The difficulty for students and new entrants to the industry is that the day-to-day working language, the customised roles and the specific deployment of skills and specialist activities can seem at first daunting and inpenetrable. 'The Practical Media Dictionary' is an essential guide to understanding how the media works and how people in the media talk to each other about their industry.

Jeremy Orlebar is a producer, director, writer and lecturer. He has over 25years experience directing and producing programmes for BBC radio andtelevsion and now runs his own production company. He lectures in mediatheory and production in higher education.