"Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture personalizes learning for every student, no matter whom they are or where they are, by giving them a deeper understanding of the role that media plays in both shaping and reflecting culture, while also helping them understand their role in society through that process."--

Rev. ed. of: Media and culture. 2nd ed. c2000. Includes bibliographical references (p. 575-582) and index.

Media Today gives your students the media literacy skills they need to think critically about the role of media in their lives. This book uses a media systems approach to look closely at the production, distribution, and exhibition of media, from Hollywood films to Facebook, to discover cultural, political, and economic forces that shape media now. Completely revised and updated, this 4th edition connects the latest trends, debates, and technologies to the history of media, highlighting the impact and meaning of today's changes to the media landscape, especially how traditional industry boundaries have blurred with digital convergence. Students and instructors will find a full range of supporting materials including interactive quizzes and online video resources at www.routledge.com/textbooks/mediatoday4e.

This text emphasizes that media audiences can take more active roles as media consumers and have a deeper understanding of the influence the media have 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. Baran was the first university-level text to make media literacy central to its approach.

Today’s students have a world of knowledge at their fingertips, and no longer need textbooks filled with names and dates crammed into a single volume. The Mediated World takes as its starting point the understanding that readers want a compelling story, a good read, an intelligent analysis, and a new way of looking at the media revolutions around us. It is designed as a life line to help students understand and interpret the sea of media washing over us all. In this text, David Mindich writes for students who want to understand how we communicate to one another, how we process our world, and how the media shapes us. His engaging and narrative style focuses on concepts and real-world contexts--he avoids a dry recitation of facts--that helps students understand their own personal relationship with media and gives them the tools to push back against the media forces. One of the primary goals of The Mediated World is to empower readers by giving them a thorough understanding of the media; and by teaching them how to counter the force of the media and at the same time use this force for their own ends. Readers of this book come to recognize that they have the potential to be not only active consumers of media but producers of it on a scale never seen before. Visit www.themediatedworld.com to learn more about this book.

A concise and affordable resource for the mass communication course, Media Essentials provides a flexible, informative, and relevant breakdown of what the media is, how it works, and how it impacts today’s most talked-about subjects. From #metoo to content streaming to social media and politics, students learn how a wide variety of recent developments have impacted the mass-media landscape—and how past innovation and change have informed our current media world. Media Essentials is available with LaunchPad, a robust online platform designed to help students fully engage with course content—and with the world of mass media. From our acclaimed LearningCurve adaptive quizzing, which helps students learn and retain concepts, to compelling features like an interactive e-book and a variety of entertaining and thought-provoking video clips, LaunchPad gets students connected with—and interested in—the information they need to succeed in class.

This new edition of Baran and Davis's successful text provides a comprehensive, historically based, introduction to mass communication theory. Clearly written with examples, graphics, and other materials to illustrate key theories, this edition (now streamlined to increase accessibility) traces the emergence of two main bodies of mass communication theory: social, behavioral and critical, cultural. The authors emphasize that media theories are human creations that typically are intended to address specific problems or issues.

Updated in its eleventh edition, The Media of Mass Communication engages readers in the pursuit of greater media literacy and provides accessible insight into the important issues that confront students as consumers and purveyors of mass media. Through exceptional coverage of contemporary media issues and trends, including the on-going transformations in mass media, this text balances the principles and foundations of media literacy with lively examples, streamlined coverage, and a robust media package.

When first published, Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media made history with its radical view of the effects of electronic communications upon man and life in the twentieth century.