Media, audiences and use

Today's research is based on a long tradition

Media offer and enable many forms of use and activity. JMG has a long tradition of studying media institutions and their development – from the emergence of modern daily newspapers in the 1800s, through the establishment and expansion of radio and television in the 1900s, to the prominence of the internet and the digital and mobile revolution of the 2000s.

JMG also studies the use of different media with points of departure in the development of the media landscape and individual needs and motives. This research focus builds on the established tradition of media use research, which has close ties with the annual surveys conducted by the SOM Institute and Nordicom.

The department also studies individual users’ active interaction with media. This encompasses research on people’s involvement and engagement in society through media, the reception, interpretation and understanding of different media content, and communities tied to different media practices. The research also reflects media content created and published by citizens, such as in social media.

One line seen throughout the department’s audience-oriented research comprises the consequences, for both individuals and society as a whole, of media habits and the interpretation of media content. This also encompasses research on the importance of media use in people’s knowledge and perceptions of social issues.

Central themes in research on media, audiences and use

• Media history and development: At JMG, research has been pursued on the history of the press, radio and television, how these media have been digitalised, and the importance of politics, economics and technology in the development of the media.
• Media organisations in transition: This encompasses the study of how media organisations handle changes in the media landscape, both historically and in today's society where globalisation, individualisation, digitalisation and increased mobility define the playing field for the media industry.
• Media habits, media use and their transformation over time: This encompasses the study of how people’s media use develops and changes, how people adopt new media technology, and how specific media replace or complement each other in different areas of use.
• The role and importance of media in everyday life: This encompasses the study of how people use and experience media and media content in their daily lives, the importance of these media, the roles they play for users, and how norms and attitudes to media and media use have changed over time.
• Media use and involvement: This encompasses the study of involvement in the shape of engagement in society together and the associated culture, as well how media users contribute different types of content.
• Gaps and differences in media use: This encompasses the study of the differences in media use in relation to people's social, cultural and economic backgrounds, as well as the possible consequences of differences in use.
• The importance of the media in people’s knowledge and perceptions: This encompasses the study of how people form, maintain and change their opinions on different social issues and the long-term effects of people’s selective media choices on these opinions.
• The importance of media use in trust and knowledge resistance: This encompasses the study of how knowledge resistance can be connected to selective use and trust in the media.