ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the future focus and development of media and cultural studies as they continue the process of tooling up their methods and approaches for the digital era. It deals with a complex of national higher education systems that are themselves at varying points in a significant process of transition, while considering the consequences of the media’s transition for the wider public, as the production of community and the structure of the public sphere are undergoing significant transformation. The chapter highlights what appear to be the key points for scrutiny of the cultural industries, while considering all of this from the point of view of the interrelated disciplines of media studies and cultural studies. There has always been a responsibility for media and cultural studies research into the media industries to be generating information and analysis that is, where appropriate, critical of these industries’ performance.
