Students

Please note: This title has recently been acquired by Taylor & Francis. Due to rights reasons, any multimedia resources will no longer be available.

Learning Objectives

  1. Gain a general overview of the foundational concepts, theories and trends that will help you study the dynamic field of mass media.
  2. Identify the key areas of mass media dynamics and effects explored throughout the book and website.
  3. Hone your knowledge as a mass media consumer-participant.
  4. Familiarize yourself with the author’s storytelling approach, the book's media features, and the unique presentation of historical concepts impact and significance of mass media in our 21st-century world.
  1. Explore the historical roots of mass media and mass media networks.
  2. Recognize the significance of stories and storytelling in mass media.
  3. Identify the historical and cultural impact of the printing press on societies and culture.
  4. Learn about the integration and impact of visual images on the printed text.
  5. Understand how mass media contributed to the establishment of democracy in America.
  6. Discuss from a critical perspective how the mass media encourage the accumulation and communication of knowledge.
  7. Review the historical roots of today's major mass media industries publishing, journalism, music, radio, film and television.
  8. Study the rise and political influence of "yellow journalism" in the United States, and explore how this trend instigated wars, social upheavals and mass migrations.
  9. Draw connections between historical mass media and today’s mass media.
  1. Identify and recognize the stages of technological innovation.
  2. Learn how Moore’s law helps us to understand the evolution of mass media technologies and predict what future media technologies might look like.
  3. Define "media technology convergence and explain how this has trend has contributed to the evolving role of mass media in society.
  4. Understand how advances in mass media technologies are contributing to the formation of a more global society in the 21st century.
  5. Learn how media technologies are affecting the future of, as well as our experience with, books and other printed sources in the Digital Age.
  6. Recognize how the evolution to a read and write media culture will influence our interactions with mass media content in the future.
  1. Identify the high points in the history and evolution of newspaper publishing in America.
  2. Understand the importance of and the differences between the commercial press, penny press and partisan press in 19th-century America.
  3. Explain how magazine publishing emerged from newspaper publishing to become the second major mass medium in America.
  4. Discuss how advances in both printing and transportation technologies helped to expand the reach of print media throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
  5. Consider the effects that wide availability of newspapers, magazines and books had on American culture and consumerism.
  6. Understand how the popular novel changed the book publishing industry.
  7. Identify the leading publishing dynasties that influenced American politics, culture and expansionism.
  8. Trace the history of comic books and graphic novels, describe their impact on popular culture and explain how these two industries have become one of the most successful publishing industries today.
  9. Discuss the challenges facing print publishing in the Digital Age.
  1. Learn about some of the key figures and events in music recording history as well as some of the social and political factors that contributed to the rise of popular music.
  2. Trace the rise of radio from its invention by Marconi to the introduction of commercial broadcasting.
  3. Understand how the three pioneers of radio contributed to the dramatic story of the development of modern radio broadcasting.
  4. Recognize the close relationship between the radio and recording industries and explain how this relationship has had a major effect on American culture.
  5. Explain how music contributed to two major cultural shifts in modern America.
  6. Understand how multitrack studio recording affected the recording industry.
  7. Consider the significance of MTV in terms of its impact on the radio industry and the way that audiences consumed music.
  8. Describe the social and commercial factors that contributed to the rise and huge successes of alternative music genres.
  9. Explain how advances in recording and file-sharing technology have profoundly altered the recording industry.
  10. Describe how media and content convergence has contributed to the survival of music and radio.
  1. Explain Joseph Campbell's "hero’s journey," including how it informs the narrative structure of many film and television narratives.
  2. Name two significant early innovators of film and define the lasting contributions that they made to the film industry.
  3. Discuss the Hollywood studio system and the role it played in ushering Hollywood into its Golden Age.
  4. Identify the Big Five studios and discuss the events that eventually diminished their power over Hollywood.
  5. Gain an overview of the foreign film industry and learn how its multitude of distinct cultural and artistic styles has influenced the style and narrative of American cinema.
  6. Understand the origins of the Motion Pictures Rating System of 1968, and describe how this system helped inspire the independent film movement.
  7. Explain how special effects changed the film industry, and identify the trends of the Digital Age that are dramatically altering the business, production, distribution and culture of film.
  8. Compare and contrast narrative storytelling in television and narrative storytelling in film, and explain how the two styles have influenced each other.
  9. Discuss how the Big Four networks came to dominate television broadcasting and how their dominance has affected television programming both now and in the past.
  10. Familiarize yourself with the most common television genres and understand how the Nielsen Ratings measure the success or failure of television pilots and series in each of these genres.
  11. Understand how cable and satellite television have helped spur innovation in television programming.
  12. Articulate the audience's role in determining the economic success or failure of television programming.
  13. Discuss some of the conflicting views that scholars and critics have shared about the future of television in the face of advancing media technologies.
  1. Gain a brief overview of the historyand evolution of the Internet
  2. Learn about the roots and basic infrastructureof new media as well as thedynamic nature of new mediacontent
  3. Discover the worldwide impact ofe-mail and text messaging
  4. Consider the value and effects ofknowledge sharing
  5. Distinguish between linear andnonlinear information
  6. Define user-mediated content andrecognize how it has altered therelationship between media usersand content creators
  7. Identify both the positive andnegative effects of mediaconvergence
  8. Understand the social and culturalimpact of online social networking
  9. Learn how new media havecontributed to grassroots movementsand mainstream politics
  10. Trace the development of multipleforms of gaming and their impact on,and importance to, society and culture.
  1. Understand the industry changes and challenges facing journalists today, and identify the new skills they need to be successful in 21st-century journalism.
  2. Join the current debate over journalism ethics in regard to Internet and 24/7 television and radio news cycles.
  3. Recognize the differences between short-tail and long-tail journalism and their relationship to the 24/7 news culture.
  4. Understand the alternative forms and methodologies of online journalism.
  5. Identify the differences between news story aggregators and news story originators.
  6. Be aware of the growing trends in hyperlocal news sites and the opportunities they afford entry-level and citizen journalists.
  7. Appreciate the talents, skills and impact of the practicing multimedia journalist.
  8. Recognize the difference between mediated and nonmediated news reporting.
  9. Understand the trend and significance of "direct-to-Web" journalism.
  10. Identify and discuss the current trends, new techniques and special ethical challenges associated with "backpack journalism."