Ordinary People and the Media

Graeme Turner is Professor of Cultural Studies at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland, Australia

• Introduction: The Demotic TurnOrdinary People: Celebrity, tabloid culture and the function of the mediaReality TV and the construction of cultural identitiesRedefining Journalism: Citizen journalism, blogs and the rise of opinionTalk radio, populism and the demotic voiceRevenge of the nerds: User-generated content onlineThe Age of Entertainment: Media and cultural consumption today

Examines rigorously perhaps the most important debate within TV Studies... Smartly and engagingly written, this book draws on Turner′s extensive work in this area to show how thinking about ordinary people and media offers valuable insights into areas such as globalisation, media industries, participation, representation, cultural politics and technologyBrett MillsUniversity of East AngliaAn outstanding intervention in contemporary debates about the emancipatory potential of the new media landscape. While "power to the people" may be the rallying cry in an age of blogging, Web 2.0 interactivity, and reality TV, Turner cautions against confusing the "demotic" with democracy. His deft analysis of how the media industries profit from the promotion of individualism and the "ordinary" compels us to revisit fundamental questions of power, identity, and community. Ordinary People and the Media is required reading for students and scholars navigating the shifting terrain of media and cultural studiesSerra TinicUniversity of AlbertaGraeme Turner is one of the most interesting and thoughtful writers in the field of media and cultural studies. Ordinary People and the Media is a book full of perceptive ideas and critical insights. Starting from the recognition that there has never been a time when so many ordinary people have been so visible in the media, Turner explores what this means for ordinary people, the media, and media and cultural analysis. This is a wonderful book that should be read by all serious students of contemporary media and cultureJohn StoreyDirector of the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of SunderlandGraeme Turner takes a balanced and exceptionally reasonable approach to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the demotic turn in cultural studiesJim McGuiganLoughborough UniversityGraeme Turner’s fine book Ordinary People and the Media explores the structural shifts in western media that have given ordinary people extraordinary visibility as/in media content...Turner’s book will find a home on student reading lists for courses dealing in media and cultural studies, journalism, cultural sociology, and the like. It also strikes me that this book has particular purchase for anyone interested in knowing more about relations between media and democracy. Turner’s analysis of the media’s demotic turn expands our critical understanding of how the unprecedented participation of ordinary people in the media may look somehow democratic by virtue that ordinary folk are there, filling in the media content, taking part, having a voice. But it is an illusion. This exploration of the media’s demotic turn reveals the power of media elites remains pretty much intactParticipations: Online Journal of Audience & Reception Studies