Understanding Media

An authoritative and accessible guide to the world’s most influential force – the contemporary media

Our lives are more mediated than ever before. Adults in economically advanced countries spend, on average, over eight hours per day interacting with the media. The news and entertainment industries are being transformed by the shift to digital platforms. But how much is really changing in terms of what shapes media content? What are the impacts on our public and imaginative life? And is the Internet a democratising tool of social protest, or of state and commercial manipulation?

Drawing on decades of research to examine these and other questions, Understanding Media interrogates claims about the Internet, explores how representations in TV and film may influence perceptions of self, and traces overarching trends while attending to crucial local context, from the United States to China, Norway to Malaysia, and Brazil to Britain. Understanding Media is an accessible and essential guide to the world's most influential force - the contemporary media.

Reviews

This book explores the dynamic world of contemporary media cultures in the digital era by incorporating cutting-edge scholarship. With a special emphasis on globalization including Japan, where I am based, and the rest of East Asia, it invites readers on a journey through the interconnected world of media and social change.James Curran poses critical and urgent questions about our engagement with media today and offers nuanced perspectives that transcend simple optimism or pessimism