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Backlist
Environmental Risks and the Media
Edited by Stuart Allan, Barbara Adam &
Cynthia Carter
Examining both large-scale disasters, as well
as "everyday" hazards, the contributors consider the tensions between entertainment
and information in media coverage of the environment. How do the media frame "expert,"
"counter-expert" and "lay public" definitions of environmental
risk? Does the media's emphasis on spectacular events at the expense of issue-sensitive
reporting exacerbate the public tendency to overestimate sudden risks and underestimate
chronic long-term ones? (2000). Softcover. $37.99.
That Daily Planet: A Critic on the Capitalist
Culture Beat
by Patricia Aufderheide
A collection of Aufderheide's most important
critical essays, updated and organized to illustrate the breadth of her thinking
on media and film, public telecommunications policy, and contemporary society. Demonstrating
criticism that is both activist and analytical, she probes the processes that shape
our culture. (2000). Softcover. $31.95.
In Front of the Children: Screen Entertainment
and Young Audiences
Edited by Cary Bazalgette & David Buckingham
This anthology breaks away from the usual
agenda of moral panic and cultural pessimism which has dominated discussion of film,
television, computer games, merchandising and comics of both sides of the Atlantic.
The contributors to this book look at what children themselves choose to watch, and
at the production and marketing choices made on children's behalf. Contains 13 essays
in all, from such authors as Maire Messenger Davies and Jack Zipes. Softcover. $32.95.
Dictionary of Teleliteracy:
Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events
by David Bianculli
Explores 500 programs and televised events
whose impact on American culture, good or ill, will not likely be forgotten. This
very readable, personal guide to the history of television, illustrated with nearly
100 photographs, is more than a reference work. It uncovers the inside story of the
most famous hits and disasters of all time. In the process, the author sets the record
straight with respect to dates, performers, writers and events. (1996). Hardcover.
$36.95.
Defining Vision: How Broadcasters lured
the Government into inciting a Revolution in Television
by Joel Brinkley
Brinkley takes us inside the creation of HDTV
-- digital, high-definition television -- into a titanic competition between some
of the world's most important high-tech corporations battling for a prize worth billions
of dollars. Hardcover. $27.00 Softcover. $21.00.
After the Death of Childhood:
Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media
by David Buckingham
A lucid and accessible overview of recent
changes both in childhood and in the media environment. Buckingham points to the
challenges posed by the proliferation of new technologies, the privatization of the
media, and the polarization between the media-rich and the media-poor. He argues
that children can no longer be protected or excluded from the adult world of violence,
commercialism and politics, and that new strategies are needed in order to protect
their rights. (2000). Softcover. $42.95.
Children Talking Television: The Making
of Television Literacy
by David Buckingham
Based on extensive research, the book discusses
children's responses to soap operas and situation comedies, Hollywood films and TV
advertisements, as well as programs specifically aimed at children. It analyses the
role television in family and peer group relationships, paying particular attention
to the significance of social class, gender and ethnic background. The author draws
on theories and approaches developed within media and cultural studies, education,
psychology, linguistics and literary theory. (1993). Softcover. $68.00.
Children's Television in Britain
by David Buckingham, Hannah Davies, Ken Jones
& Peter Kelley
Challenges the romantic nostalgia that surrounds
contemporary discussions of the subject. Based on extensive research, this book provides
a critical review of the history of children's television in the UK, and a realistic
assessment of its future prospects. It looks at how broadcasters have defined the
child audience; at the changing nature of children's programming; at the impqct of
commercial competition, and at the role of audience research. (1999). Softcover.
$36.00.
The Making of Citizens: Young People, News
and Politics
by David Buckingham
The author traces the dynamic complexities
of young people's interpretations of news, and their judgements about the ways in
which key social and political issues are represented. Rather than bemoaning young
people's ignorance, Buckingham argues that we need to rethink what counts as political
understanding in contemporary societies, suggesting that new forms of factual reporting
will more effectively engage young people's perceptions of themselves as citizens.
(2000). Softcover. $37.99.
Moving Images:
Understanding Children's Emotional Responses to Television
by David Buckingham
Concerns about the effects of TV on children
are a recurrent focus of public controversy. Yet amid all the anxiety, children's
voices are rarely heard. In this book, Buckingham investigates children's own perspectives
o what they find frightening, moving and upsetting. He looks at how they learn to
cope with their feelings, and how their parents help or hinder them in doing so.
