Understanding Media Users: From Theory to Practice focuses on the blurred concept of the ‘active audience’ at the core of media studies. This work: examines the relationship between media and audiences by one of the world’s leading media scholars; provides a history of media effects’ and an overview of the current analytical approaches that constitute media reception theory; charts some of the most important interfaces of media reception and interaction - TV, film, the Internet, advertising, journalism, and tourism studies; and, concludes with additional insights into the future of media reception in a global age.