| New words are continually being coined in the various mass media; words such as couch potato, zipping and zapping, uplink and downlink, and acronyms such as MERPS. But no dictionary of the mass media would be complete without the older terms that are seldom used today; words such as evulgate, nemo, and mechanical scanning, so they too are included in the more than 20,000 entries contained in this dictionary. |
| This dictionary was written to aid writers, broadcasters, publishers, film and video makers, printers, advertisers, and other industry professionals, as well as teachers, students and others interested in the vocabulary of the mass media. |
| The vocabulary of the mass media obviously includes the major subjects of radio, television, cable television, film, newspapers, magazines, books, direct mail, and outdoor advertising. And, as they apply to the various mass media, the closely allied subjects of acting, advertising, animation, announcing, audience measurement, audio, automation, criticism, disc recording, engineering, graphic arts, history, law, lighting, magnetic recording, make-up, management, music, news, operations, printing, production, programming, public relations, regulation, research, sales, satellites, scenery, sound, statistics, video, and writing, are covered in varying degrees. |
| The entries themselves were culled from hundreds of sources: indexes and small glossaries in books, magazines, and articles in periodicals. No attempt was made to make the dictionary encyclopedic in nature, and the definitions are intended to be descriptive rather than proscriptive. A number of engineering terms are included, but only those engineering terms that a nonengineer might need to know are included. |
| No dictionary of this scope can possibly be complete, so corrections, suggestions for additional entries, and comments would not only be welcomed, but are fervently solicited. |
 | R. TERRY ELLMORE, PH.D.
CHAIRMAN
DEPARTMENT OF RADIO-TV-FILM
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
FORT WORTH, TEXAS 76129 |
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