Constructing America's War Culture: Iraq, Media, and Images at Home (2008)
by Thomas Conroy and Jarice Hanson
In 1927, political scientist Harold Lasswell wrote about the strategies employed by the American government to sell the benefits of participating in World War I to a reluctant public. In Propaganda Techniques in World War I, Lasswell discussed the "manipulative symbols to manipulate opinions and attitudes" (p 9). Ever since then, all wars have involved specialists who attempt to control the way the media report about war and the way media contribute to shaping public opinion.
This collection of essays discusses how media have "packaged" the war in Iraq. The chapters in this collection explore the way the media have presented the war to us by telling us human interest stories, supporting public policies, and crafting a narrative that supports the war. Some chapters focus on the way the Bush administration has actively promoted and attempted to control information; others tell of how the media have either been complicit in supporting the dominant narrative, or how the public has used the images in the media to negotiate attitudes toward the war, terrorism, and international relations. All of the chapters discuss the relationships among conflict, political agendas, the power of media, and the way audiences use media to construct attitudes, beliefs, and--ultimately--a sense of history about the war.
Coming from the perspective of communication studies, situates the multi-dimensional aspects of war, terrorism, public policy, media, and story-telling within the context of creating a consensually assembled image of what the war in Iraq is all about. This book will be of interest to undergraduate students as well as scholars of communication, history, sociology, political science, and American studies, and it will be an excellent resource both for classroom use as well as the general public.
Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Mass Media and Society, 10th Edition (2008)
by Alison Alexander and Jarice Hanson
This Tenth Edition of TAKING SIDES: CLASHING VIEWS IN MASS MEDIA presents current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript.
Whiteness, Pedagogy, Performance: Dis/placing Race (2008)
by Leda M. Cooks and Jennifer S. Simpson
Whiteness, Pedagogy, Performance is unique in bringing together these three important topics in the context of communication teaching and scholarship with an eye toward interdisciplinary perspectives. In fourteen chapters, the leading whiteness scholars in the field of communication analyze the process of teaching and learning and the complicated intersections of whiteness, racial identity, and cross-racial dialogue. Toward these ends, these essays offer a variety of theoretical and practical approaches to the analysis of identity construction, racial privilege, and pedagogies toward equality and social justice. Above all, for teachers, students, and anyone interested in these issues, this book is a challenge to re-think the ways our curricula, texts, disciplinary boundaries, and moreover, how our interactions and performances re-inscribe racial privileges. Chapters provide innovative and accessible analyses of teaching and learning that will appeal to students, teachers, administrators, and anyone interested in how race works.
Global Communications: Toward a Transcultural Political Economy (2008)
by Paula Chakravartty and Yuezhi Zhao
This provocative book takes a new approach toward understanding the uneven flows of global communications. Rather than guiding its discussion by geography, types of media, or traditional separations of power and resistance, Global Communications examines political economic power and communication in relation to historically specific encounters with modernity. It underscores lived experiences in its approach to globalization showing that the state and the market can both be sites of empowerment, just as civil society might also be a site of repression. Taking a political-economic analysis of communication and culture, this dynamic group of international authors looks beyond developments in the North American information and culture industries to map new forms of citizenship and exclusion. The chapters spotlight China, Ghana, India, Japan, Palestine, Russia, Singapore, and Venezuela, and foreground the transnational formations of the European Union, the pan-Arab and Spanish-speaking markets, and civil society actors in sub-Saharan African, the Middle East, and North America. Theoretically driven and empirically grounded, Global Communications defines communication broadly to include production, circulation, and consumption and addresses urgent questions about the inequalities of globalization and the possibilities of hybrid cultural forms and practices.
The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television (2007)
The popular media of film and television surround us daily with images of evil - images that have often gone critically unexamined. In the belief that people in ever-increasing numbers are turning to the media for their understanding of evil, this lively and provocative collection of essays addresses the changing representation of evil in a broad spectrum of films and television programmes. Written in refreshingly accessible and de-jargonised prose, the essays bring to bear a variety of philosophical and critical perspectives on works ranging from the cinema of famed director Alfred Hitchcock and the preternatural horror films Halloween and Friday the 13th to the understated documentary Human Remains and the television coverage of the immediate post-9/11 period. The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television is for anyone interested in the moving-image representation of that pervasive yet highly misunderstood thing we call evil.
