Too often, the rural is placed only in contrast to the urban, understood as an absence rather than a presence. Rural Media Studies corrects this, placing rurality at the center of a rich, global and deeply textured narrative. Blending inviting storytelling, vital empirical data and thoughtful theoretical discussions, Rural Media Studies dismantles the dated rural monolith, highlights the varied realities of communities across continents and demonstrates how structural inequalities play out across different media landscapes and platforms. The result is a fresh, important and genuinely urgent perspective that reshapes how we understand the rural in everyday life.