Misunderstanding Media

Misunderstanding Media
Author: Brian Winston
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 131551219X

The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution. This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view. It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation. In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites. He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’. He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained. Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.

Misunderstanding Media

Misunderstanding Media
Author: Brian Winston
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1315512203

The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution. This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view. It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation. In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites. He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’. He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained. Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.

Misunderstanding News Audiences

Misunderstanding News Audiences
Author: Eiri Elvestad
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2018-04-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315444348

Misunderstanding News Audiences interrogates the prevailing myths around the impact of the Internet and social media on news consumption and democracy. The book draws on a broad range of comparative research into audience engagement with news, across different geographic regions, to provide insight into the experience of news audiences in the twenty-first century. From its inception, it was imagined that the Internet would benignly transform the nature of news media and its consumers. There were predictions that it would, for example, break up news oligarchies, improve plurality and diversity through news personalisation, create genuine social solidarity online, and increase political awareness and participation among citizens. However, this book finds that, while mainstream news media is still the major source of news, the new media environment appears to lead to greater polarisation between news junkies and news avoiders, and to greater political polarisation. The authors also argue that the dominant role of the USA in the field of news audience research has created myths about a global news audience, which obscures the importance of national context as a major explanation for news exposure differences. Misunderstanding News Audiences presents an important analysis of findings from recent audience studies and, in doing so, encourages readers to re-evaluate popular beliefs about the influence of the Internet on news consumption and democracy in the West.

Misunderstanding the Internet

Misunderstanding the Internet
Author: James Curran
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2016-02-05
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1317443519

The growth of the internet has been spectacular. There are now more than 3 billion internet users across the globe, some 40 per cent of the world’s population. The internet’s meteoric rise is a phenomenon of enormous significance for the economic, political and social life of contemporary societies. However, much popular and academic writing about the internet continues to take a celebratory view, assuming that the internet’s potential will be realised in essentially positive and transformative ways. This was especially true in the euphoric moment of the mid-1990s, when many commentators wrote about the internet with awe and wonderment. While this moment may be over, its underlying technocentrism – the belief that technology determines outcomes – lingers on and, with it, a failure to understand the internet in its social, economic and political contexts. Misunderstanding the Internet is a short introduction, encompassing the history, sociology, politics and economics of the internet and its impact on society. This expanded and updated second edition is a polemical, sociologically and historically informed guide to the key claims that have been made about the online world. It aims to challenge both popular myths and existing academic orthodoxies that surround the internet.

Fake News

Fake News
Author: Melissa Zimdars
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2020-02-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262538369

New perspectives on the misinformation ecosystem that is the production and circulation of fake news. What is fake news? Is it an item on Breitbart, an article in The Onion, an outright falsehood disseminated via Russian bot, or a catchphrase used by a politician to discredit a story he doesn't like? This book examines the real fake news: the constant flow of purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news. Rather than viewing fake news through a single lens, the book maps the various kinds of misinformation through several different disciplinary perspectives, taking into account the overlapping contexts of politics, technology, and journalism. The contributors consider topics including fake news as “disorganized” propaganda; folkloric falsehood in the “Pizzagate” conspiracy; native advertising as counterfeit news; the limitations of regulatory reform and technological solutionism; Reddit's enabling of fake news; the psychological mechanisms by which people make sense of information; and the evolution of fake news in America. A section on media hoaxes and satire features an oral history of and an interview with prankster-activists the Yes Men, famous for parodies that reveal hidden truths. Finally, contributors consider possible solutions to the complex problem of fake news—ways to mitigate its spread, to teach students to find factually accurate information, and to go beyond fact-checking. Contributors Mark Andrejevic, Benjamin Burroughs, Nicholas Bowman, Mark Brewin, Elizabeth Cohen, Colin Doty, Dan Faltesek, Johan Farkas, Cherian George, Tarleton Gillespie, Dawn R. Gilpin, Gina Giotta, Theodore Glasser, Amanda Ann Klein, Paul Levinson, Adrienne Massanari, Sophia A. McClennen, Kembrew McLeod, Panagiotis Takis Metaxas, Paul Mihailidis, Benjamin Peters, Whitney Phillips, Victor Pickard, Danielle Polage, Stephanie Ricker Schulte, Leslie-Jean Thornton, Anita Varma, Claire Wardle, Melissa Zimdars, Sheng Zou