Moving Targets: Mapping the Paths between Communication, Technology and Social Change in Communities (2007)
by Jan Servaes and Shuang Liu
The book comprises 13 chapters contributed by both academics and practitioners specializing in the field of communication for development and social change in communities.
Using various cases as examples, this book illustrates multiple paths to social change as our attempt to implement development communication programmes moves from the centre to the periphery, i.e. from a more international and /or national level to the community level. The introduction of new technologies in people's living environments is usually accompanied by subsequent social and psychological change on the affected groups. The challenge for both scholars and practitioners in the field of communication for development and social change is how to empower the grassroots or “the voiceless” and to engage them in the process of bringing about the change that affect their own lives. We hope the cases presented in this book will not only inform us of what makes some community initiatives succeed and what makes others fail, but also function as a starting point that leads to further research in this area.
Communication for Development and Social Change (2007)
by Jan Servaes
This volume is first and foremost about people and the processes needed to facilitate sharing of knowledge in order to effect positive developmental change. It is contextual and based on dialogue necessary to promote stakeholder’s participation, which is essential for the understanding of their perceptions, perspectives, values, attitudes and practices, so that these can be incorporated into the design and implementation of development initiatives.
This volume follows the two-way horizontal model and increasingly makes use of many-to-many forms of communications to facilitate the understanding of people’s perceptions, priorities and knowledge with its use of a number of tools, techniques, media and methods. It aims to give voice to those most affected by the development issue(s) at stake, allowing them to participate directly in defining and implementing solutions and identifying development directions.
Based on the assumption that authentic participation directly addresses power and its distribution in society, which often decreases the advantage of certain elite groups, the authors argue that structural and sustainable change necessitates the redistribution of power.
This collection offers perceptive insights and vivid examples to prove that the field of communication for development and social change is indeed vibrant.
24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work, and Play (2007)
Just as the automobile radically changed people's lives at the beginning of the 20th century, so too has the revolution in online services (including blogging, podcasting, videogaming, shopping, and social networking) and cell-phone use changed our lives at the turn of the 21st century. In addition, many other services, activities, and devices--including the Palm Pilot, the BlackBerry, the iPod, digital cameras, and cell cameras--have been made possible by the combination of these two technologies. Whereas the automobile allowed people for the first time to work in cities and live comfortably in the suburbs, extending the long commute beyond the limits previously circumscribed by public transportation, the Internet and cell phone allow us to interact with others from around the world--or a few hundred miles--from where we work or live, giving rise to the telecommuting phenomenon and allowing us to stay in touch with friends and families in the new virtual environment. As Hanson demonstrates in her new book, these technologies enable us to work and play 24/7, anytime, anywhere.
What does this mean for us as individuals and for society as a whole? What are the social implications of this technological revolution that we have witnessed in the short span of about 20 years? Do people of different generations use these technologies in the same ways, or do they adopt them to support their communication habits formed at different times of their lives? How does the illusion of control provided by these technologies affect the way we think about what is meaningful in our lives?
Hanson examines the wide-ranging impact of this change. How do individuals posting their viewpoints on the Internet affect democracy? Is it possible to ever completely prevent identity theft over the Internet? How permanent is information stored on the Internet or on a hard drive? Do cell phones change the way people think about privacy or the way they communicate with others? Does email? Do videogames teach new social principles? Do cell phones and the Internet change traditional communication behaviors and attitudes? Hanson discusses these crucial issues and explores to what extent individuals do have control, and she assesses how social and governmental services are responding to (or running from) the problems posed by these new technologies.
Media and the American Child (2007)
by George Comstock and Erica Scharrer
This new work summarizes the research on all forms of media on children, looking at how much time they spend with media everyday, television programming and its impact on children, how advertising has changed to appeal directly to children and the effects on children and the consumer behavior of parents, the relationship between media use and scholastic achievement, the influence of violence in media on anti-social behavior, and the role of media in influencing attitudes on body image, sex and work roles, fashion, & lifestyle. The average American child, aged 2-17, watches 25 hours of TV per week, plays 1 hr per day of video or computer games, and spends an additional 36 min per day on the internet. 19% of children watch more than 35 hrs per week of TV. This in the face of research that shows TV watching beyond 10 hours per week decreases scholastic performance. In 1991, George Comstock published Television and the American Child, which immediately became THE standard reference for the research community of the effects of television on children. Since then, interest in the topic has mushroomed, as the availability and access of media to children has become more widespread and occurs earlier in their lifetimes. No longer restricted to television, media impacts children through the internet, computer and video games, as well as television and the movies. There are videos designed for infants, claiming to improve cognitive development, television programs aimed for younger and younger children-even pre-literates, computer programs aimed for toddlers, and increasingly graphic, interactive violent computer games.
