Jennifer Holt & Alisa Perren 
Media Industries 
History, Theory, and Method

Media Industries: History, Theory and Method is among the
first texts to explore the evolving field of media industry studies
and offer an innovative blueprint for future study and analysis.

* capitalizes on the current social and cultural environment of
unprecedented technical change, convergence, and globalization
across a range of textual, institutional and theoretical
perspectives

* brings together newly commissioned essays by leading scholars
in film, media, communications and cultural studies

* includes case studies of film, television and digital media to
vividly illustrate the dynamic transformations taking place across
national, regional and international contexts

Table of Content

List of Figures vii

Acknowledgments viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction: Does the World Really Need One More Field of
Study? 1

Jennifer Holt and Alisa Perren

Part I: History 17

Editors’ Introduction 19

1 Nailing Mercury: The Problem of Media Industry Historiography
21

Michele Hilmes

2 Manufacturing Heritage: The Moving Image Archive and Media
Industry Studies 34

Caroline Frick

3 Film Industry Studies and Hollywood History 45

Thomas Schatz

4 Historicizing TV Networking: Broadcasting, Cable, and the Case
of ESPN 57

Victoria E. Johnson

5 From Sponsorship to Spots: Advertising and the Development of
Electronic Media 69

Cynthia B. Meyers

6 New Media as Transformed Media Industry 81

P. David Marshall

Part II: Theory 91

Editors’ Introduction 93

7 Media Industries, Political Economy, and Media/Cultural
Studies: An Articulation 95

Douglas Kellner

8 Thinking Globally: From Media Imperialism to Media Capital
108

Michael Curtin

9 Thinking Regionally: Singular in Diversity and Diverse in
Unity 120

Cristina Venegas

10 Thinking Nationally: Domicile, Distinction, and Dysfunction
in Global Media Exchange 132

Nitin Govil

11 Convergence Culture and Media Work 144

Mark Deuze

Part III: Methodologies and Models 157

Editors’ Introduction 159

12 Media Economics and the Study of Media Industries 161

Philip M. Napoli

13 Regulation and the Law: A Critical Cultural Citizenship
Approach 171

John Mc Murria

14 Can Natural Luddites Make Things Explode or Travel Faster?
The New Humanities, Cultural Policy Studies, and Creative
Industries 184

Toby Miller

15 Cultures of Production: Studying Industry’s Deep Texts, Ref
lexive Rituals, and Managed Self-Disclosures 199

John Thornton Caldwell

16 The Moral Economy of Web 2.0: Audience Research and
Convergence Culture 213

Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins

Part IV: The Future: Four Visions 227

Editors’ Introduction 229

17 From the Consciousness Industry to the Creative Industries:
Consumer-Created Content, Social Network Markets, and the Growth of
Knowledge 231

John Hartley

18 Politics, Theory, and Method in Media Industries Research
245

David Hesmondhalgh

19 An Industry Perspective: Calibrating the Velocity of Change
256

Jordan Levin

20 Toward Synthetic Media Industry Research 264

Horace Newcomb

Index 271

About the author

Jennifer Holt is Assistant Professor of film and media
studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Alisa Perren is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Communication at Georgia State University.