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Covering print, photography, film, radio, television, and new media, this textbook instructs readers on how to take a critical approach to media and interpret the information overload that is disseminated via mass communication.This fourth edition of
Keys to Interpreting Media Messages supplies a critical and qualitative approach to media literacy analysis. Now updated with conceptual changes, current examples, updated references, and coverage of new developments in media- particularly in digital, interactive forms-this book addresses all forms of information disseminated via mass communication.
Organized into three sections, the book first presents a theoretical framework for the critical analysis of media text that covers the definition of media literacy as well as fundamental principles and concepts. Part II focuses on the application of this methodological framework to the analysis of advertising, journalism, American political communications, and interactive media. Part III considers specific mass media issues, such as violence in the media, media and children, and global communications, and discusses outcomes of having a media-literate population.
List of contents
Preface to the Fourth Edition PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction to Media Literacy
PART 2: KEYS TO INTERPRETING MEDIA MESSAGES 2. Process
3. Historical Context
4. Cultural Context
5. Structure
6. Framework
7. Production Elements
Worksheet: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages
PART 3: MEDIA FORMATS 8. Journalism
9. Advertising
10. American Political Communications
11. Digital Media Communications
PART 4: ISSUES AND OUTCOMES 12. Issues in Media Communications
13. Outcomes
Suggested Reading Index
About the author
Art Silverblatt is Professor of Communications and Journalism at Webster University in St. Louis. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages (Praeger Publications, 1995, 2001), The Dictionary of Media Literacy (Greenwood Press, 1997), Approaches to the Study of Media Literacy (1999), and International Communications: A Media Literacy Approach (2004). Another book, Approaches to Genre Study is scheduled to be published in Fall 2006.
Donald C. Miller holds a master's degree in media literacy and has coauthored a previous media literacy textbook with Art Silverblatt.
