Media Work

Reviews / Votes

"Throughout this excellent book, the author excels at identifying emerging trends within the various 'creative industries' and in bringing an impressive diversity of scholars into conversation with one another, ultimately seeking to use the media professions as examples of larger changes to contemporary life ushered in by globalization and the Information Age." New Media and Society "Deuze ably synthesizes a wide range of sources, writes lucidly even as he marshals a considerable amount of detail, moves unjarringly between different media sectors and offers a valuable synoptic account of the major characteristic features of media work in the so-called digital age." European Journal of Communication "A comprehensive account of what working in the media today entails ... Media Work is well researched and insightful. On the heels of the recent screenwriters' strike in the USA, it is relevant and specific to the creative industry but offers pertinent observations that are useful far beyond the field of media." Work, Employment and Society "The book is highly recommended for students of journalism, who can benefit from an early immersion in pros and cons of the profession: it avoids romanticism, it explains the plain truth. The text is both easy reading and deep, with good bibliographical choices, so educators will find it inspiring, too." Ecquid Novia "Mark Deuze is one of the best young media theorists working today and his compelling new book does a magisterial job of laying out the field of current discourse on digital media issues and suggesting their far-reaching implications for every aspect of modern life. Deuze moves fluidly between different media sectors, mixes and matches perspectives on media production (including work on labor) with perspectives on media audiences and their activities, engages with work on new media but then applies it to more traditional media, and does so without recourse to predetermined ideological perspectives and specialized language. This book will frame key debates in the field for some time to come." Henry Jenkins, MIT "Mark Deuze offers a guidebook to navigate us through the 'mashup' of everyday life and media content, production and consumption, globalization and the local, work and leisure, authenticity and artefact. His book is a timely corrective to the popular dream of cultural employment, and offers insight into a society characterized by instability and destabilization, speed, precariousness and a continual over spilling of the domains of work and life." Andy C. Pratt, London School of Economics "Work and meaning - economy and culture - are more integrated than ever. As audiences and consumers we revel in media; as workforce and citizens we're at risk from them. In this well-researched and original book Mark Deuze shows how the creative industries work and what it is like to work in them. What he calls 'media life' is mobile, convergent, semi-permanent and precarious. It can be tough too, when you - and your income - are only as good as your last idea." John Hartley, Queensland University of Technology