Media Industries Research--Business Press and Trade Journal Resources

The resource environment keeps improving for the study of media industries from an historical perspective. Penn's recent subscription to the  Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive, which covers core US and UK trade magazines in film, music, broadcasting and theater from the early 1900s forward, comes to mind. (See blog post from November 2012). Last year saw the addition of the Vogue Archive whose pages, because its editors always had their eye on more than fashion, have much to contribute to media industry studies.  There is also the admirable open access Media History Digital Library's Lantern database of digitized classic media periodicals in the public domain which I described here this past August.

In addition to these, I was reminded of the solid offerings of trade journals of the last few decades that we rely on Dow Jones Factiva and EBSCO's Communication and Mass Media Complete serving up to us, when I ran across this article in the current Communication, Culture & Critique by Kenton T. Wilkinson and Patrick F. Merle called The Merits and Challenges of Using Business Press and Trade Journal Reports in Academic Research on Media Industries.

ABSTRACT
This article argues that media researchers should pay closer attention to the benefits and potential pitfalls of using business press and industry trade journal reports to inform academic research. To date, the use of these secondary sources in scholarly research concerning media industries has received little interest, as demonstrated in a preliminary examination of how academic literature and research methods textbooks treat the business press and trade journal reports. The authors call for a dialogue on this significant oversight, and offer suggestions for how researchers might begin addressing it as media across the globe grow in scope and influence during the 21st century.

New Reference Titles on the shelf

The Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio, edited by Christopher H. Sterling (Routledge, 2011). Includes over 200 biographical entries on the most important radio personalities, writers, producers, directors, and network executives. Scholarly but very readable.

 Handbook of Comparative Communication Research, edited by Frank Esser and Thomas Hanitzsch (2012). "...30 topical chapters, contributed by scholars in 11 countries, are organized in three parts that focus on subdisciplinary fields, central research areas, and conceptual and methodological issues. Also included are substantial introductory and concluding chapters in which the editors integrate the contents, elaborate historical and conceptual frames for comparative research, and highlight challenges and opportunities for future work." --from the Foreward

Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life, edited by Matthias R. Mehl and Tamlin S. Conner (The Guilford Press, 2012). "This volume--more than any other book published in the last two decades--will change the field of psychology. Psychological scientists have long recognized that ultimately, if their research is to have any meaning, they must venture out of the lab to study psychological processes unfolding in the 'real world.' But until now there has not been a comprehensive resource to show them how. As the first complete, authoritative, and practical guide to studying daily life, this handbook is set to change the way research is done. Every behavioral scientist should own a copy."--Sam Gosling,University of Texas at Austin

Key Concepts in Media and Communications, edited by Paul Jones and David Holmes (Sage 2011). "A sprightly, critical and intelligent guided tour around the mansion of media and communications/cultural research." --James Curran

Key Readings in Journalism, edited by Elliot King and Jane L. Chapman (Routledge, 2012). The field's greatest hits? So says Robert McChesney (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks, Second Edition, edited by Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). Update to previous edition with new material on new media, social networks,  and social movements

Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953: A History of Prime Time Programs Through the Ratings of Nielsen, Crossley and Hooper, by Jim Ramsburg (MacFarland & Company, 2012). Radio's golden age broken down year by year with industry statistics, daily program ratings and a chart of the year's 50 top programs.

Plunkett’s Entertainment & Media Industry Almanac 2012, edited by Jack W. Plunkett (Plunkett Research, 2012). Complete profiles on top companies with statistics and trends in film and video, radio and television, cable and satellite, magazines and books, gaming, newspapers, and new media.

Plunkett’s Games, Apps & Social Media Industry Almanac 2012, edited by Jack W. Plunkett (Plunkett Research 2012). Complete profiles on the top companies with statistics and trends in mobile gaming, game consoles, 3D games, online gaming, apps and smartphones, social media, games and apps developers, advertising and marketing.

Psychophysiological Measurement and Meaning: Cognitive and Emotional Processing of Media, by Robert F. Potter and Paul D. Bolls (Routledge, 2012). A comprehensive resource for psychophysiological research on media responses.

The Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis, edited by John Scott and Peter J. Carrington (Sage, 2011). Topics include: network theory, online networks, corporate networks, lobbying networks, deviant networks, measuring devices, key methodologies, software applications.

Television Journalism, by Stephen Cushion (Sage, 2012).

Sections: The role of news in television culture/From radio to television/Redefining what's newsworthy/Rise of partisan news consumption/Reporting the politics of developed nations/Entering the profession: Who are television journalists/Past, present and future of journalism scholarship.

Health and Poli-Comm Reference Books

Two solid reference volumes from Routledge published this year are The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication and Sourcebook for Political Communication Research: Methods Measures, and Analytical Techniques.

The Handbook (edited by Teresa L Thompson, Roxanne Parrott, and Jon F. Nussbaurm, 2001) is in its second edition but revamped to "emphasize work in such areas as barriers to disclosure in family conversations and medical interactions, access to popular media and advertising, and individual searches online for information and support to guide decisions and behaviors with health consequences." You can also find overviews on methods.

The Sourcebook, (edited by Erik P. Brucy and R. Lance Holbert, 2011) is a benchmark resource covering "the major analytical techniques used in political communication research, including surveys, experiments, content analysis, discourse analysis (focus groups and textual analysis), network and deliberation analysis, comparative study designs, statistical analysis, and measurement issues. It also includes such innovations as the use of advanced statistical techniques, and addresses digital media as a means through which to disseminate as well as study political communication."

Both volumes are available in the Annenberg Library Reference (just ask if you want to take them home) at JA 86 s68 2011 (Sourcebook) and R 118 H26 2011 (Handbook).

Digital Methods Initiative

Folks interested in research methods for studying the Internet can check out The Digital Methods Initiative, an Amsterdam-based group of new media scholars who have been developing tools and techniques for this increasingly massive undertaking since 1999.

The Digital Methods Initiative is directed by Richard Rogers (who paid the Annenberg School an extended visit last year).

The website is a hub of many of "the tools and scripts that we use to study the web in particular," as explained in the site's About section. Such tools and methods

"have been made to extend the research into the blogosphere, online newssphere, discussion lists and forums, folksonomies as well as search engine behavior. These tools include scripts to scrape web, blog, news, image and social bookmarking search engines, as well as simple analytical machines that output data sets as well as graphical visualizations....For example, how to study Internet censorship (by using proxies)? How to study information inclusion and exclusion (by interrogating robot.txt exclusion policies)? How to study surfer pathways (using measures of 'related sites')? How to study site reputation (by hyperlink analysis)? How to study a site's search engine placement over time (by storing and querying within engine results)?Additionally the Digital Methods Initiative provides views on the value of visualization. How to output the results of the analyses (in ranked lists, in cluster graphs, in line graphs, in clouds, on maps)? Which visualizations communicate findings? Which visualizations embed critical ways of seeing?"

You can also add their blog to your reading stream for updates on research, lecture slides, and course announcements.

Book feature: Global Journalism Research: Theories, Methods, Findings, Future

Drawing on a rich range of research from around the world--Asia, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, and North and South America--Global Journalism Research: Theories, Methods, Findings, Future (Blackwell, 2008), charts the major theoretical and methodological perspectives contributing to the globally interconnected field of journalism. Edited by Martin Loffelholz and David Weaver, who outline the history of journalism research in their introduction, the volume is girded by leading figures working in the field today (including our own Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, Barbie Zelizer) and should serve as an essential touchstone for students venturing into this important area of research.

