Great Books

Updated in a new 10th edition, this book is organized around a "balanced" approach and provides the principles and foundations of media literacy with coverage of contemporary media issues.This book covers the on-going transformations in mass media and offers accessible insight into the important issues through lively examples, streamlined coverage, and a robust media tools.

This current and comprehensive market-leading textbook addresses the most relevant and important aspects of mass media law in the United States, stretching from the history and adoption of the First Amendment to the most recent judicial opinions, statutory enactments and regulatory controversies affecting speech across the print, broadcast, cable and Internet media. From the laws of libel and privacy to the regulation of advertising and telecommunications, Mass Media Law 2009/2010 examines timely issues that are shaping the United States’ legal system and the future of media content. The new edition has been streamlined to include new opinions and updated coverage of important current media law concerns, including the right of reporters to protect their sources, censorship problems related to terrorism, file sharing, and the law of privacy.

This current and comprehensive, market-leading textbook addresses the most relevant and important aspects of mass media law in the United States, stretching from the history and adoption of the First Amendment to the most recent judicial opinions, statutory enactments, and regulatory controversies affecting speech across the print, broadcast, cable and Internet media. From the laws of libel and privacy to the regulation of advertising and telecommunications, Mass Media Law examines timely issues that are shaping the United States' legal system and the future of media content.

Now in its Seventh Edition, Writing for the Mass Media remains one of the clearest and most effective introductions to media writing on the market. Offering clear writing, simple organization, abundant exercises, and precise examples, this book provides readers information about media writing and opportunities to develop their skills as professional writers. Using a text-workbook format, it introduces and explains the major forms of media writing–inverted pyramid and other story structures for print, emerging forms for the Web, dramatic unity for broadcast, copy platforms for advertising, and the various writing structures required for public relations. The basic and practical approach of Writing for the Mass Media makes it an excellent book for the introductory level writer.

This engaging text introduces students to the world of media through a unique structure that makes the material easily intelligible and meaningful to their lives. Each chapter is divided into three-part narrative sections: history, industry, and controversy. Mass Media in a Changing World is the story of where the media came from, why they do what they do, and why those actions cause controversies. The Third Edition features updated statistics and current examples including the selling of the war in Iraq, shock jock Michael Savage, the work being done to save Darfur and much more!

Quality media is the result of meticulous research. MASS MEDIA RESEARCH: AN INTRODUCTION shows you how it happens, from content analysis to surveys to experimental research, then gives you expert tips on analyzing the media you encounter in your daily life. Plus, this media research textbook is packed with study tools and review aids to help you get the grade you need in class as well.

Mass Communication delivers an engaging and compact introduction to the field of mass comm without the glitz that does little to improve students’ ability to be smarter consumers of media or think critically about the media’s role in today’s society. Ralph E. Hanson combines solid content, incisive analysis, fun and conversational writing in a highly readable and informative text that will save your students as much as $50. Employing an effective media literacy perspective, Hanson shows students that media are not something to be feared or demonized, but rather are an essential part of our lives that should be thoughtfully consumed. Updated to reflect changes in the media landscape, Mass Communication offers expanded discussion of: • the role of social media in breaking domestic and international news stories; • video games as a form of interactive media; • the newspaper industry’s continuing financial woes; • further consolidation of the media industry with the NBC/Comcast merger and the News Corporation’s purchase of the Wall Street Journal; • public relations as a way of creating, developing, and nurturing relationships between an organization and its key publics; and • integrated marketing communication in the advertising chapter. UNIQUE FEATURES HELP REINFORCE THE BOOK’S APPROACH: • Chapter-opening vignettes feature media professionals from Jon Stewart and Annie Leibovitz to Steve Jobs and Twitter founders Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, and Biz Stone. • Timelines place important media events in a broader historical context. • Test Your Media Literacy boxes showcase current research, interviews, or noteworthy events with questions that model critical thinking, helping to cultivate critical media consumption. • A marginal glossary helps reinforce learning of key concepts as students read. THE SEVEN TRUTHS “THEY” DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THE MEDIA: 1. The media are essential components of our lives. 2. There are no mainstream media (MSM). 3. Everything from the margin moves to the center. 4. Nothing’s new—everything that happened in the past will happen again. 5. New media are always scary. 6. Activism and analysis are not the same thing. 7. There is no “they.”

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. Building on this tested emphasis, the sixth edition features a complete updating of industry statistics throughout, numerous new examples from the ongoing Iraq war, the Presidential election, and the emergence of wildly popular Internet applications such as massive multiplayer online worlds like Second Life and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

The eighth edition of Graber s classic text is thoroughly updated to reflect major structural changes that have shaken the world of political news. Graber combines comprehensive coverage and cutting-edge theory as she shows students how the media influence governmental institutions and functions, and in turn how the government shapes the way the media disseminate information. Her broad coverage has three focal points: the media s role in both the public and private sectors; its impact on the attitudes of ordinary Americans and political elites; and the ways in which the news media cover government and politics.In addition to new photos, cartoons, screen shots, and data, this edition includes:major changes in reporting, notably in the 2008 elections, brought about by the Internet;the subsequent erosion of the mainstream media s influence on the political agenda; new media, including more on blogging, social networking, and political entertainment shows;the latest on media laws and recent court cases;the evolution and current state of war-time reporting; and how the FCC regulates media ownership and content.