Stanley Baran - Introduction to Mass Communication

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Eleventh Edition

Stanley J. Baran

Bryant University

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INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION

Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright 2021 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

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ISBN 978-1-260-57086-1

MHID 1-260-57086-X

Cover Image: Alexey Blogoodf/Shutterstock

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mheducation.com/highered

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In loving memory of my mother,
Margaret Baran
she gave me life;
and in honor of my wife,
Susan Baran
she gave that life meaning. Page iv

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Courtesy of Stanley Baran

Dear Friends,

The media, like sports and politics, are what we talk about, argue over, dissect, and analyze. Those of us who teach media know that these conversations are essential to the functioning of a democratic society. We also know that what moves these conversations from simple chatting and griping to effective public discourse is media education. And regardless of what we might call the courseIntroduction to Mass Communication, Introduction to Mass Media, Media and Society, or Media and Culturemedia education has been part of the university for more than six decades. From the outset, the course has fulfilled these goals:

• Increasing students knowledge and understanding of the mass communication process and the mass media industries

• Increasing students awareness of how they interact with those industries and their content to create meaning

• Helping students become more skilled and knowledgeable consumers of media content and therefore more ethical and confident participants in their worlds

We now call the fulfillment of these goals media literacy.

This texts cultural orientation toward mass communication places a great deal of responsibility on media consumers. In the past, people were considered either victims of media influence or impervious to it. The cultural orientation asserts that audience members are as much a part of the mass communication process as are the media technologies and industries. As important agents in the creation and maintenance of their own culture, audience members have a moral obligation not only to participate in the process of mass communication but also to participate critically as better consumers of mass media.

The focus of this book, from the start, has been on media literacy and culture, and those emphases have shaped its content and its various learning aids and pedagogical features. Every chapters Cultural Forum box poses a critical thinking dilemma based on a current social problem and asks students to work through their solution. The Using Media to Make a Difference feature offers chapter-specific examples of how people in and outside the media industries have employed technology to meet important cultural and social needs. And each chapter ends with a Media Literacy Challenge that asks students to apply what theyve learned to a contemporary media issue. Literacy, in this case media literacy, is about living in, interacting with, and making the most of the world that surrounds us. That belief is the central philosophy of this text.

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Thank you for teaching mass communication. There are few college courses that will mean more to our students lives now and after they graduate than this one. Thank you, too, for considering Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture for use in your course. I have poured the last 30 years of my career into this text and what it has to say about mass communication and the world that our interaction with the media produces. Your interest in this text confirms my passion.

Stanley J. Baran

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PART 1 LAYING THE GROUNDWORK 2

PART 2 MEDIA, MEDIA INDUSTRIES, AND MEDIA AUDIENCES 50

PART 3 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION INDUSTRIES 262

PART 4 MASS-MEDIATED CULTURE IN THE INFORMATION AGE 314

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PART 1 LAYING THE GROUNDWORK 2

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PART 2 MEDIA, MEDIA INDUSTRIES, AND MEDIA AUDIENCES 50

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PART 3 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION INDUSTRIES 262

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PART 4 MASS-MEDIATED CULTURE IN THE INFORMATION AGE 314

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McGraw-Hill Connect offers full-semester access to comprehensive, reliable content and learning resources for the Communication course. Connects deep integration with most learning management systems (LMSs), including Blackboard and Desire2Learn (D2L), offers single sign-on and deep gradebook synchronization. Data from Assignment Results reports synchronize directly with many LMSs, allowing scores to flow automatically from Connect into school-specific gradebooks, if required.

The following tools and services are available as part of Connect for the Communication course:

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When you assign Connect you can be confidentand have data to demonstratethat your students, however diverse, are acquiring the skills, principles, and critical processes that constitute effective communication. This leaves you to focus on your highest course expectations.

TAILORED TO YOU. Connect