Understanding Media Users: From Theory to Practice focuses on the blurred concept of the "active audience" at the core of media studies.

examines the relationship between media and audiences by one of the world's leading media scholars
provides a history of media effects' and an overview of the current analytical approaches that constitute media reception theory
charts some of the most important interfaces of media reception and interaction - TV, film, the Internet, advertising, journalism, and tourism studies
concludes with additional insights into the future of media reception in a global age