Part I: Introduction to Journalism Research
1. Questioning National, Cultural and Disciplinary Boundaries: A Call for Global Journalism Research: David Weaver (Indiana University, Bloomington) and Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany)
Part II: Theories of Journalism Research
2. Heterogeneous - Multi-dimensional - Competing: Theoretical Approaches on Journalism - an Overview: Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology)
3. Journalism in a Globalizing World Society: A Societal Approach to Journalism Research: Manfred Rühl (University of Bamberg)
4. Journalism as a Human Right: The Cultural Approach to Journalism: John Hartley (Queensland University of Technology)
5. The Structure of News Production: The Organizational Approach to Journalism Research: Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (Ilmenau University of Technology)
6. Factors Behind Journalists' Professional Behavior: A Psychological Approach to Journalism Research: Wolfgang Donsbach (Dresden University, Germany)
7. Jounalism as a Symbolic Practice - The Gender Approach in Journalism Research: Gertrude J. Robinson (McGill University, Montreal)
Part III: Methodology and Methods of Journalism Research
8. Comparing Journalism across Cultural Boundaries: State-of-the-art, Strategies, Problems, and Solutions: Thomas Hanitzsch (University of Zürich)
9. Methods of Journalism Research - Survey: David Weaver (Indiana University)
10. Methods of Journalism Research - Content Analysis: Christian Kolmer (Media Tenor Institute, Bonn)
11. Methods of Journalism Research: Observation: Thorsten Quandt (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany)
Part IV: Selected Paradigms and Findings of Journalism Research
12. Journalism Research in the United States: Paradigm Shift in Times of Globalization: Jane B. Singer (University of Iowa)
13. Journalism Research in Germany: Evolution and Central Research Interests: Siegfried Weischenberg (Hamburg University, Germany) and Maja Malik (University of Münster, Germany)
14. Journalism Research in the UK: From Isolated Efforts to an Established Discipline: Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Bob Franklin
15. South African Journalism Research: Challenging Paradigmatic Schisms and Finding a Foothold in an Era of Globalization: Arnold S. de Beer (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
16. Journalism Research in Greater China: Its Communities, Approaches, and Themes: Joseph Man Chan (University of Hong Kong), Ven-hwei Lo (National Chengchi University, Taiwan), and Zhongdang Pan (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
17. Journalism Research in Mexico: Historical Development and Research Interests in the Latin American Context: María Elena Hernández Ramírez (University of Guadalajara) and Andreas Schwarz (Ilmenau University of Technology)
Part V: The Future of Journalism Research
18. Re-Considering "Journalism" for Journalism Research: Ari Heinonen (University of Tampere, Finland) and Heikki Luostarinen (University of Tampere, Finland)
19. Theorizing a Globalized Journalism: Stephen D. Reese (University of Texas at Austin)
20. Going Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries in the Future of Journalism Research: Barbie Zelizer (University of Pennsylvania)
21. Journalism Education in an Era of Globalization: Mark Deuze (Indiana University)
Part VI: Conclusions
22. Journalism Research: Summing Up and Looking Ahead: Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany) and David Weaver (Indiana University)

Highlighting two reference books

Feminist Interventions in International Communication: Minding the Gap, edited by Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). Table of Contents: Revisiting international communication / Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade -- Feminist issues and the global media system / Margaret Gallagher -- Public/private / Gillian Youngs -- Women, participation, and democracy in the information society / Ursula Huws -- The expediency of women / Alison Beale -- Gender-sensitive communication policies for women's development / Kiran Prasad -- The spectral politics of mobile communication technologies / Barbara Crow and Kim Sawchuk -- The global structures and cultures of pornography / Katharine Sarikakis and Zeenia Shaukut -- Mediations of domination / Yasmin Jiwani -- From religious fundamentalism to pornography? the female body as text in Arabic song videos / Salam Al-Mahadin -- Female faces in the millennium development goals / Nancy Van Leuven ... [et al.] -- Deadly synergies / Patricia A. Made -- Online news / Jayne Rodgers -- Convergences / Vincent Mosco, Catherine McKercher, and Andrew Stevens -- Women, information work, and the corporatization of development / Lisa McLaughlin -- Empire and sweatshop girlhoods / Leslie Regan Shade and Nikki Porter -- Feminist print cultures in the digital era / Simone Murray -- Communication and women in Eastern Europe / Valentina Marinescu -- Godzone? NZ's classification of explicit material in an era of global fundamentalism / Mary Griffiths -- Grounding gender evaluation methodology (GEM) for telecenters / Claire Buré. Available from ASC Reserve.

Research Methods in Information, by Alison Jane Pickard (Facet Publishing, 2007). This methods handbook claims to be the first of its kind to "focus entirely on research needs of the information and communications community." The publisher is overstating the later claim since handbooks on communication research are common but I like having a research methods book around that focuses on information studies, including internet research. Available in ASC reference.