This lively and accessible study of media and discourse combines theoretical reflection with empirical engagement, and brings together insights from a range of disciplines. Within media and cultural studies, the study of media texts is dominated by an exclusive focus on representation. This book adds long overdue attention to social interaction.The book is divided into two sections. The first outlines key theoretical issues and concepts, including informalisation, genre hybridisation, positioning, dialogism and discourse. The second is a sustained interrogation of social interaction in and around media. Re-examining issues of representation and interaction, it critically assesses work on the para-social and broadcast sociability, then explores distinct sites of interaction: production communities, audience communities and ‘interactivity’ with audiences. Key features* The book is rich with fascinating examples involving British and US media, including radio, television, magazines and newspapers and their Internet spin-offs.* It brings together insights from conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, cultural studies and media anthropology.* It is key reading for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates doing media studies, communication and cultural studies and journalism studies.

Talbot explores three distinct sites of interaction involving media discourse in great detail, offering a valuable insight into the way in which modern media discourse works in our life... Her detailed analysis of media interactions proves to be a successful demonstration for newcomers to this field. In addition, activities and further reading at the end of each chapter and a glossary of key terms at the end of the book make the book highly accessible and readable. Written in a clear and lively way, this book is worth recommending to anyone who is interested in discourse studies. -- Song Guo, Tianjin University of Commerce Discourse and Communication Talbot explores three distinct sites of interaction involving media discourse in great detail, offering a valuable insight into the way in which modern media discourse works in our life... Her detailed analysis of media interactions proves to be a successful demonstration for newcomers to this field. In addition, activities and further reading at the end of each chapter and a glossary of key terms at the end of the book make the book highly accessible and readable. Written in a clear and lively way, this book is worth recommending to anyone who is interested in discourse studies.

Mary Talbot is a Reader in Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland. She has extensive teaching and research experience in discourse, media and gender. Her previous books include Language and Gender (1998), ‘All the World and Her Husband’: Women in 20th-Century Consumer Culture (with Maggie Andrews, 2000) and Language and Power in the Modern World (with Karen Atkinson and David Atkinson, EUP, 2003).