Media of Mass Communication, Pearson New International Edition, 11th edition

Beginning with the facts (the people and the history), the book explores the messages (media), introduces the many influences (effects) including global and technological, and teaches students how to critically assess them all to attain media literacy. Updated features include:

New! Media Counterpoints: Each Media Counterpoints feature poses a contentious issue, offers leading arguments to help you understand the controversy being explored, and provides questions to help readers determine their own positions on the topic. (ex. p. 71)

New! Media Tomorrow: These features look at where media are headed, usually with an emphasis on developing technology. Questions invite you to build on your new understanding. In some cases you are encouraged to dig into media to find your own examples to articulate your learning. (ex. p. 77)

Media People features focus on individuals pivotal in our understanding of mass media. (ex. p. 63)

A Media Timeline casts key developments in the mass media in a graphic chronology and is designed to help you place media developments in a context of social, political and cultural history. You will find the timelines useful in drawing connections between what you are learning about the mass media and what you already know. (ex. pp. 68-69)

Introductory vignettes begin each chapter and provide evocative stories that illustrate important issues about the mass media and the people who create it. (ex. pp. 56-57)

“Thematic Chapter Summary” spreads offer a unifying perspective, helping students to establish a greater framework for understanding how technology, culture, democracy, economy, and audience fragmentation in the media, interact with each media industry differently and relate to media literacy. (ex. pp. 82-83)

“Applying Your Media Literacy” questions now close each major section within a chapter and ask students to apply critical thinking strategies to what they’ve just learned. (ex. p. 113)

Chapter Insights focus on the key points students will learn in each chapter. (ex. p. 84)

Learning tools and enhanced pedagogy —including Study Preview; marginal glossary; Chapter Wrap-Up, Critical Thinking Questions; Media Vocabulary lists; and Media Sources-help students understand central concepts.

1. The impact of internet-based media and new delivery devices. The changing media landscape is reflected in every chapter, showing the ongoing and accelerating transition of virtually all mass communication online. The expansion of options for consuming media (smartphones and tablet devices, especially) is also taken into consideration throughout this new edition. (ex. pp. 179-182)

2. Greater emphasis on world events and the globalization of mass media. This edition demonstrates how mass media are at the heart of so much that is happening in the world today. Throughout the text you will see how world events are tied into the mass media. A sampling of examples includes: and internet cafe in Yangzhou Zity, street protests in Azadi Square, the Thor Data Center outside of Reykjavik, the Stryker Brigade leaving Iraq, the Arab Spring in Tahrir Square, and Blog del Narco in Mexico. (ex. p. 350)

3. New and Updated Features. In the Eleventh Edition, chapter features have a new parallelism. Every chapter carries new Media Counterpoints (ex. p. 278) that pose contentious issues, offer leading arguments, and ask questions to help you frame your own position; a Media People (ex. p. 272) feature focusing on someone pivotal in our understanding of mass media; as well as a Media Timeline (ex. pp. 266-267), designed to help you place media developments in a context of social, political and cultural history. Finally, new Media Tomorrow (ex. p. 276) features look at where media are headed, usually through technology still in development.

4. Fresh, current examples. Fresh examples through the text are used to illustrate enduring points as well as capture new uses of the media to bring about social change, such as Dan Savage’s It Gets Better video project. (ex. p. 19)

5. Fully updated visual program. This edition offers dozens of powerful photos, sized and cropped for impact in the tradition of the best photojournalism. Captions underscore the key takeaways for each image, allowing you to appreciate the full force of the image. (ex. p. 95)