Media Messages

Media Messages
Author: Linda Holtzman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 643
Release: 2014-12-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317464923

The new edition of this widely adopted book reveals how the popular media contribute to widespread myths and misunderstanding about cultural diversity. While focused on the impact of television, feature film, and popular music, the authors reach far beyond media to explore how our understanding, values, and beliefs about race, class, gender and sexual orientation are constructed. They analyze how personal histories, combined with the collective history of oppression and liberation, contribute to stereotypes and misinformation, as well as how personal engagement with media can impact prospects for individual and social freedom. Along with updated media examples, expanded theories and analysis, this edition explores even more deeply the coverage of race in two chapters, discusses more broadly how men and boys are depicted in the media and socialized, and how class issues have become even more visible since the Great Recession of the 21st century and the Occupy movements. Special activities and exercises are provided in the book and an online Instructor's Manual is available to adopters.

Media,Technology and Society

Media,Technology and Society
Author: Brian Winston
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2002-09-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134766327

Challenging the popular myth of a present-day 'information revolution', Media Technology and Society is essential reading for anyone interested in the social impact of technological change. Winston argues that the development of new media forms, from the telegraph and the telephone to computers, satellite and virtual reality, is the product of a constant play-off between social necessity and suppression: the unwritten law by which new technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is limited.

Media and Crime

Media and Crime
Author: Yvonne Jewkes
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2004-08-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761947653

′Media and Crime is a thought-provoking and scholarly work written in a very lively style. It will be of interest to readers of SCHOLAG whether or not they have some knowledge of criminological theories.′ Jean McFadden, SCOLAG Journal `Criminologists and a bewildering array of other voices have commented on the relationship between media and crime on many occasions over many decades. Those of us who have worked and taught in this area have often sensed the lack of an authoritative, systematic and up to date text to which one could refer with confidence. Yvonne Jewkes has now given us that book and we are in her debt. Jewkes is one of the few who knows the fields of both media studies and criminology equally well. She writes with confidence, clarity, insight and style. Media and Crime does not just cover the debate, it moves it forward. This is a striking and admirable achievement. This book will be widely read and widely welcomed by students and by Jewkes′s academic peers′ - Professor Richard Sparks, University of Edinburgh `The book reviews key media and criminological debates against contemporary developments in the media and twenty-first century concerns about crime. More than that Media and Crime is intellectually provocative, lucid, astute and simply a good read′ - Dr Maggie Wykes, University of Sheffield `A thought-provoking critical analysis of how the mass media construct the issue of crime in the public realm. Clearly written and based on a wide-ranging review of research on crime and media it will be an invaluable source for students′ - Professor Robert Reiner, London School of Economics and Politcal Science `This book offers a vibrant and lucid guide to the constructions of crime in media culture, and the complex interactions between consumers and producers. Comprehensive and authoritatively written, Media and Crime should appear on all essential reading lists for students of criminology and media culture′ - Paul Mason, Southampton Institute * Why do only certain criminal events become thrust into the public sphere with sufficient vigour to shape public fears of victimization? * Why are some crimes sustained by sufficiently intense public outcry to become part of our cultural fabric, while other, almost identical incidents, fail to capture the collective imagination? * Why do some very serious crimes cast a much longer shadow than others, and some offenders take on an iconic evilness while others fade into quiet obscurity? This book points a critical spotlight on media constructions of crime and social control, developing our understanding of the relationship between media and crime, and taking existing knowledge in new directions. Media and Crime is an accessible text with a strong pedagogic purpose, making it an ideal introduction to the study of crime and the mass media for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The author interrogates the most important literature in the field as well as moving the debates forward with new ideas and values. Substantive topics of current interest are covered, including: * news reporting of crime * media constructions of children and women as victims and offenders * moral panics over paedophiles * the relationship between the media and the police * ′reality′ crime shows * surveillance and social control * new media. Chapter overviews, key terms, study questions and suggestions for further reading map the key issues in this vital and topical area of debate. The book is essential reading for students in a wide range of academic fields including criminology, media studies, sociology, gender studies and psychology.

