A Handbook of Media and Communications 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. 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. Divided into sections on the history, systematics and pragmatics of research, and written by internationally acknowledged specialists in each area, the Handbook will be a standard reference work for students and researchers.

Table of Contents

Lists of figures, tables, plates, and boxes. Preface. Notes on contributors. 1. Introduction: The state of convergence in media and communication research Klaus Bruhn Jensen University of Copenhagen, Denmark PART I - HISTORY: SOURCES OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 2. The humanities in media and communication research Klaus Bruhn Jensen 3. Media, culture, and modern times: Social science investigations Graham Murdock Loughborough University, UK PART II - SYSTEMATICS: PROCESSES OF MEDIATED COMMUNICATION 4. The production of media fiction Horace Newcomb University of Texas at Austin, USA and Amanda Lotz Washington University, St Louis, USA 5. The production of news Gaye Tuchman University of Connecticut, USA 6. The study of international news Stig Hjarvard University of Copenhagen, Denmark 7. Discourses of fact Kim Christian Schroder University of Roskilde, Denmark 8. Mediated fiction Peter Larsen University of Bergen, Norway Media audiences: 9. Media effects: Quantitative traditions Klaus Bruhn Jensen 10. Media reception: Qualitative traditions Klaus Bruhn Jensen 11. Contexts, cultures, and computers: The cultural contexts of mediated communication Klaus Bruhn Jensen 12. History, media, and communication Paddy Scannell University of Westminster, UK PART III - PRACTICE: SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES AND SOCIAL APPLICATIONS 13. The quantitative research process Barrie Gunter Sheffield University, UK 14. The qualitative research process Klaus Bruhn Jensen 15. The complementarity of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in media and communication research Klaus Bruhn Jensen 16. The social origins and uses of media and communication research Klaus Bruhn Jensen References. Name index. Subject index