Softcover. $35.95.
Communication as Culture: Essays on Media
and Society
by James W. Carey
Carey maintains that communication is not
merely the transmission of information; reminding the reader of the link between
the words "communication" and "community," he broadens his definition
to include the drawing-together of a people that is culture. He questions the American
tradition of focusing only on mass communication's function as a means of social
and political control, and makes a case for examining the content of communication.
Softcover. $32.95.
International Media Research: A Critical
Survey
Edited by John Corner, Philip Schlesinger
& Roger Silverstone
The book opens with an introduction that surveys
the current state of media studies, and continues with a critical evaluation of the
work of the leading media scholar, Elihu Katz. It goes on to explore the relationship
between media studies and adjacent fields: cultural studies and new work on gender
and sexuality. (1997). Softcover. $37.99.
Studying Media: Problems of Theory and
Method
by John Corner
This collection brings together a selection
of the author's writings, produced across two decades of intensive development. Debates
about methods for the analysis of media language, the rise of reception studies,
and the problems of cultural evaluation are among the issues addressed. The volume
begins with a broad introduction to the formation of the field, the phases through
which it has developed and the challenges which face it. Softcover. $46.95.
The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and
Witnesses of the Media Age
by Nick Couldry
Focuses on an area neglected in previous studies
of the media: the meetings between "ordinary people" and the media. Couldry's
study explores what happens when people who normally consume the media witness media
processes in action, or even become the object of media attention themselves. The
final section of the book looks at the social impacts of the Internet and the development
of digital television. Softcover. $39.99 (2000).
De-Westernizing Media Studies
Edited by James Curran & Myung-Jin Park
In a series of case studies from Asia, Africa,
North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, the contributors
explore relationships between media, power and society. They also confront the limitations
of conventional media and globalization theory in understanding these relationships.
Softcover. $39.99.
NTC's Mass Media Dictionary
by R. Terry Ellmore
The most comprehensive dictionary of its kind,
containing more than 20,000 terms from contemporary mass media. From books to billboards,
from satellite broadcasts to local newspapers, this is the handiest, most complete
reference work, It includes definitions for new advanced technologies such as fiber
optics, high-definition television, and direct broadcast satellites. Ellmore also
explains recently coined terms, such as zapping, uplink and downlink. (1991). Softcover.
$36.95.
Tube: The Invention of Television
by David E. Fisher & Marshall Jon Fisher
A riveting tale of technological and commercial
adventure. Here is the story not of one mad scientist but a group of brilliant minds
-- iconoclasts with motivations that ranged from the idealistic zeal of invention
to pure greed. Hardcover. $42.50; Softcover $21.00.
Spinwars: Politics and the New Media
by Bill Fox
By tracing the delicate relationship between
media and politics over the last 50 years, Fox identifies key events in North America's
media-driven political history that have radically shifted the balance between the
third and fourth estates. Fox predicts, however, that the Internet will rectify the
balance between politics and journalism. Softcover. $24.95.
Social Policy, the Media and Misrepresentation
Edited by Bob Franklin
Do media report social problems or help to
create them? And why is new Labour so concerned to influence media reports of social
policy? The book contains a radical collection of chapters that examine various aspects
of news media reporting of social policy and the influences of such coverage on the
processes of policy making and implementation. (1999). Softcover. $44.99.
Making the Local News: Local Journalism
in Context
Edited by Bob Franklin & David Murphy
A comprehensive assessment of contemporary
local news production. The opening section surveys the current state of local media,
including newspapers, radio, and regional and cable television. Subsequent thematic
sections cover the economic organisation of the local press, the range of papers
available, sources for local news, and changing editorial content. (1998). Softcover.
$37.99.
Free-for-All: The Struggle for Dominance
on the Digital Frontier
by Matthew Fraser
Microsoft, Bell Atlantic, Hughes Electronics,
Time Warner, TCI, and, in Canada, the Rogers and Shaw cable empires are all marshalling
vast amounts of capital and new technology in a bid to outguess the competition on
the direction of the new marketplace. Even the governments on both sides of the border
are struggling for a place in the new digital universe. This far-reaching book reveals
who the market leaders are likely to be, and what technologies will dominate the
field. Hardcover. $32.95.
