Mass Media: Media Issues

Journalist Bill Moyers interviews Jon Stewart, anchor of the Daily Show, about why so many views get their news from his fake news show.

Examines Rupert Murdoch's Fox News media empire. Takes an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know. Examines how the FCC helped Murdoch break the rules to establish a fourth network in the United States. The film explores the impact on society when media is controlled by one person.

Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom interwove stories from teenage girls with provocative interviews from the likes of Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Dr. Jackson Katz, Dr. Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem to give us an inside look at the media and its message. As the most persuasive and pervasive force of communication in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that a woman's primary value lay in her youth, beauty and sexuality-and not in her capacity as a leader, making it difficult for women to obtain leadership positions and for girls to reach their full potential. The film accumulates startling facts and asks the question, "What can we do?"

Demonstrates how journalism has been compromised by the corporate bosses of conglomerates such as Disney, Viacom and AOL Time Warner to produce a system of news that is high on sensationalism and low on information. They suggest that unless citizen activism can reclaim the commons, this new corporate system will be characterized by a rich media and an ever impoverished poor democracy.
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Originating in a 2006 conference, this latest in a long line of books examining the history of media development looks for patterns or trends that might provide insights into possible future developments....Seven of the book's ten chapters focus on a particular medium and its evolution; the final two chapters examine privacy and digital-rights management across media. The chapters vary in style and scholarly content.... In an introductory chapter, Neuman (Univ. of Michigan) provides context by asserting the Internet, as a medium, may be unique because it subsumes earlier media rather than simply competing with them. He provides an explanation for the adoption of earlier media, but unfortunately makes no reference to Everett Rogers and his "diffusion of innovations" theory.

"Stories of adaptability, shortsightedness, and hubris of decision makers provide lessons for any manager coping with new technologies and media. Meza divides the history of industry adaptation to new technologies into four categories: innovation of new technologies; ascension of inventions and the spreading use of new tools; fear of competition; and prosperity for industries that adopt/adapt."
N. J. Johnson Choice