Media Change

'This book brilliantly captures media change's complex historical dependencies, sometimes slow unfolding, regular reversals, and how it can-and at times should-be resisted.'
Thorsten Quandt, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, University of Münster 'A true tour de force at this critical moment for media production, policy, and use around the world.'
Axel Bruns, Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor, Queensland University of Technology Media change is constant, but it is rarely straightforward. While some shifts in the media landscape are rapid and transformative, others unfold slowly, unevenly, or even stall and reverse. Media Change: Contemporary Cases, Consequences, and Conceptualizations examines this complexity through a series of contemporary, self-contained case studies. Each of the nine core chapters explores a specific example of media transformation, such as AI-driven content production, evolving regulatory landscapes, and media business models. Situating media change within broader historical and conceptual frameworks, Neil Thurman reveals how today's most pressing issues in media are part of longer trajectories of change, shaped by forces such as technological innovation, economic pressures, and cultural resistance. By combining rich empirical evidence with a long historical view, this book illuminates the social, industrial, and technological drivers of transformation and their impact on media practices, products, and audiences. Its nine case studies not only offer depth on contemporary issues, but also prompt reflection on broader patterns of continuity and disruption in media systems. Drawing on an original 'six Rs' framework-revolution, remediation, resistance, rapidity, regulation, and reversals-Media Change offers an accessible and fresh insight into contemporary communication, balancing perspectives from around the globe, challenging common assumptions about the media environment, and demonstrating how change can be incomplete, uneven, and historically contingent. Written in a clear and readable style, Media Change is an essential resource for those seeking to understand how media systems are transforming. Whether used in its entirety or as stand-alone chapters, it is ideal for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students in media, communication, journalism, and cultural studies programmes, offering discussion questions to stimulate crucial reflection.