European Media in the Digital Age: Analysis and Approaches

"Understanding European Media policies is made much easier by this timely and authoritative guide. A must buy for all courses and students who wish to understand the direction of European media and the issues involved." Robert Beveridge, Lecturer in Media Policy and Regulation, Edinburgh Napier University

"Well organised and highly user friendly, this much-needed book presents a valuable study on the European media in the digital age. It will be of interest to Politics, European Studies, Media Law and Communications Studies and policy-makers working in the field." Dr Alison Harcourt, Jean Monnet Chair in the information society, University of Exeter

"Written in an accessible, friendly and easy-to-read style, Rooke succeeds in achieving his aim: to enable students to begin to understand the multi-faceted field of European media. An invaluable and comprehensive introduction to an important but complex subject, this is an excellent combination of text book, study guide and self-involving work book." Jackie Harrison, Professor of Public Communication, University of Sheffield and co-author of European Broadcasting Law and Policy, Cambridge University Press

Understanding today's media scene, from print to audiovisual, needs a wider view, with an international media landscape now populated by a multitude of actors, rapidly changing technologies, and growing convergence of delivery. How the EU - as a major economic and political power - creates an overarching media architecture for its states affects significantly competing media players and governments globally, at corporate, national and transnational levels. This book helps make comprehensible the European media within a broader global media landscape.

The study of contemporary media often, and rightly, concentrates on content, but there are other approaches and analysis we can use to complement and enhance our knowledge of the new digital communication age. This book offers new ways of looking at the media by combining a variety of approaches, including how to start thinking about statistics, relating this to economics, analysing regulations, and combining media theories with theories of European Union integration. The use of such approaches is especially important in the EU and Europe, as the media differs as much as it converges when we explore the media in its context.

European Media in the Digital Age therefore is a key, innovative and introductory text that helps you to observe, rethink, and evaluate the media in the context of this wider world.

European Media in the Digital Age will be core reading for students of media and communication studies and of key interest to students of Politics and Policy, Business Studies, International Studies and European Studies.

Richard Rooke is Senior Lecturer in social and policy studies at London South Bank University.
Andrea Esser is Senior Lecturer in media and cultural studies at Roehampton University, London.