Exposure to What? Integrating Media Content and Effects Studies

Abstract

This essay argues that communication scholars should make more effort to match content with readership/viewership because audience members can read or view widely different aspects of a particular medium on any given day. Citing George Gerbner, among others, the essay argues that a field that has borrowed so much from other disciplines will not progress far unless communication scholars develop better measures and locate better fits between media content and audience use.