This text encourages students to be active media consumers and 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, and remains the only, university-level text to make media literacy central to its approach, and given recent national and global turmoil, its emphasis on media use and democracy could not be more timely.
Part One: Laying the Groundwork 1. Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy 2. Convergence and the Reshaping of Mass Communication Part Two: Media, Media Industries, and Media Audiences 3. Books 4. Newspapers 5. Magazines 6. Film 7. Radio, Recording, and Popular Music 8. Television, Cable, and Mobile Video 9. Video Games 10. The Internet and the World Wide Web Part Three: Supporting Industries 11. Public Relations 12. Advertising Part Four: Mass-Mediated Culture in the Information Age 13. Theories and Effects of Mass Communication 14. Media Freedom, Regulation, and Ethics 15. Global Media