organisations/Production; 2) Content/Representation; and 3) Audiences/Consumption.

Combines mass communication theory with detailed descriptions of the various research methods from content anaysis to survey research, historical and legal research and qualitative studies. Also includes information on ethics and research presentation.

This updated edition presents a civic journalism treatment of the field of mass communication research. The sine qua non of the civic journalism movement seems to center around an implicit assumption that the human mind is an evolved part in the natural world, not a detached spectator as much traditional philosophy assumes. Thus, it has attempted to encourage journalists and members of their audiences to participate actively in civic life. Applying the same idea to mass communication academics, this book focuses on the empirical consequences of their work, especially its possible impact on human life. It argues that researchers need to connect with the broader communities in which they live and considers the impact of media research on society. Features of the second edition include: *detailed update of research evidence concerning the media violence issue; *additional material concerning media ownership structures and their possible relationship to media content and effects; *new material focusing on the impact of tobacco and alcohol advertising; *updated and expanded section concerning the history of media studies; and *an expanded discussion of philosophical issues pertaining to theory construction. This book is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying mass communication theory and related subjects, such as communication theory, media effects, media literacy, and media and society.

In this critical examination of the beginnings of mass communications research in the United States, written from the perspective of an educational historian, Timothy Glander uses archival materials that have not been widely studied to document, contextualize, and interpret the dominant expressions of this field during the time in which it became rooted in American academic life, and tries to give articulation to the larger historical forces that gave the field its fundamental purposes. By mid-century, mass communications researchers had become recognized as experts in describing the effects of the mass media on learning and other social behavior. However, the conditions that promoted and sustained their authority as experts have not been adequately explored. This study analyzes the ideological and historical forces giving rise to, and shaping, their research. Until this study, the history of communications research has been written almost entirely from within the field of communications studies and, as a result, has tended to refrain from asking troubling foundational questions about the origins of the field or to entertain how its emergence shaped educational discourse during the post-World War II period. By examining the intersection between the individual biographies of key leaders in the communications field (Wilbur Schramm, Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hadley Cantril, Stuart Dodd, and others) and the larger historical context in which they lived and worked, this book aims to tell part of the story of how the field of communications became divorced from the field of education. The book also examines the work of significant voices on the rise of mass communications study (including C. Wright Mills, William W. Biddle, Paul Goodman, and others) who theorized about the emergence of a mass society. It concludes with a discussion of the contemporary relevance of the theory of a mass society to educational thought and practice.

Publisher description

Over the last decade there has been a growing use of qualitative research methods in the study of social and cultural change. Incorporating theoretical insights from discourse analysis, ethnograohy and reception theory such research has proven a fruitful and enlightening mode of analysis.The Handbook represents the first volume devoted to the utilization of such methods in mass media research. It includes contributions from those at the forefront o communication studies who apply a developing methodology to media contents, contexts and audiences. Among others, Gaye Tuchman writes on news production, Dave Morley and Roger Silverstone on media audiences, and Horace Newcombe applies qualitative methods to television drama.In view of the rapid changes which the media environment is now undergoing, the books systematic overview of qualitative research methods will benefit commercial organisations as well as academic institutions.

Research in Mass Communication provides students with a step-by-step guide to planning, conducting, and applying mass communication research in both academic and industry settings.