TV Living: Television, Culture and Everyday
Life
by David Gauntlett & Annette Hill
Each chapter addresses major contemporary
themes in media studies: how families negotiates viewing choices, the impact of new
technologies such as video, satellite and cable, how young people make the transition
from children's TV to "adult" programming, and audience responses to representations
of women, disability and violence. A unique study of audience behaviour. Softcover.
$37.99.
Television and Common Knowledge
Edited by Jostein Gripsrud
A collection of new essays examining television
as a vehicle for informed citizenship. First, the contributors examine how knowledge
is produced and circulated across the social and cultural borderlines of modern society,
then they investigate the broader social and cultural functions which television
has for its audiences. Later chapters concentrate on specific tv genres. Softcover.
$37.99.
Uses of Television
by John Hartley
Taking inspiration from Richard Hoggart's
classic The Uses of Literacy, Hartley considers the usefulness of both television
and television studies. He re-reads the history of broadcast TV's earliest moments,
tracing the critical reception television has received from the 1930s to the present.
He argues that this much-maligned medium can be reassessed in a more positive light,
especially as a vehicle for democracy. Softcover. $34.99.
Lies We Live By: Defeating Double-Talk
and Deception in Advertising, Politics and the Media
by Carl Hausman
The author applies his lively and engaging
wit to show you how to decode such methods of media manipulation as the Veiled Variable,
the Tortured Definition, the Re-Made Measure, Precision Garbage etc. Hausman also
shows how and where to complain, and provides a list of regulatory agencies and consumer
watchdog groups. (2000). Hardcover. $37.95.
Saturday Morning Censors: Television regulation
before the V-Chip
by Heather Hendershot
Examines the history of adult attempts to
safeguard children from the violence, sexism, racism and commercialism on television
since the 1950s. By focusing on what censorship and regulation are and how they work
-- rather than on whether or not they should exist -- the author shows how adults
use these processes to reinforce their own ideas about childhood innocence. (1998).
Softcover. $28.95.
Wired-Up: Young People and the Electronic
Media
Edited by Sue Howard
For many years now, studies rejecting the
idea of a direct causal link between the media and children's behaviour and beliefs
have been generating fascinating insights into children's interactions with all kinds
of media forms. This book is designed as an accessible introduction to these important
research findings for students of cultural and communication studies, psychology
and education. Softcover. $37.99.
User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical
Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts
by Robert R. Johnson
The central portion of the book elaborates
on user-centered theory by defining three focal issues: user-knowledge, human-technology
interaction, and technological determinism. The latter part of the book applies this
theory in two contexts: the non-academic sphere, where the writing and design of
computer user documentation is discussed, and the academic sphere, through a discussion
of how user-centered concepts might drive university technical communication and
composition curricula.(1998). Softcover. $31.95.
Media Ethics
Edited by Matthew Kieran
The contributors explore issues of impartiality
and objectivity, the ethics of political journalism, the regulation of privacy and
media intrusion, and the justification of censorship. They discuss the relationship
between journalism and public relations, war reporting and military propaganda, media
portrayals of sex and violence, photojournalism and the tabloid press. (1998). Softcover.
$31.99.
Made Possible By...
The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States
by James Ledbetter
A history of public broadcasting, from its
initial idealist attempt to reshape the vast wasteland of television, to its current
lamentable state -- safe, consistently mediocre, and as dependent on corporate financing
as its commercial counterparts. (1997). Softcover. $21.00.
Networking the World 1794-2000
by Armand Mattelart
The author places contemporary global communications
networks into historical context and shows that the networking of the world began
much earlier than many assume. Throughout, Mattelart refutes the contention that
a networked world is a better, more unified world, and demonstrates the more insidious
aspect of the masking of political, economic and cultural domination. (2000). Softcover.
$27.95.
Rich Media, Poor Democracy:
Communication Politics in Dubious Times
by Robert W. McChesney
Argues that the media, far from providing
a bedrock for freedom and democracy, have become a significant antidemocratic force
in the U.S. and, to varying degrees, worldwide. McChesney addresses the corporate
media explosion and the corresponding implosion of public life that characterizes
our times. He exposes several myths about the media -- in particular, that the market
compels media firms to "give the people what they want" -- that limit the
ability of citizens to grasp the real nature and logic of the media system. (1999).
Hardcover. $58.50.
