Ralph Hanson

This text (second edition) for Introduction to Mass Communication courses was written for communications students and designed to educate all media consumers on the issues of a media-saturated society while introducing them to the roles they might play creating and distributing media. The author, Ralph Hanson, integrates the topic of ethics throughout his text by addressing media in terms of the issues it creates. Supplements to the text include a Student CD-Rom, Teacher’s Guide, Student Web Site, and PowerPoint Slides.

Timelines - for a sense of the way media history has developed - and boxes that highlight the key events, people, and technologies which have shaped the media landscape are part of the text.

The contents include:

• Living in a Media World;
• The Media Business: Consolidation, Globalisation, and the Long Tail;
• Mass Communication Effects: How Society and Media Interact;
• Books: The Birth of the Mass Media;
• Magazines: The Power of Words and Images;
• Newspapers: Reflection of A Democratic Society;
• Sound: Music and Talk across Media;
• Movies: Mass-Producing Entertainment;
• Television: Broadcast, Cable, and Beyond;
• The Internet: Mass Communication Gets Personal;
• Advertising: Selling a Message;
• Public Relations: Manufacturing the News;
• Media Law: Free Speech and Fairness;
• Media Ethics: Truthfulness, Fairness, and Standards of Decency;
• Global Media: Communication around the World.

Click here to access the book by chapter online.

Click here to access a catalogue description of this text and ordering information.

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MediaMentor Digest on June 15 2007 and the CQ Press website on January 8 2009 and a page review by Ralph Hanson.