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MEDIA AUDIENCES, USERS, AND MARKETS

LLP 407
2018

Welcome
Hi. Welcome to Media Audiences, Users, and Markets. I hope you
enjoy the course. The professor is Toby Miller. You can contact me at
b.t.a.miller@lboro.ac.uk. My web site is http://www.tobymiller.org/.

Class Times and Locations

The course will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from February 6 to
March 8 at 1400-1700 in Room 104, other than February 20, when
we’ll be in Rooms 206 and 207.

Aims
The class aims to introduce students to the major theoretical and
methodological issues at stake in researching people’s engagement
with the media as audiences, users, and consumers. We’ll examine the
historical evolution of audience research; key theoretical paradigms in
the field; the practice of market research, and how it is employed
within the media and creative industries; methodological and ethical
dimensions of surveilling audiences; and the implications of new
media technologies, both for the experience of
audiences/users/consumers and the practice of research.

Intended Learning Outcomes

It is a good idea to familiarize yourselves with Loughborough’s
English Language Support (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/student-
services/student-services-luil/); Library Service
(http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/library/for/usersatlondoncampus/ );
and Writing Centre (http://learn.lboro.ac.uk/enrol/index.php?
id=5792).
This is graduate school, so a high level of English expression and
reading is expected as a minimal requirement—and the class requires
extensive and intensive reading You must read all the materials set for
the course, and be ready to discuss them in each session, in addition to
using them where relevant in your assessment items. If you do those
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things, then by the conclusion of the course, I hope you’ll know more
about the media mechanisms that produce, recreate, and circulate
audiences.
The underlined headings about learning outcomes that follow are
dictated by Loughborough University.
Knowing and understanding
- major research trends in the academic study of media audiences,
including social-psychological and cultural-studies perspectives;
- aims, methods and practices of market and consumer research;
- methodological choices entailed in studying media audiences, and
their implications and consequences; and
- impact of new media technologies on audience research
Subject-specific and intellectual skills
- relevant theoretical perspectives on media audiences, users, and
markets
- methodological procedures and practices
- implicit theoretical assumptions and methodologies in research; and
- emerging trends versus received wisdom
Practical skills
- assess academic and non-academic sources in order to develop a
critical understanding of theories and practices;
- evaluate an existing research study;
- engage with academic, industrial, and third-sector research;
- develop new questions or hypotheses; and
- imagine an original study in a topic relevant to the field
Key/transferable skills
- locate and criticize relevant academic and non-academic sources;
- gather and analyze primary data;
- communicate effectively in speech and writing;
- engage in critical reasoning and debate;
- manage time and resources; and
- synthesize data and key arguments
Enterprise/employability skills
- enhanced skills of communication
- independence, collaboration, initiative, and originality; and
- questioning of employers and the state
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Content
The class will focus on race, age, religion, sexuality, class, gender,
disability, inequality, representation, political economy, media,
marketing, policies, surveillance, and subcultures.

Assessment
Your mission, should you choose to accept it,1 is to write a 2000-word
essay (worth 70%) essay and make an oral presentation in class
(worth 30%). To avoid plagiarism, consider this useful information
http://turnitin.com/assets/en_us/media/plagiarism-spectrum/?
Product=Turnitin&Notification_Language=English&Lead_Origin=W
ebsite&source=Website%20-%20Event. The essay will be evaluated
on the basis of timely completion, correct citation and appreciation of
relevant literature, articulation of issues, use of evidence, quality of
analysis, and clarity of expression. There are several useful guides to
help you achieve those ends. One is The Craft of Research by Wayne
C. Booth et al., 4th ed. (2016), published by the University of Chicago
Press
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo23521678.htm
l. Another is the volume first written by Kate Turabian and
subsequently revised by other authors, entitled A Manual for Writers
of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 8th ed. (2013),
published by the University of Chicago Press
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo148216
62.html. You must upload your essay via Turnitin in the space
provided on Learn (http://learn.lboro.ac.uk/).
You may choose one of these three options as your essay topic, based
on findings from published research in scholarly, marketing,
governmental, and/or third-sector forms:
a) What influence do the media have on how people vote in
elections?
b) How do audience interpretations of the news correspond to
reality?
c) How do people negotiate one out of gender, race, language,
sexuality, disability, and class through their media use?
The presentation will be evaluated on the basis of a 5-minute talk with
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at least 5 slides, and a short report of about 150 words. Both those
formats should make good use of evidence as well as argument. The
topic can be of your own choice, but must articulate with one or more
lectures and sets of readings. Upload your slides and reports on
Turnitin in the space provided on Learn (http://learn.lboro.ac.uk/).
The presentations will be delivered in two classes, within two groups.
Membership will be decided alphabetically.
Due Dates
Presentations: March 6 (Group 1) and March 8 (Group 2)
Essays: March 16 at 1459

