"A Handbook of Media and Communication Research presents qualitative as well as quantitative approaches to the analysis and interpretation of media, covering perspectives from both the social sciences and the humanities. Combining practical approaches and theoretical concerns, the Handbook offers a comprehensive review of earlier research and a set of guidelines for how to think about, plan and carry out studies of media in different social and cultural contexts." "The Handbook comprises three main elements: a historical account of the development of key concepts and approaches; a systematic section covering media production, texts and audience as well as the wider social, cultural and global contexts of media, and the changing role of computer-mediated communication; and a practical element taking readers through the stages of the research process as carried out in student projects." "Written by internationally acknowledged specialists in each area and supported throughout by keywords, up-to-date references and graphic models, the Handbook will be a standard reference work for students and researchers in the field of media, communication and cultural studies. Contributors include: Barrie Gunter, Stig Hjarvard, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Peter Larsen, Amanda Lotz, Graham Murdock, Horace Newcomb, Paddy Scannell, Kim Christian Schroder, Gaye Tuchman."--BOOK JACKET