Key Readings in Media Today

<p><em>Key Readings in Media Today </em>provides both historical and contemporary analyses of each of the major media industries: book, newspaper, magazine, sound recording/radio, motion picture, television, new media, advertising, and public relations. The volume places an emphasis on convergence, looking at the ways boundaries between these media industries are blurring in surprising new ways. Section introductions and headnotes for each article offer valuable critical and historical context, while review questions after each reading test students' understanding of key concepts. Additional resources on the Companion Website (<strong>www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415876087</strong>) are designed to spark classroom discussion and connect the readings to the latest contemporary media issues and controversies. By combining classic studies of mass communication with contemporary research on media, technology, and culture, <em>Key Readings in Media Today </em>will help students to make sense of the rapidly changing media environment. </p> <p>Introduction. <strong>Part 1: Understanding the Nature of Mass Media </strong>1.<em> </em>Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organized Social Action <em>P.F. Lazarsfeld</em> <em>and Robert K. Merton </em>2. The Definition of Media Literacy <em>W. James Potter </em>3. Common Media for an Uncommon Nation <em>Ben Bagdikian </em>4. Political Problem, Political Solutions <em>Robert McChesney </em>5. Not Toasters: The Special Nature of Media Products <em>C. Edwin Baker </em>6. Four puzzles from Cyberspace <em>Lawrence Lessig </em><strong>Part 2: The Print Media</strong> 7. Making News: Time and Typifications <em>Gaye Tuchman </em>8. Convergence: News Production in a Digital Age <em>Eric Klinenberg</em> 9. Future Oriented: The Timing of Magazines in the Digital Age <em>Brooke Erin Duffy </em>10. Sex, Lies, and Advertising <em>Gloria Steinem </em>11. Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter <em>Philip Nel</em> 12. Newspapers Rocken Espanol <em>Mark Fitzgerald</em> <strong>Part 3: The Electronic Media</strong> 13: What Is News? <em>Neil Postman</em> and <em>Steve Powers </em>14. Queens for a Day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the Neoliberal Project <em>Katherine Sender </em>15. Deconstructing the Diversity Principle <em>Philip M. Napoli </em>16. Radio and Modernity: Time, Place and "Communicative Capacity" <em>David Hendy </em>17. Fallout: A Follow Up to "The Internet Debacle" <em>Janis Ian </em>18. Promoting and Protecting the Industry <em>Janet Wasko </em>19. Blockbuster Meets Superhero Comic, or Art House Meets Graphic Novel?: The Contradictory Relationship between Film and Comic Art <em>Matthew P. McAllister, Ian Gordon and</em> <em>Mark Jancovich </em><strong>Part 4: The Digital Media</strong> 20. The Long Tail <em>Chris Anderson </em>21. Peer Production and Sharing <em>Yochai Benkler</em> 22. Your Brain on Video Games: Could They Actually Be Good for You? <em>Steven Johnson </em>23. Sports Online: The Newest Player in Mediasport <em>Michael Real </em>24. Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence and Participatory Culture <em>Henry Jenkins </em>25. Download This: YouTube Phenom Has a Big Secret <em>Ethan Smith</em> <em>and Peter Lattman </em><strong>Part 5: Advertising and Public Relations </strong>26. The Work of Adcult <em>James B. Twitchell </em>27.<em> </em>‘Chaos Scenario': A Look at the Marketing Industry's Coming Disaster <em>Bob Garfield </em>28. Rethinking Television in the Digital Age <em>Joseph Turow</em> 29. Philanthropy as Public Relations: A Critical Perspective on Cause Marketing <em>Inger L. Stole</em> 30. Media, War, and Propaganda: Strategies of Information Management during the 2003 Iraq War <em>Deepa Kumar </em>31. The Public and its Problems: Some Notes for the New Millennium <em>Stuart Ewen</em> </p>