Readings
Please do the readings before each class and arrive with ideas and
examples derived from that literature. The materials will be available
through Learn (http://learn.lboro.ac.uk/), specific internet addresses,
and/or the library (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/).

LECTURE SCHEDULE

Class 1. February 6 Room 104: Introduction—lecturer ShinJoung

Yeo (http://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/about/staff/shin-joung-yeo/)
Reading:
Richard Butsch. (2011). “Audiences and Publics, Media and Public
Spheres.” The Handbook of Media Audiences. Ed. Virginia
Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 149-68
http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.
Virginia Nightingale. (2011). “Introduction.” The Handbook of Media
Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 1-
17 http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.
Dallas W. Smythe. (2006). “On the Audience Commodity and its
Work.” Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, rev. ed. Ed.
Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner. Oxford:
Blackwell. 230-56
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33805601/ME
DIA_AND_CULTURAL_STUDIES.pdf?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=151
6470172&Signature=%2Bp7sytnNxYNmB8xfQzWWlTCGNAQ
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%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename
%3DMeenakshi_Gigi_Durham_and_Douglas_M._Kel.pdf#page=2
69.

Class 2. February 8 Room 104: Audience Research Methods—

lecturer ShinJoung Yeo
Reading:
David Gunzerath. (2012). “Current Trends in U.S. Media
Measurement Methods.” International Journal on Media
Management 14, no. 2: 99-106
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14241277.2012.6757
54?needAccess=true.
Philip M. Napoli. (2011). “Ratings and Audience Measurement.” The
Handbook of Media Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell. 286-301
http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.

Class 3. February 13 Room 104: Being an Audience—lecturer

ShinJoung Yeo
Reading:
Jackie Cook. (2011). “Listening for Listeners: The Work of Arranging
How Listening Will Occur in Cultures of Recorded Sound.” The
Handbook of Media Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell. 41-61
http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.
Wendy Griswold, Elizabeth Lenaghan, and Michelle Naffziger.
(2011). “Readers as Audiences.” The Handbook of Media
Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
19-40 http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.
Shawn Shimpach. (2011). “Viewing.” The Handbook of Media
Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
62-85 http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?
p=700618.

Class 4. February 15 Room 104: Media Effects/Uses and

Gratifications—lecturer Toby Miller
Reading:
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Larry Gross. (2009). “My Media Studies: Cultivation to

Participation.” Television & New Media 10, no. 1: 66-68
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476408325105.
Robert LaRose, Dana Mastro, and Matthew S. Eastin. (2001).
“Understanding Internet Usage: A Social-Cognitive Approach to
Uses and Gratifications.” Social Science Computer Review 19, no.
4: 395-413 http://www.ensani.ir/storage/Files/20110209150302-
%D9%81%D9%87%D9%85%20%DA
%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AF
%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C%20%D8%A7%DB%8C
%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA.pdf.
Michael Morgan and James Shanahan. (2010). “The State of
Cultivation.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54, no.
2: 337-55
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08838151003735018.
Guosong Shao. (2009). “Understanding the Appeal of User-Generated
Media: A Uses and Gratification Perspective.” Internet Research
19, no. 1: 7-25
http://emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/1066224091092779
5.
S. Stack. (2003). “Media Coverage as a Risk Factor in Suicide.”
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 57: 238-40
http://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/57/4/238.full.pdf.

