This book explores the ways media industries function, how media professionals manage their careers, how media industries engage with creativity and innovation, and how to make sense of this in ways to empower aspiring professionals (as well as those who want to research media management and production). While students who want to enter a media industry may understand the impact the industry has on audiences and politics (as these are the dominant areas of mass communications research and courses offered), these students generally are not empowered to understand how and why the industry works as it does, nor how contemporary worldwide societal shifts and trends – such as globalization, digitalization, convergence, and individualization – affect the everyday managerial and creative practices in the industry. Mark Deuze addresses and answers these issues and needs.