Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture - Softcover

Baran, Stanley J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0073289132 ISBN 13: 9780073289137

Publisher: McGraw-Hill College, 2008

Synopsis

While encouraging students to take more active roles as media consumers, this text gives them a deeper understanding of the role that the media play in both shaping and reflecting culture. Through this cultural perspective, students learn that audience members are as much a part of the mass communication process as are the media producers, technologies, and industries. This was the first university-level text to make media literacy central to its approach. The sixth edition includes a completely reorganized Chapter 13 (Theories and Effects of Mass Communication) that reflects recent historical and theoretical analyses, coverage of new models in music recording and distribution with special attention to Radiohead's "pay what you want" experiment, extended discussion of massive multiplayer online games (MMOs), and much more.

"On the whole this is a great text that I plan to use in the foreseeable future for my Mass Media & Society course and that I would strongly recommend to anyone teaching an introductory course on mass communication." Biswarup Sen, University of Oregon

"It is an excellent undergraduate text. I like how culture is contextualized up front and then is consistently referenced throughout the text with text call-outs highlighting contemporary issues." Lisa A. Stephens, University at Buffalo

"I really appreciate that Baran includes a chapter on video games, which is a big industry, very present in students' lives, and treated too cursorily by comparable texts." Cynthia Chris, College of Staten Island

Includes Media Literacy worksheets, PowerPoint® slides, a Web tutorial, chapter self-quizzes with feedback, key terms flash cards, hot links to media resources for the student, and more.

Provides an inside look at the daily operations of a television station, a radio station, a newspaper, a public relations company, and Vibe magazine. Archived NBC News and The Today Show video clips also help bring to life the concepts discussed in the text.

About this title

From the Publisher

Expanded material on alternative media includes: low power radio, P2P systems (Gnutella, Napster, Freenet), and Zines
Chapter 15 is now more focused on the globalization of the media industries with special attention paid to issues of Cultural Imperialism
New Cultural Forum boxes highlight key issues related to the effects of media on society. These include: The Passing of the Independent Bookseller; Whose Life Is It Anyway: Protecting Personal Privacy in the Digital Age; Will We Accept Dogme Dogma? (about an alternative'anti-Hollywood'approach to filming); The Ford and Firestone Debacle.
New Using Media to Make a Difference boxes include: Our Bodies, Ourselves; Covering the Issue of Race; Rock 'n Roll, Radio, and Race; and Maintaining Gross National Happiness.
All statistical entries updated. These changes include a new discussion of Internet demographics; new media consumption statistics; new statistics for all media sales and circulation figures.
Media Ownership: Changes (as much as possible) reflect mergers and changes in media conglomerate ownership
Emphasis on developing media literacy. Chapter 2 emphasizes the elements of media literacy, and this emphasis is woven throughout the text. Each chapter from Chapter 3 to 15 contains a section, specific to that chapter's medium or issue, on developing media literacy skills.
Cultural perspective. 'The media'either as a forum where important issues are debated, or as storytellers that carry our beliefs and values across people, space, and time'are central to the creation and maintenance of our various cultures.' This book encourages the belief that media audiences can take a more active role in the mass communication process and help to shape the cultures that, in turn, shape them.
Brief historical sections at the beginning of each medium chapter offer relevant background information for students
'Global Media.' This final chapter employs Marshall McLuhan's and William Gibson's ideas such as the Global Village and media as extensions of our senses. It examines our changing media and the economic, political, and cultural environments that have arisen due to the changes in global communication technology.
Convergence. For each medium there is a section called 'Trends and Convergence.' This section emphasizes the influence of new technologies on media and society.
Three types of 'Media boxes' throughout the text. These boxes give students a deeper understanding of issues that relate to the media and the media's relationship to society:Using Media to Make a Difference boxes highlight interesting examples of how media practitioners and audiences use the mass communication process to further important social, political, or cultural causes.Cultural Forum boxes present important cultural issues being debated in the mass media; for example, 'What is the threat of commercializing the Internet?'Media Echoes boxes demonstrate that the cultural and social debates surrounding the different media tend to be repeated throughout history, regardless of the technology or era in question. For example, the Public Relations chapter discusses early PR efforts to encourage women to smoke, while the Advertising chapter covers advertisers' more recent attempts to attract teen-aged smokers.
A new chapter, Cable and Other Multi-Channel Services has been added in recognition of the central role they will play in the delivery of all content (Internet, Web, audio, video, telephone, print) to our homes and businesses.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill College
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0073289132
• ISBN 13: 9780073289137
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 516