Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

makes important contributions to the study of the mass media today...user-friendly...easy, yet a thought-provoking read...would serve as a valuable resource tool in any media student's library, from Bombay to Bundaberg.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xi)
• Acknowledgements (p. xii)
• Part I Introduction to Television
• 1 Introduction to Television (p. 3)
• Television is a Twentieth-century Phenomenon (p. 3)
• Sources (p. 5)
• 2 John Ellis and 'the Television Experience' (p. 7)
• Broadcast Television as Sound and Image (p. 7)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 10)
• Source (p. 10)
• 3 History of Television (p. 13)
• Introduction (p. 13)
• Television in the 1950s (p. 16)
• Television in the 1960s (p. 17)
• Television in the 1970s and 1980s (p. 19)
• Television in the 1990s (p. 20)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 22)
• Sources (p. 23)
• Part II Introduction to Genre
• 4 Introduction to Genre (p. 27)
• Background (p. 27)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 29)
• Source (p. 29)
• 5 Soap Operas (p. 31)
• Soaps - An Historical Overview (p. 31)
• What is Soap? (p. 32)
• Narrative Organization in the Serial (p. 33)
• Scheduling (p. 34)
• Serials v. Series (p. 34)
• The Importance of Soap (p. 34)
• The Attraction of Soap for Television Institutions (p. 35)
• British Soaps (p. 35)
• Coronation Street (p. 36)
• Brookside (p. 37)
• Eastenders (p. 38)
• Production (p. 39)
• Criticisms of the Genre (p. 40)
• A Woman's Genre? Defending 'Soap' (p. 42)
• Reading: 'Brookside Backs Down Over Lesbian Kiss' (p. 43)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 44)
• Sources (p. 51)
• 6 Situation Comedy (p. 53)
• The Development of British Situation Comedy (p. 53)
• Alternative v. Mainstream (p. 54)
• Sitcom Narrative (p. 56)
• Sitcom and Representation (p. 58)
• The BBC v. The Independent Sector (p. 60)
• British Production Practices (p. 61)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 63)
• Sources (p. 65)
• 7 Game Shows (p. 67)
• Game Shows - An Historical Overview (p. 67)
• The Popularity of Game Shows (p. 69)
• Game Shows - 'Ritual, Game, Ritual' (p. 71)
• Criticisms of the Genre (p. 73)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 74)
• Sources (p. 76)
• 8 Police Series (p. 79)
• Introduction to the Genre (p. 79)
• A Concise History of Police Series (p. 79)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 87)
• Sources (p. 89)
• 9 Television News (p. 91)
• What is News? (p. 91)
• News - An Historical Overview (p. 92)
• News Values (p. 96)
• Accuracy, Objectivity, and Balance in Television News (p. 104)
• The Glasgow University Media Group and Bias (p. 106)
• Who Controls News? The Ideology of News Production (p. 109)
• News Narrative (p. 113)
• Production Practices - In the Newsroom (p. 114)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 116)
• Sources (p. 117)
• 10 Documentary (p. 121)
• Introduction (p. 121)
• The Status of Documentary (p. 122)
• Realism (p. 123)
• Realism and Documentary (p. 125)
• Realism and Television 'Rhetoric' (p. 126)
• Case Study: Independent Production (p. 132)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 135)
• Sources (p. 136)
• Part III Related Concepts and Debates
• 11 Representation and Stereotyping (p. 139)
• Introduction to Representation (p. 139)
• Representation by Type (p. 141)
• Stereotypes (p. 142)
• Content Analysis (p. 144)
• Gender Stereotypes (p. 145)
• Pornography (p. 148)
• Pluralism (p. 149)
• Representation of Age (p. 151)
• Representation of Race (p. 155)
• Other Stereotypes (p. 157)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 158)
• Sources (p. 159)
• 12 Audience (p. 163)
• Introduction (p. 163)
• Female Audiences (p. 164)
• Ethnographic Research (p. 166)
• Encoding and Decoding (p. 168)
• Fiske and 'Subversive' Readings (p. 169)
• Audience Positioning and Screen Theory (p. 170)
• Mode of Address (p. 171)
• Audience Power (p. 172)
• Scheduling (p. 173)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 175)
• Sources (p. 177)
• 13 Media Effects (p. 179)
• Historical Background to the Effects Debate (p. 179)
• The 'Hypodermic Effect' Model (p. 180)
• Challenges to the 'Hypodermic Effect' Model (p. 182)
• Current Effects Research (p. 183)
• Television and Violence (p. 185)
• Children and Television Violence (p. 187)
• Cultural Effects Theories (p. 189)
• 'Cultural Norms' (p. 193)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 194)
• Sources (p. 195)
• 14 Public Service Broadcasting and the Future of the BBC (p. 199)
• Introduction (p. 199)
• Public Service v. Commercial Broadcasting (p. 201)
• The British Broadcasting System (p. 201)
• The 1990 Broadcasting Act (p. 202)
• Initial Consequences of the Act (p. 204)
• Public Service v. Commercial Broadcasting Post-1990 (p. 206)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 209)
• Sources (p. 210)
• 15 New Technology (p. 213)
• Television (p. 213)
• Video (p. 215)
• Teletext (p. 215)
• Viewdata (p. 216)
• Cable, Satellite and the Information Superhighway (p. 216)
• New Technology - Access and Ownership (p. 219)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 225)
• Sources (p. 225)
• 16 Ideology (p. 227)
• Introduction (p. 227)
• Liberal Political Theory (p. 228)
• Marxist Political Theory (p. 230)
• Ideological Analysis (p. 239)
• Media Imperialism (p. 241)
• Case Study: The Satellite and Islam (p. 244)
• Reading: The Political Influence of Television in the USA (p. 251)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 252)
• Sources (p. 253)
• 17 Semiotics (p. 257)
• Saussure and Sign Systems (p. 257)
• Signs (p. 258)
• Semiotics and Television (p. 263)
• Exercises and Essays (p. 264)
• Sources (p. 265)
• Suggested Reading (p. 267)
• Index (p. 271)