No one can escape the influence of the media. Every day we watch hours of TV, listen to the radio, read newspapers and comics, go to the cinema, sit in front of DVDs or surf the Web. These information commodities exercise enormous influence and power. Media Studies: A Graphic Guide provides a scintillating tour of media history and a coherent view of the media industry, media theory and methods in media research. It explains how the audience is constructed and how it in turn interprets the content and meaning of media representation. Learn how to analyse film, deconstruct advertising and appreciate how TV and the press shape public opinion. The media is a condition of our existence and, in an unprecedented way, the pervading shape of our history.