Description
Book SynopsisMedia/History/Society offers a cultural history of media in the United States, shifting the lens of media history from media developments and evolution to a focus on changes in culture and society, emphasizing how media shaped and were shaped by these trends, policies, and cultural shifts.
- Covers the topics that instructors want to teach
- Provides a timely and relevant culturally determined perspective on media history in American society
- Organized thematically rather than chronologically
- Links history to contemporary issues, setting journalism into a broader historical context
- Includes alternate table of contents, discussion questions, an instructor's manual, and sample exams
Trade Review"Cramer provides an extremely concise and yet exhaustive treatment of the development of American mass media.... Cramer’s book is clearly written, highly readable, and of course does the reader the honour of both providing good evidence for all propositions made, and making out a sequential and clear argument." (
M/C Reviews, July 2009)
Table of ContentsPreface.
Introduction: The Media/Society Relationship in Historical Perspective.
The Value of Historical Study.
The Media/Society Continuum.
The Relationships of Media and Society.
Part I Media and Government.
1. The First Amendment.
The Libertarian Theory of the Press.
Stability of the State: The Catalyst of the Printing Press and the English Roots of Press Freedom.
No Prior Restraint: The Colonial Experience and the Notion of Seditious Libel.
Natural Rights, Independence, and the Enlightenment Philosophy.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
2. Press Freedom in Wartime.
What is at Stake in Times of War?.
Stresses on the Stability of Government and Society.
Forms of Control.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
3. Contemporary Challenges and Ongoing Debates.
Does Freedom of Speech Extend to All Speech?.
The First Amendment: Liberalism and Republicanism.
The Rights of Groups and Individuals: Pornography and Hate Speech Considerations.
How Much Power Does Speech Have?.
Private Rights/Public Rights and the “Realistic” View of the First Amendment.
The Relationship between Media and the State/Government.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
Part II Media and Commerce.
4. The Market Model and the Penny Press.
The Nineteenth Century: Cradle of Media Commercialism.
The Market Model.
Commercialism and Entertainment Join the Public Sphere.
The End of the Partisan Press.
Industrialization and Urbanization Create Change in the United States.
The Penny Press.
The Penny Press and the Culture of Entertainment.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
5. Media as a Business Institution.
Changes in Newspapers after the Civil War.
Rise of Newspapers as Industry Parallels U.S. Growth.
The Press Becomes a Business.
Advertising and the Growth of Commercial Media.
Group Ownership and Networks.
Television Follows Suit.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
6. The Entertainment Revolution.
The Rise of “New Journalism”.
Characteristics of New Journalism.
Pulitzer, Hearst, and “Yellow Journalism”.
News, Entertainment, and the Demands of an Age.
The Social and Cultural Context for the Rise of New Journalism.
Movies, Radio, and Television Satisfy Demands for Entertainment.
Entertainment: Our Undoing or Our Necessary Future?.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
Part III Media and Community.
7. Social Responsibility and the Media.
Philosophical Shifts in the Late Nineteenth Century.
The Progressive Movement and Muckraking Journalism.
The Press, Public Opinion, and Public Relations.
The Social Responsibility Theory of the Media.
Broadcasting and Social Responsibility.
The Hutchins Commission.
A Framework for Socially Responsible Media.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
8. Alternative Media.
What Are Alternative Media and Why Did They Emerge?.
Content and Functions of Alternative Media.
Examples of Alternative Media.
Alternative Media and the Technologies of Broadcast and the Internet.
Challenges Faced by Alternative Media.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
9. Media and Cultural Identity.
What is Cultural Identity?.
Media and Cultural Identity.
Media and Cultural Identity: Some Examples.
Content and Functions of Cultural Identity Media.
The Internet and the Creation of Identity.
Conclusion: What You Have Learned.
Part IV Conclusion.
10. Media and You.
Issues Related to the Internet.
Media Literacy.
The Active Audience.
Suggestions for Historical Research into the Media/Society Relationship.
Conclusion.
Timeline of Critical Events Relative to Media History.
Index.
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