Media Policy and Globalization: History, Culture and Politics (2006)
by Paula Chakravartty and Katharine Sarikakis
Volumes in the Media Topics series critically examine the core subject areas within Media Studies. Each volume offers a critical overview as well as an original intervention into the subject. Volume topics include: media theory and practice, history, policy, ethics, politics, discourse, culture and audience.
This volume takes a fresh look at media and communications policy and provides a comprehensive account of issues that are central to the study of the field. It moves beyond the 'specifics' of regulation, by examining policy areas that have proved to be of common concern for societies across different socio-economic realities. It also seeks to address profound gaps in the study of policy by demonstrating the centrality of historical, social and political context in debates that may appear solely technical or economistic.
Media Policy and Globalization covers the institutional changes in the communications policy arena by examining the changing role of the state, technology and the market and the role of civil society. It discusses actual policy areas in broadcasting, telecommunications and the information society, and examines the often-overlooked normative dimensions of communications policy.
Contemporary Asian Cinema: Popular Culture in a Global Frame (2006)
by Anne Ciecko
Asia produces more films than any other part of the world. With chapters on Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, the book presents the most authoritative assessment of contemporary Asian cinema available.
Each chapter describes the cultural aspects of popular film production, analyzing key films in the context of the national, the regional and the global. Topics covered include: film theory and Asian cinema, popular film genres, major industry figures, the "art film", connections between the state and commercial interests, cultural policies, representations of national identity, trends in international co-production, transnational and diasporic dimensions of Asian filmmaking and viewing, the politics of language choice, the impact of emerging technologies on filmmaking practice, and modes of exhibition.
This book is ideal for students, scholars, and anyone interested in popular culture and Asian films in a changing world.
The Spectacle of Accumulation: Essays in Media, Culture, & Politics (2006)
by Sut Jhally
Sut Jhally's influential work as an activist, writer, film producer, and educator has had a far-reaching impact on the course and concerns of media criticism. This volume offers an essential collection of his writings. Jhally's work exhibits an engaged and ongoing concern with social justice, cultural politics, and public pedagogy. The Spectacle of Accumulation captures the full range of Jhally's thought and covers a variety of issues including the role of advertising in contemporary life, the cultural politics of sport, race, and gender coding in the coverage of current events, and the power of media education to name just a few of the themes covered in this crucial, new work. In addition to his key writings, this book includes a foreword by Henry Giroux as well as three interviews offering a fresh perspective on Jhally's work.
Cultures in Conversation (2005)
Cultures in Conversation introduces readers to the ethnographic study of intercultural and
social interactions through the analysis of conversations in which various cultural orientations
are operating. Author Donal Carbaugh presents his original research on conversation practices
in England, Finland, Russia, Blackfeet County, and the United States, demonstrating how each
is distinctive in its communication codes-particularly in its use of symbolic meanings, forms
of interaction, norms, and motivational themes. Examining conversation in this way demonstrates
how cultural lives are active in conversations and shows how conversation is a
principal medium for the coding of selves, social relationships, and societies.
Representing 20 years of research, this volume offers unique insights into the ways social interactions not only
gain shape from, but also are formative of cultures. It makes a significant contribution to communication scholarship,
and will be illuminating reading in courses focusing on cultural communication, language and social
interaction, intercultural pragmatics, and linguistics.
The Psychology of Media and Politics (2005)
by George Comstock and Erica Scharrer
Research indicates that people discount their own opinions and experiences in favor of those of "experts" as espoused in the media. The framing of news coverage thus has a profound impact on public opinion, and political decision making as a response to public outcry. However, the choice of how to frame the news is typically made to solicit viewership and high ratings rather than to convey accurate and meaningful information. This book discusses why people discount their own opinions, how the media shapes the news, when this drives political decision making, and what the effect is on the future of society. Issues addressed include: How powerful are the media in shaping political beliefs/judgment? How has this power changed in recent years? * How does media influence voting behavior? To what extent do media opinions affect political decision making?