Class 5. February 20 Rooms 206 and 207: Moral Panic and

Propaganda—lecturer Toby Miller
Reading:
Chas Critcher. (2008). “Moral Panic Analysis: Past, Present and
Future.” Sociology Compass 2, no. 4: 1127-144
http://www.penelopeironstone.com/Critcher.pdf.
Edward S. Herman. (2003). “The Propaganda Model: A
Retrospective.” Against All Reason: Propaganda, Politics, Power
1: 1-14 http://www.human-nature.com/reason/01/herman.pdf.
Anita R. Ghodes. (2018). “Studying the Internet and Violent
Conflict.” Conflict Management and Peace Studies 35, no. 1: 89-
106
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0738894217733878.
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Daniela Stockmann. (2010). “Who Believes Propaganda? Media

Effects During the Anti-Japanese protests in Beijing.” China
Quarterly 202: 269-89
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-
quarterly/article/who-believes-propaganda-media-effects-during-
the-antijapanese-protests-in-
beijing/A0E36E7BB4D2DCBDE3FCCA509829BAA8.

STRIKE Class 6. February 22 Room 104: Encoding-Decoding—

lecturer Toby Miller
Reading:
Stuart Hall. (2006). “Encoding, Decoding.” Media and Cultural
Studies: KeyWorks, rev. ed. Ed. Meenakshi Gigi Durham and
Douglas M. Kellner. Oxford: Blackwell. 163-73
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/40765267/Me
dia_and_Cultural_Studies_key_Works.pdf?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=151
6466888&Signature=AK4Rhnm8%2FcBXls3m7CnimoyXRXA
%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename
%3DMedia_and_Cultural_Studies_key_Works.pdf#page=202.
Cornel Sandvoss. (2011). “Reception.” The Handbook of Media
Audiences. Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
230-50 http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?
p=700618.
Greg Philo. (2008). “Active Audiences and the Construction of Public
Knowledge.” Journalism Studies 9, no. 4: 535-44
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616700802114217.

STRIKE Class 7. February 27 Room 104: Prosumption—lecturer

Toby Miller
Reading:
Nico Carpentier. (2011). “New Configurations of the Audience? The
Challenges of User-Generated Content for Audience Theory and
Media Participation.” The Handbook of Media Audiences. Ed.
Virginia Nightingale. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 190-212
http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.
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Yang Ling. (2009). “All for Love: The Corn Fandom, Prosumers, and
the Chinese Way of Creating a Superstar.” International Journal of
Cultural Studies 12, no. 5: 527-43
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1367877909337863.
Alice E. Marwick and danah boyd. (2011). “I Tweet Honestly, I
Tweet Passionately: Twitter Users, Context Collapse, and the
Imagined Audience.” New Media & Society 13, no. 1: 114-33
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444810365313?
journalCode=nmsa.
Haiqing Yu. (2006). “From Active Audience to Media Citizenship:
The Case of Post-Mao China.” Social Semiotics 16, no. 2: 303-26
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10350330600664888.

Class 8. Room 104 March 1: Transnational Audiences—lecturer

Toby Miller
Reading:
Adrian Athique. (2014). “Transnational Audiences: Geocultural
Approaches.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 28,
no. 1: 4-17
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304312.2014.8708
68.
Pia Majbritt Jensen and Ushma Chauhan Jacobsen. (2017). “‘The
Three-Leaf Clover’: A Methodological Lens to Understand
Transnational Audiences.” Critical Studies in Television: The
International Journal of Television Studies
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1749602017729312.
Mirca Madianou. (2011). “Beyond the Presumption of Identity?
Ethnicities, Cultures, and Transnational Audiences.” The
Handbook of Media Audiences.  Ed. Virginia Nightingale. Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell. 444-58
http://LBORO.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=700618.

STRIKE Class 9. March 6 Room 104: Presentations

Seminar (3 hours): Student presentations from Group 1

Class 10. March 8 Room 104: Presentations

Seminar (3 hours): Student presentations from Group 2
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… which is mandatory in order to pass the course!