Author Description

From the Back Cover Key Benefit: In this best-selling book, John Vivian continues to provide exciting, up-to-date coverage of media industries and issues, along with a thoughtful recounting of key events in media history to give readers the perspective they need to understand the complexity and impact of the media today. Key Topics: The fourth edition of The Media of Mass Communication retains its emphasis on the current challenges of media while building on its extensive coverage of media effects and media and culture. Every chapter has been thoroughly updated to reflect the most current statistics, issues, and challenges facing the media. An introductory chapter explores the foundations of the field: the importance, economics, and basics of the discipline of mass communication. A full chapter is devoted to each of the forms of media: books, magazines, newspapers, records, movies, radio, television, and the Web. Other topics include how the mass media relate to the fields of journalism, public relations, advertising, and media research. Extensive coverage is devoted to the process of mass communication and the effects of media on the individual, our culture and society, and our laws and political systems. A final chapter looks at the principles and ethics of the media and media issues. Market: For all professionals working in all forms of mass media.