Ralph E Hanson - Mass Communication: Living in a Media World

• filter through the fluff
• indentify sources of bias
• distill and critically assess all media
• effectively navigate a media world

Ralph Hanson believes that armed with media literacy principles, students have the tools and critical thinking skills they need to be smart consumers of the media. Through 15 chapters, Hanson delivers comprehensive yet compact coverage, incisive analysis, and fun, conversational writing. While he delves into critical theory, and will take a critical stance on the media, he does not believe the media are something to be feared or demonized. Rather the media are an essential part of the way we live.

Students are encouraged to think about what the media are, who controls the media, how media content is selected, why the media behave the way they do, and how society and the media interact with each other. Every time a truth is referenced, its highlighted in yellow.

Each chapter kicks off with a compelling story about a figure or people at the center of a newsworthy eventthe perfect way to hook students and exemplify chapter themes. Objectives call out key topics to encourage close, focused reading.

Key events in the development of mass communication are placed within the context of other major historical dates.

These boxes have one important goal in mind: cultivate critical media consumers. Students read about current research, interviews, data, or an event, and then answer questions that elicit real analysis: who is the source? What is he/she saying? What evidence is there? What do you think about the topic?

This new set of boxes showcase images from various mediasometimes controversialto seek instinctive reactions from students before providing context and questions that encourage critical assessment of how we see and interpret images, and what more may be behind them.

These critical thinking questions, in the margin of every main section of the text, provide useful stop-and-think moments, addressing current media issues and encouraging students to consider how we use and consume media.

The new global media icon, shown next to major headings in the text, cues readers to upcoming global media content.

Handy definitions at the foot of the page allow students to easily reference key terms.

A brief recap of important points assists students in reviewing major themes, events, and concepts.

An easy way to review and study, these lists provide page references.

At no extra cost to students, they can access an interactive ebook version of the text when they buy a new print copy. Through a series of icons students link to multimedia contentincluding audio, video, articles (including CQ Researcher reports), reference material, and dataright where it matters most: on the page where a topic is discussed. Students take a deeper dive and explore a concept while reading. Students will have access to study tools such as highlighting, bookmarking, and note-taking. Its an enhanced, enriching, and interactive learning experience.

Within the interactive ebook, students can take chapter quizzes to make sure theyve mastered material. For each Test Your Media Literacy and Test Your Visual Media Literacy box, students can answer a set of critical thinking questions. Both quiz results and students open-ended answers feed a grade book so instructors can easily track participation and comprehension.

In addition to keeping his book fresh and current with frequent postings, Ralph Hanson ties his blog content to chapters so that videos, commentary, and articles are effectively framed with media literacy principles in mind. Check out a post or two, and Hansons Living in a Media World blog (http://ralphehanson.com) will become your go-to resource for insightful and entertaining examples and cases relevant to the intro mass comm coursea great way to kick off a lecture or an in-class discussion.

Follow the author on Twitter (http://twitter.com/@ralphehanson) for daily links to media news.

Check out Ralphs Tumblr (http://ralphehanson.tumblr.com) for a trove of video clips that work well as a pre-class feature, along with photos and other images hes found online or created himself.

The books Facebook page lets you share materials and find links to what Ralphs been posting on the blog and on Tumblr.

masscomm.cqpress.com

An open-access companion website gives students the tools they need to prepare for class, discussion, and exams:

• Chapter summaries with objectives and review questions.
• eFlashcards reinforce understanding of key terms and concepts.
• Self-grading quizzes allow students to test their mastery of chapter material.
• Activities and critical-thinking exercises like those found in the Test Your Media Literacy boxes.