The Medium and the Light: Reflections on
Religion
by Marshall McLuhan, edited by Eric McLuhan
& Jacek Szklarek
For the first time, McLuhan's insights on
theology, the Church, and the Global Village have been gathered from his many scattered
remarks, essays and other writings. This study shows the deeply Christian side of
a man widely considered the most important thinker of our time. (1999). Softcover.
$22.95.
Compassion Fatigue:
How the Media See Disease, Famine, War and Death
by Susan D. Moeller
Warns that the American media threaten our
ability to understand the world around us. Why do the media cover the world in the
way that they do? Are they simply following the marketplace demand for tabloid-style
international news? Or are they creating an audience that has seen too much -- or
too little -- to care? (1999). Hardcover. $43.99 Softcover. $26.95.
Buy This Book: Studies in Advertising and
Consumption
Edited by Mica Nava, Andrew Blake, Iain MacRury
& Barry Richards
Contributors consider the history, industry
practices, textual strategies and public consumption of advertising, and changes
in consumer imagery and identity. Eschewing a uniformity of approach and perspective,
the book confirms the interdisciplinarity of this expanding area of study. It also
shows how a focus on consumption interrogates assumptions within disciplines. (1997).
Softcover. $37.99.
Holding the Media Accountable: Citizens,
Ethics and the Law
Edited by David Pritchard
Presents real-world examples of clashes between
media actions and public accountability. Pritchard and his colleagues examine a case
of routine deception by a TV station's news staff; how a typical newspaper handles
complaints about news content; media self-regulation; standards and controversial
programming, and the impact of lawyers and legal proceedings in the media. (2000).
Softcover. $27.95.
Speeding the Net:
The Inside Story of Netscape and How it challenged Microsoft
by Joshua Quittner & Michelle Slatalla
The story of how a crew of computer jocks
turned the computer world upside down by creating the essential tool for navigating
the World Wide Web -- the web browser. A sweeping inside story of a revolution that
has affected how the world communicates and changed forever the way the computer
industry does business. (1998). Hardcover. $36.50.
Worlds in Common? Television discourse
in a Changing Europe
by Kay Richardson & Ulrike H. Meinhof
Extends current debates about the future of
a new multichannel media environment which is no longer confined within national
boundaries, and how this affects the cultural loves of viewers. Case studies include:
the importance of television's mediations of time and space, the prevalence of "trash"
or "quality" in TV's future developments, and the impact of US talk shows
within a European context. (1999). Softcover. $38.99.
Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They"
Say
by Douglas Rushkoff
The author argues that we each have our own
"theys" -- bosses, pundits, authorities, both real and imaginary -- whom
we allow to shape our lives and manage our future. Unfortunately, not everyone to
whom we surrender this control has our interests at heart. What's more, as much as
we try to resist them, they are always finding new and improved ways to manipulate
us. For years the author was a champion of the new media, but now he casts a cold
eye on the process by which such innovations have been co-opted by the powers that
be. (1999). Hardcover. $34.99.
Media Virus! Hidden Agendas in Popular
Culture
by Douglas Rushkoff
Examines the intricate ways in which popular
media both manipulate and are manipulated by those who know how to tap into their
power. Rushkoff argues that, where there's a wavelength, there's a way to "infect"
those on it -- from the subversive signals broadcast by shows like The Simpsons,
to the O.J. media frenzy. Includes a new preface and afterword chronicling the latest
and most outrageous outbreaks of virus strains. (1996). Softcover. $19.95.
Playing the Future: What We Can Learn from
Digital Kids
by Douglas Rushkoff
"Contends that kids today, who were weaned
on Macintosh and MTV, have developed adaptive strategies to live in a mediasphere
in which CNN seems less real than Pulp Fiction . . . It's hard to argue with
his contention that a hearty dose of the Net would give us a fighting chance of learning
about the future that our children already know" -- San Francisco Chronicle.
Softcover. (1996). $20.00.
High Techne ?:
Art and Technology from the Machine Aesthetic to the Posthuman
by R.L. Rutsky
The author challenges the modernist notion
of technology as an instrument or tool and the conventional idea of a noninstrumental
aesthetics. Today, technology and aesthetics have begun to come together. Rutsky
charts this history, examining figures like Fritz Lang, Octavia Butler and Thomas
Edison and phenomena such as Japanese Anime, constructivism and cyberspace.
