ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that media engagement is best understood as a spectrum of phenomena that is processual and protean; it is a shape-changer. Media engagement is situated in ever-evolving circumstances; we should expect tensions and even contradictions in its dynamics. Media contexts include features at both the sites of production and reception in local, national and transnational settings; today’s complex and ever-evolving media landscape, not least in the online world, requires careful attention to understand how specific contexts impact on engagement. Modality is often related to form, such as genres, style and themes, visual and sound engagement, or physical and sensory engagement. ‘Populism’ is a complex and contested concept, and it is sometimes used more in a pejorative rather than analytic manner.
