Clearly organized, systematic, and combining a critical survey of the field with a finely judged assessment of cutting edge developments, this book provides a must have contribution to media and communication studies. Ideally pitched for students it explores the media saturation of everyday life while carefully emphasizing the complex relationships which exist between media, culture, and society. The text is organized into three distinctive parts which fall neatly into research and teaching requirements: Elements of the Media; Media, Power and Control; and Media, Identity and Culture.