Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies

Leading scholars of media and public life grapple with how to make sense of major transformations rocking media and politics.

Matthew Powers (Edited by), Adrienne Russell (Edited by)

9781108840514, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 August 2020

222 pages
16 x 23 x 2.5 cm, 0.5 kg

'an insightful contribution to the discourse on media research.' Yangge Zhang, International Journal of Communication

This agenda-setting volume brings together leading scholars of media and public life to grapple with how media research can make sense of the massive changes rocking politics and the media world. Each author identifies a 'most pressing' question for scholars working at the intersection of journalism, politics, advocacy, and technology. The authors then suggest different research approaches designed to highlight real-world stakes and offer a path toward responsive, productive action. Chapters explore our 'datafied' lives, journalism's deep responsibilities and daunting challenges, media's inclusions (and non-inclusions), the riddle of digital engagement, and the obligations scholars must attempt to meet in an era of networked information. The result is a rich forum that addresses how media transformations carry serious implications for public life. Original, provocative, and generative, this book is international in its orientation and makes a compelling case for public scholarship.

1. Introduction
Matthew Powers and Adrienne Russell
Part I. Living in a Datafied World
2. The corporate reconfiguration of the social world Nick Couldry
3. Public communication in a promotional culture Melissa Aronczyk
Part II. Journalism in Times of Change
4. Press freedom and its context Daniel Hallin
5. What are journalists for today? Matthew Powers and Sandra Vera-Zambrano
6. Noise and the values of news Stephanie Craft and Morten Stinus Kristensen
Part III. Media and Problems of Inclusion
7. Journalism and inclusion Rodney Benson
8. Afrotechtopolis: how computing technology maintains racial order Charlton McIlwain
9. Exploiting subalternity in the name of counter-hegemonic communication: Turkey's global media outreach initiatives Bilge Yesil
Part IV. Engagement with and through Media
10. Constructive engagement across deep divides – what it entails and how it changes our role as communication scholars Hartmut Wessler
11. Fostering engagement in an era of dissipating publics Lynn Schofield Clark
Part V. The Role of Scholars
12. What is communication research for? Wrestling with the relevance of what we do Seth C. Lewis
13. Communication as translation: notes toward a new conceptualization of communication Guobin Yang
14. What are we fighting for? Academia or the humility of knowledge Nabil Echchaibi
Epilogue: what media for what public life? Silvio Waisbord.

Subject Areas: Press & journalism [KNTJ], Comparative politics [JPB], Media studies [JFD], Communication studies [GTC]