Narrating Media History

Narrating Media History
Author: Michael Bailey
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1134112106

Based on the work of media historian, James Curran, Narrating Media History explores British media history as a series of competing narratives. This unique and timely collection brings together leading international media history scholars, not only to identify and contrast the various interrelationships between media histories, but also to encourage dialogue between different historical, political, and theoretical perspectives including: liberalism, feminism, populism, nationalism, libertarianism, radicalism and technological determinism. Essays by distinguished academics cover television, radio, newspaper press and advertising (among others) and illustrate the particularities, affinities, strengths and weaknesses within media history. Each section includes a brief introduction by the editor, with discussion topics and suggestions for further reading, making this an invaluable guide for students of media history.

Women, Media and Sport

Women, Media and Sport
Author: Pamela J. Creedon
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 371
Release: 1994-02-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1452254672

The book [is] . . . well researched. Chapters by contributing authors enhance the breadth of the content both from a cultural and media perspective. Individuals interested in the history of women′s sports and particularly in gender issues as related to varying media will find this volume informative. . . . Upper-division undergraduate through professional. --Choice "Chapters by different authors make a splendid reference work on the history of women in sports, women′s sports magazines, examples of discrimination against women in sports and women sports reporters, and, of course, the proverbial locker-room access controversies are reviewed here." --Editor & Publisher "Pamela Creedon has hit a homerun that challenges assumptions about the relationship between women, media, and sports. This impressive collection of research helps redefine a playing field that until now had overwhelmingly male boundaries. This is a fabulous book!" --Susan Henry, California State University, Northridge "Women, Media, and Sport is a path-breaking book in mass media research. Not only does it provide a well-researched history of the women who report sports news and the media images of women in sports, but it also skillfully applies critical feminist theories to examine the context of these media messages and effects. It opens new research subjects and models for integrating media effects and cultural/critical studies research." --Marion T. Marzolf, The University of Michigan "This is a fascinating book that uses as its starting point a definition of sport as a cultural institution, rather than concentrating on the activities and games that make up the sports component. The book examines important ′sport′ metaphors and symbols, placing women and the media on a contextual playing field. I was struck by the fact that all the chapters are written by women who are asking myriad questions about journalistic norms, about media values, and about news conventions in the world of sport. These questions have not been asked by mainstream male journalists or writers covering sports. This distinctive point of view makes Women, Media, and Sport a valuable addition to any women′s studies, media studies, or cultural studies book list. This is a very thorough and comprehensive text, covering history, economics, marketing, and cultural paradigms for studying or critiquing women′s sport. Best of all, it offers a new model for women′s sport that is both provocative and practical. This book will not change any opinions about favorite football teams or sports announcers, but it does ask to examine attitudes toward women, the media, and the sport universe." --Sammye Johnson, Trinity University The first book to link feminist, sport, and media theory together, Women, Media, and Sport provides a broad cultural studies approach, which also touches on race and class relations in sport. In addition to the theoretical analyses, this volume provides a practical look at models of sport, media effects, and the construction of the sportswomen and women′s sport. Designed as a text to fill the gap in this area, the book is organized into three sections. The first provides an overview of women, sport, and the media and an example of the ways they intertwine. The extensive range of articles in the second section focuses on print and broadcast media′s portrayal of women′s sports and its journalistic process and examines such issues as the relationship between sports promotion and media′s representations of women′s sport and how sport reporting is taught to future journalists. The final section seeks to develop a new model for the future. A thorough and original text, Women, Media, and Sport is essential for scholars, students, and professionals in media and mass communication studies, sociology, women′s studies, cultural studies, popular culture, ethnic studies, and gender studies.