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Mass Communication
Living in a Media World

Eighth Edition
Available with:


January 2021 | 488 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
The best-selling Mass Communication: Living in a Media World presents a highly accessible introduction to mass communication that equips students with the critical thinking skills to become savvy media consumers. To help students better retain the material, author Ralph E. Hanson uses a storytelling approach that weaves in examples drawn from everyday life. Readers are encouraged to consider the media industry from the inside out and, in doing so, discover the many dimensions of mass communication that operate in our society. The thoroughly revised Eighth Edition highlights how social and digital media, video games, and the COVID-19 pandemic are changing the face of media.

This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package. Contact your SAGE representative to request a demo.
  • Digital Option / Courseware
    SAGE Vantage is an intuitive digital platform that delivers this text’s content and course materials in a learning experience that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools, all carefully designed to ignite student engagement and drive critical thinking. Built with you and your students in mind, it offers simple course set-up and enables students to better prepare for class. Learn more.
  • LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don’t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
PART I. INTRODUCTION TO THE MEDIA
 
Chapter 1. Living in a Media World: An Introduction to Mass Communication
The Four Levels of Communication

 
Understanding Our Media World

 
Models of Mass Communication

 
Evolution of the Media World

 
The Seven Secrets About the Media “They” Don’t Want You to Know 2.0

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 2. Mass Communication Effects: How Society and Media Interact
The Evolution of Media Effects Research

 
Effects of Media in Our Lives

 
Media and Society

 
Our Interactions With Media

 
The Critical/Cultural Approach

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 3. The Media Business: Consolidation, Globalization, and the Long Tail
The U.S. Media Industry

 
Big Media: The Legacy Conglomerates

 
Big Media: The New Players

 
Media Economics and the Long Tail

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART II. LEGACY MEDIA
 
Chapter 4. Books: The Birth of the Mass Media
Books and Mass Communication

 
Books and Mass Culture

 
Books and Censorship

 
The Future of Books

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 5. The News Business: Reflection of a Democratic Society
Inventing the Modern Press

 
Broadcast News

 
The News Business

 
News Media, Identity, and Political Bias

 
The Future of News

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 6. Audio: Music and Talk Across Media
The History of Audio Recording and Transmission

 
Streaming Audio

 
Music, Youth Culture, and Society

 
Music and the Long Tail: The Future of Sound

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 7. Movies: Mass Producing Entertainment
The Development of Movies

 
The Studio System

 
The Blockbuster Movie Era

 
Movies and Society

 
The Long Tail and the Future of Movies

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 8. Television and Video: Broadcast and Beyond
Broadcast Television

 
Cable and Satellite Television

 
The Changing Business of Television

 
Television and Society

 
Redefining Television in the Twenty-First Century

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART III. DIGITAL AND GLOBAL MEDIA
 
Chapter 9. Online and Mobile Media
The Development of the Internet

 
Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web

 
The Internet and Society: Hacker Ethic

 
The Internet and Society: Our Online World

 
Convergence of Old and New Media

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 10. Social Media and Video Games: Becoming Part of the Story
Social Media: Sharing Our Lives Online

 
Development of Video Games

 
Conflicts Over Video Games

 
Video Games as Mass Communication

 
Video Games as a Spectator Sport

 
Video Games in Contemporary Culture

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 11. Global Media: Communication Around the World
Media Ideals Around the World

 
Media in Canada, Western Europe, and Great Britain

 
Media in Central and Latin America

 
Media in Islamic Countries and the Middle East

 
Media in Africa

 
Media in Russia and the Former Soviet Republics

 
Media in Asia

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART IV. STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
 
Chapter 12. Advertising: Selling a Message
Creation of the Advertising Industry

 
The Advertising Business

 
Contemporary Culture in Advertising

 
The Long Tail and the Future of Advertising

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 13. Public Relations: Interactions, Relationships, and the News
The Growth of Public Relations

 
The Business of Public Relations

 
The Publics

 
Public Relations Goes Online

 
Public Relations and Society

 
Public Relations and the Civil Rights Movement

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART V. REGULATION AND CONTROL OF THE MEDIA
 
Chapter 14. Media Law: Free Speech and Fairness
The Development of a Free Press

 
Libel and Protection of Individuals

 
Invasion of Privacy

 
Free Press/Fair Trial

 
Controlling the Press

 
Copyright and Regulation of the Media Industry

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter 15. Media Ethics: Truthfulness, Fairness, and Standards of Decency
Ethical Principles and Decision Making

 
Truthfulness and the News

 
Mistakes and Consequences in the News

 
Ethics and Persuasive Communication

 
Media and Representation

 
Chapter Review

 
Chapter Summary

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
 
Glossary
 
Notes
 
Index

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site

edge.sagepub.com/hanson8e

For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative.


LMS cartridge included with this title for use in Blackboard, Canvas, Brightspace by Desire2Learn (D2L), and Moodle

The LMS cartridge makes it easy to import this title’s instructor resources into your learning management system (LMS). These resources include:

  • Test banks
  • Editable chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides
  • Sample course syllabi
  • Lecture notes
  • All tables and figures from the textbook 
Don’t use an LMS platform?

You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.
Instructor Resource Site
edge.sagepub.com/hanson8e

The open-access Student Study Site makes it easy for students to maximize their study time, anywhere, anytime. It offers flashcards that strengthen understanding of key terms and concepts, as well as learning objectives that reinforce the most important material.
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • The Eighth Edition is available as a digital option through SAGE Vantage, an intuitive digital platform that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools—including video—all designed to enable students to better prepare for class. Learn more.
  • A new standalone chapter on video games and social media gives attention to important areas within mass communication.
  • Content on magazines and their influence on our culture now appears in relevant chapters rather than in its own chapter, reflecting a major shift in today’s media.
  • New chapter-opening vignettes feature brand-new stories about key figures and issues in the media to provide a powerful narrative thread exemplifying the major themes of chapters.
  • Updated chapters include new developments, new scholarship, and recent events in mass communication, from the COVID-19 pandemic, to issues of race and gender, and the balance between targeted advertising and user privacy.
KEY FEATURES:
  • A focus on the importance of representation, inclusion, and diversity is incorporated throughout the book, with an emphasis on whose voices are heard.
  • Seven Secrets About the Media highlight important principles of media literacy by uncovering such information as 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.
  • Chapter-opening vignettes exemplify chapter themes by engaging students with current stories about the people at the center of newsworthy events.
  • Test Your Media Literacy boxes ask students to read about current research, interviews, data, or events, and then answer questions that encourage critical thinking to elicit analysis of the topic presented.
  • Test Your Visual Media Literacy boxes showcase images from various media, seeking instinctive reactions from readers, before providing context and questions that encourage critical assessment.
  • Review questions at the end of every chapter encourage students to apply critical thinking to examples of mass communication from literature and popular culture.   
  • Chapter objectives, summaries, and key terms guide readers through the content and allow them to revisit the material to reinforce learning.
Vantage Reference: 
Mass Communication - Vantage Learning Platform

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