How we think about health problems, and what we do about them, is largely determined by how they are reported on television, radio and in the newspapers. Often, crucial issues of public health policy are debated and decided on only after they are made visible by the media. The concept of media advocacy as a central strategy for the prevention of public health problems is discussed in this unique book. Traditional communication strategies like social marketing focus on giving people a message; media advocacy gives people a voice. The book lays out the theoretical framework and practical guidelines to successful media advocacy strategies and includes case studies on such vital issues as AIDS and alcohol abuse.
By exploring the role of both culture and the mass media, this volume fills a gap in the literature on war and peace. Outstanding scholars provide an overview of critical mass media research and open up entirely new perspectives on the ongoing debate over communications issues in war and peace. The contributions bring together common themes including the military-industrial-communications complex, cultural imperialism and transnational control of communications. Various perspectives are covered, such as gender issues, language study and bureaucratization.
Mass Communication and the Disruption of Social Order
Intended for academics and students in media studies and political science, the authors of this book explore through a number of different contexts the way in which crises highlight the problematic issues of media performance in democratic states. They examine the relationship between communication and civil society through a number of actual cases of media responses to "crises", ranging from the Gulf War of 1991 to recent events in Eastern Europe. Individual examples of crises emphasize the complexities of understanding the role of the media in struggles of identity around nationality, ethnicity, and gender.
This important collection presents a comparative synthesis of what works and what does not in mass media health campaigns. High priority is given to coverage of substance abuse prevention campaigns, but programmes on AIDS, smoking, teenage pregnancy, heart disease, Alzheimer's Disease and vehicle seat belt use are also reviewed. Designing Health Communication Campaigns deepens our understanding of how to design, implement and evaluate mass media campaigns by highlighting the contributions of media experts who add a human element to the various campaign experiences they describe.
The phrase `production of culture' is concerned with how the organizations in which culture is produced and disseminated affect the nature of culture itself. Yet there is no clear consensus on what is meant by this phrase. Crane, in reviewing and synthesizing current research, provides a systematic and accessible approach to this complex subject. She examines the issue on both popular and elite levels. The reader is thus allowed to see how the notion of `production' changes depending on the size of the audience and the structure of the particular cultural industry.
Substantially updated, this revised edition of Why Viewers Watch presents recent research, overlooked past studies and fresh survey data to offer an alternative perspective on the role of television and how it serves its viewers psychologically. Fowles argues that television is a `grandly therapeutic force' - a tension-reliever of great benefit to viewers. He also examines the phenomenon of media snobbery - anti-television attitudes proliferated by those who want to feel superior to others by denigrating television viewing.
Although the American obsession with mediated sports has grown tremendously in the past few years, there is little scholarly inquiry focused on how the mediated sports culture has developed and how we respond to it. Framed by a seminal article outlining the parameters of the communication of sports and pointing to major issues that need to be addressed in the relationship between sports and media, "Media, Sports and Society" provides a foundation for research on the communication of sports. Contributors examine the theoretical, cultural and historical issues, the production of mediated sports programming, its content and its audience. Individual chapters include a discussion of the spectacle of mediated sports, a comparison of Super Bowl Football and the World Cup Soccer, a consideration of the spectators' enjoyment of sports violence, the rhetoric of winning and the American dream, and a fascinating examination of gender harmony and sports interests.
Written in a clear and engaging style, Super Media introduces and examines the newly emerging cultural studies approach to understanding media. Michael Real begins by providing a critical review of previous traditions of media research and theory -- illustrated with tables and comparative charts -- and re-integrates media study around cultural studies. He argues that issues of personal identity and consciousness, of conflict and bias, of politics and policy, are more effectively articulated and understood through cultural studies. Drawing from both humanities and the social sciences, he centers his analyses in text, meaning, representation, interpretation, conflict, ideology, hegemony and culture. Extensive case studies flesh out these theories and concepts by exploring lively and familiar examples of media, including the Olympics, Hollywood films, superpower politics and transnational television programs.
