Advancing Media Production Research ─ Shifting Sites, Methods, and Politics

Richly detailed research from the point that our information and culture is manufactured – newsrooms, television studios, and myriad other culture producing institutions – is increasingly rare and difficult. Challenges to such research abound and are escalating, ranging from increasingly secretive corporate cultures which see little value in inviting observation of their work, to pressure on scholars to produce more with less – leading to faster and easier modes of research. The explosion in forms of cultural production and ever broader definitions of journalism make the object of analysis ever harder to identify for media production researchers. Chapter authors explore challenges to production research and offer novel approaches to revealing the hidden nature of media production through engagement with alternative theoretical paradigms and methodological innovation.

Chris Paterson is Senior Lecturer in International Communication in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds, UK. His research encompasses international journalism, communication for development, and news production.

David Lee is Lecturer in Cultural Industries and Communication in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the author of a number of articles and chapters on creative work, cultural policy, copyright and television studies in international journals including the International Journal of Cultural Policy, Cultural Trends, Media, Culture and Society, and Television and New Media.

Anamik Saha is Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. His research interests are in race and the cultural industries.

Anna Zoellner is Lecturer in Media Industries at the University of Leeds, UK, with a professional background in documentary production. Her research interests are at the intersection of media industries, media production studies, cultural labour research, and television studies with a methodological interest in ethnography and internationally comparative research.