Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. 1 : Understanding the nature of mass media. Mass communication, popular taste and organized social action / Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton -- The definition of media literacy / W. James Potter -- Common media for an uncommon nation / Ben H. Bagdikian -- Political problem, political solutions / Robert McChesney -- Not toasters : the special nature of media products / C. Edwin Baker -- Four puzzles from cyberspace / Lawrence Lessig -- pt. 2 : The print media. Making news : time and typifications / Gaye Tuchman -- Convergence : news production in a digital age / Eric Klinenberg -- Time ahead : digital challenges facing print magazines / Brooke Erin Duffy -- Sex, lies, and advertising / Gloria Steinem -- Is there a text in this advertising campaign? : literature, marketing, and Harry Potter / Philip Nel -- Newspapers rocken espanol / Mark Fitzgerald -- pt. 3 : The electronic media. What is news? / Neil Postman and Steve Powers -- Queens for a day : Queer eye for the straight guy and the neoliberal project / Katherine Sender -- Deconstructing the diversity principle / Philip M. Napoli -- Radio and modernity : time, place and "communicative capacity" / David Hendy -- Fallout : a follow up to "the internet debacle" / Janis Ian -- Promoting the industry / Janet Wasko -- Blockbuster meets superhero comic, or art house meets graphic novel? The contradictory relationship between film and comic art / Matthew P. McAllister, Ian Gordon, and Mark Jancovich -- pt. 4 : The digital media. The long tail / Chris Anderson -- Peer production and sharing / Yochai Benkler -- Your brain on video games : could they actually be good for you? / Steven Johnson -- Sports online : the newest player in mediasport / Michael Real -- Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars? Digital cinema, media convergence, and participatory culture / Henry Jenkins -- Download this : youtube phenom has a big secret / Ethan Smith and Peter Lattman -- pt. 5 : Advertising and public relations. The work of adcult / James B. Twitchell -- "Chaos scenario" : a look at the marketing industry's coming disaster / Bob Garfield -- Rethinking television in the digital age / Joseph Turow -- Philanthropy as public relations : a critical perspective on cause marketing / Inger L. Stole -- Media, war, and propaganda : strategies of information management during the 2003 Iraq war / Deepa Kumar -- The public and its problems : some notes for the new millennium / Stuart Ewen