Medieetnografiska kulturstudier

Metodologiska problem inom medieforskningen

Abstract

In his article Göran Bolin discusses the implications of introducing a specific concept of media ethnography as has been suggested by Kirsten Drotner. Against a historical background of audence studies within the field of (mass) communication studies and related disciplines he argues — against Drotner's and others' holistic demand for media ethnography to comprise all aspects of everyday life — that to make sense media ethnography has to be grounded in both the active uses of media by its audience and in the media themselves. In this discussion examples from a study of young people's use of extremely violent films on video — so-called "video nasties" — are used to emphasize the theoretical dilemma of ethnographic research on media audiences.