Media Industries and Engagement

Abstract

The aim of this special section is to critically analyse the complex issues at work in understanding the theories, processes and practices of engagement as it relates to media industries. There is a need to open up the notion of engagement as a concept that captures subjective and shifting relations with media. In such a way, this section focuses on media engagement within the industry as multi-faceted, working across political and public spheres, policy and industry sectors, audiences and popular culture. Articles debate the meaning of engagement as an object of measurement in policy research, and audience information systems, where ratings data and social media analytics attempt to measure and secure engagement for audiences and consumers of cross media content. Alongside a notion of engagement as quantitative data, there is also a sense of engagement as a subjective and slippery term and articles in this special section also debate the meaning of engagement as signifying personal and collective relations with policy and social issues, or cultural artefacts and events. Thus, policy and industry discourses of engagement as a measurement of interest intersect with, and at times counteract, wider debates about engagement within social media, political activism and popular culture.