Why Study the Media?

by Roger Silverstone

`It′s easy to be snobbish about media culture; the great merit of Roger Silverstone′s book is to make the reader understand just how important that culture is′ - Richard Sennett, New York University `A remarkable book which argues for a new paradigm for the study of the media′ - Daniel Dayan, Centre National de la Recherche `A persuasive and sophisticated discussion of the role of the media in modern life at the threshold of the twenty-first century′ - Ellen Seiter, University of California `A very important book, one that moves media theory and argument on at long last. This is an attempt to get people to think differently about the media - not ju

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[David Meme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents an excellent argument as to why studying the media requires more than the often simplistic treatment it receives in the social sciences (see for instance Moss' work). Media cannot just be ignored or treated as being carried over a neutral transmission medium, nor can we take for granted the form of the medium. New media has obviously raised these issues in startling new ways (in terms of remediation in particular) but the difficulty of placing the media within a methodological framework of analysis without lapsing into sociologism or technologism (to use Latour's terms) show the importance of developing methodology in relation to media/medium scholarship. A great place to start to get up to speed on contemporary debates about media studies.

[Adam Ripon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outdated for 2017-2018 bud good for media theories.