Masters Of Media

The media landscape has changed, and children and adolescents now face a tsunami of entertainment and information. How they sort through this may have significant effects on their education and their health. We’ve called on some of the world’s media experts to discuss what the crucial issues are and what teachers, administrators, schools, parents, and health professionals can do about them – hence, the title – Masters of Media.

A “riveting and thoroughly researched” history of language technology’s effect on society across millennia—from Sumerian syntax to social media hashtags (Phil Lapsley). Writing was born thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Spreading to Sumer, and then Egypt, this revolutionary tool allowed rulers to extend their control far and wide, giving rise to the world’s first empires. When Phoenician traders took their alphabet to Greece, literacy’s first boom led to the birth of drama and democracy. In Rome, it helped spell the downfall of the Republic. Later, medieval scriptoria and vernacular bibles gave rise to religious dissent, and with the combination of cheaper paper and Gutenberg’s printing press, the fuse of Reformation was lit. The Industrial Revolution brought the telegraph and the steam driven printing press, allowing information to move faster and wider than ever before through the invention of the newspaper. But along with radio and television, these new technologies were more easily exploited by the powerful, as seen in Germany, the Soviet Union, even Rwanda, where radio incited genocide. With the rise of carbon duplicates (Russian samizdat), photocopying (the Pentagon Papers), the internet, social media, and cell phones (the recent Arab Spring) more people have access to communications, making the world more connected than ever before. This “accessible, quite enjoyable, and highly informative read” will change the way you look at technology, history, and power (Booklist). “[Bernstein] enables us to see what remains the same, even as much has changed.” —Library Journal, “Editors’ Picks” “It brims with interesting ideas and astonishing connections.” —Phil Lapsley, author of Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell “[Bernstein’s] narrative is succinct and extremely well sourced. . . . [He] reminds us of a number of technologies whose changed roles are less widely chronicled in conventional histories of the media.” —The Irish Times

Digital technology plays a vital role in today's need for instant information access. The simplicity of acquiring and publishing online information presents new challenges in establishing and evaluating online credibility. Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication highlights important approaches to evaluating the credibility of digital sources and techniques used for various digital fields. This book brings together research in computer mediated communication along with the affects digital culture and online credibility.

In Many Lives, Many Masters(1988, 2008), psychiatrist Brian L. Weiss describes his treatment of a young woman to show how medical science has only begun to comprehend the mysteries of human existence. In 1980, Weiss began to see Catherine, a 27-year-old lab technician employed by the hospital where he practiced, for debilitating fears that included drowning, choking, and the dark… Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

TV Outside the Box: Trailblazing in the Digital Television Revolution explores the new and exploding universe of on-demand, OTT (Over the Top) networks: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Crackle, CW Seed, Vimeo, AwesomenessTV, and many more. Featuring in-depth conversations with game-changing content creators, industry mavericks, and leading cultural influencers, TV Outside the Box is essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamics of a global media revolution – while it’s happening. Readers will discover: How the new "disruptors" of traditional television models are shaping the future of the television and feature film business. You’ll hear directly from the visionaries behind it all – from concept genesis to predictions for the future of streaming platforms; their strategies for acquisitions and development of new original content; and how the revolution is providing unprecedented opportunities for both established and emerging talent. What’s different about storytelling for the progressive, risk-taking networks who are delivering provocative, groundbreaking, binge-worthy content, without the restraints of the traditional, advertiser-supported programming model. Through interviews with the showrunners, content creators, and producers of dozens of trailblazing series – including Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, Transparent, and many more – you’ll learn how and why the best and the brightest TV content creators and filmmakers are defining the new digital entertainment age – and how you can, too.

Looks at the transformation of government policy since 1980 that has lead to changes in electronic media. The author argues that Washington policymakers must scrap the old regulatory system and write a new policy script designed to guarantee a broadcast service that is free, and dedicated to serving Americans as citizens, not just as consumers.

The post-independence integration endeavor of the East African Community has been punctuated with challenges, culminating into the collapse of the 1967-1977 regional organization. The renaissance of the integration agenda since the re-establishment of the regional organization in 1999 has rekindled epistemological debate among scholars and practitioners on the East African Community raison d'etre and integration process. This volume is the first of its kind in this ongoing debate that puts into proper context the nexus between the East African citizens and the integration agenda. Focusing on the Partner States case studies, the authors of the chapters operationalize the concepts of popular participation, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization, and integration. Using political, national constitutions and EAC treaty, communication and awareness dimensions the authors of the chapters have analyzed the nexus between the EACcitizens and the integration process. The study generally proceeds from the premise that the exclusion of the EAC citizens from exercising their sovereign rights through popular participation undermines the prospects for the institutionalization and consolidation of the EAC identity, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization and integration.

Investigative journalism emerged in China in the 1980s following Deng Xiaoping’s media reforms. Over the past few decades, Chinese investigative journalists have produced an increasing number of reports in print or on air and covered a surprisingly wide range of topics which had been thought impossible by the standards of the Communist era. In the 2010s, however, investigative journalism has been replaced by activist journalism. This book examines how, with the aid of new media technologies and in response to new calls for social responsibility, these new-era journalists vigorously seek to expand the scope of their journalism and their capacity as journalists. They tend to perceive themselves as more than professional journalists, and their activities are not limited to the physical boundaries of newsrooms. They are not only detached observers of society but also engaged organizers of social movements—they are social activists as well as responsible journalists who challenge state power and the party line and point to the limitations of the more traditional conceptions of journalism in China. This book analyzes how journalism in China has been gradually transformed from a tool of the state to a means of broadening calls for democratic reform.

Cyber-bullying, sexting, and the effects that violent video games have on children are widely discussed and debated. With a renowned international group of researchers and scholars, the Second Edition of the Handbook of Children and the Media covers these topics, is updated with cutting-edge research, and includes comprehensive analysis of the field for students and scholars. This revision examines the social and cognitive effects of new media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, iPads, and cell phones, and how children are using this new technology. This book summarizes the latest research on children and the media and suggests directions for future research. This book also attempts to provide students with a deliberate examination of how children use, enjoy, learn from, and are advantaged or disadvantaged by regular exposure to television, new technologies, and other electronic media.