(1999). Softcover. $28.95.
Introducing Media Studies
by Ziauddin Sardar & Borin Van Loon
From the Icon Introducing... series,
this book explores the complex relationship between the media, ideology, knowledge
and power. Filled with illustrations and snappy asides, it provides a tour of media
history and presents a coherent view of the media industry, media theory and methods
in media research. It explains how "he audience" is constructed and how
it in turn interprets the content and meaning of media representation. (2000). Softcover.
$15.99.
Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing and the
Marketing of Culture
by John Seabrook
Prepare the enter the outrageous new world
of Nobrow, where the old cultural distinctions -- highbrow (Wagner's Ring),
middlebrow (Masterpiece Theatre), and lowbrow (the latest MTV video) cease
to exist. Seabrook shows how Nobrow increasingly defines the great American audience.
(2000) Hardcover, $35.00; Paperback, $18.00.
The Internet and Society
by James Slevin
Explores the impact of the internet on modern
culture beyond the fashionable celebration of "anything goes" online culture
or the overly pessimistic conceptions tainted by the logic of domination. Slevin
develops an original account of the internet and relates it to the analysis of culture
and communication in late modern societies, exploring such issues as the process
of self-formation, globalization, publicness, regulation and, above all, the management
of risk and uncertainty. (2000). Softcover. $42.95.
Getting the Message: A History of Communications
by Laszlo Solymar
Explores the fascinating history of communications,
starting with the ancient civilizations, the Greeks and Romans, then leading through
the development of the electric telegraph and up to the present day with email and
cellular phones. Lavishly illustrated, and including many original illustrations
that show just how new developments were received in their time. (1999). Hardcover.
$72.00.
Toxic Sludge is Good For You!
Lies and the Public Relations Industry
by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton
Blows the lid off today's multi-billion dollar
propaganda industry. This names names and reveals how public relations wizards concoct
and spin the news, organize phony "grassroots" front groups, spy on citizens,
and conspire with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy. Your worst cynicism
pales before reality in this blistering and often hilarious exposé. (1995).
Softcover. $26.95.
Media Power, Professionals and Politics
Edited by Howard Tumber
The work of Jeremy Tunstall, one of the founding
fathers of British media studies, is the inspiration behind this volume. Contributors
address the central themes of Tunstall's work: the history, structure and practices
of the international media industry, the relationship between media and government,
and the sociology of media professionals in the communications industry. (2000).
Softcover. $37.99.
Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age
of the Internet
by Sherry Turkle
A study of the psychology of online life,
Turkle explores not only what the computer does for us but what it does to us --
from the way it changes children's ideas about what is alive to the way it provokes
new ways of thinking about politics, community, sexual identity, and our most basic
concepts of self. (1995). Softcover. $19.00.
Twenty Ads That Shook The World
by James B. Twitchell
These are not necessarily the ads and the
ad campaigns that have been most effective in selling their products, but rather
those that entered the popular lexicon and had a profound effect on us all. Each
ad and its overall campaign is deconstructed; we see firsthand how and why they are
created, which needs they address, and what boundaries they break. (2000). Hardcover.
$38.00.
The Father of Spin:
Edward L. Bernays & the Birth of Public Relations
by Larry Tye
The first full-length biography of the legendary
Berneys, who, beginning in the 1920s, was one of the first and most successful practitioners
of the art of public relations. This book tells of Bernays' great campaigns, including
his precedent-setting work for the American Tobacco Company, and engineering of the
overthrow of the socialist regime in Guatemala on behalf of his client, the United
Fruit Company. (1998). Hardcover. $38.50.
The Expanding Vista: American Television
in the Kennedy Years
by Mary Ann Watson
Watson looks at how television was woven into
the events and policies of John Kennedy's presidency, not only in his unprecedented
use of the medium in campaigning and image projection, but in the vigorous efforts
of his administration to regulate and improve the content of network programs. (1990).
Hardcover. $34.00 Softcover $20.95.
Understanding Journalism: A Guide to Issues
by John Wilson
Never have the media been so critically regarded
as at the present time. Documenting many areas of debate and dispute between journalists,
the media, public organizations and politicians, the author identifies why conflicts
will continue. The book covers topics from government bias to censorship, official
secrets to freedom of information, and animal rights to obscenity. (1996). Softcover.
$29.95.
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