History and Future of Mass Media: An Integrated Perspective (David Demers)

Quantity in Basket:none Code: 978-1-57273-807-2 Price:$36.95 Title: History and Future of Mass Media Sub-title: An Integrated Perspective Author(s): David Demers Publish Date: September 2007 Format: Paper

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For more than a century neo-Marxist scholars have argued that mass media corporations are more interested in maximizing profits than in serving the public interest. Media corporations in general and global media in particular, they argue, produce content that generally is incapable of facilitating meaningful social change, especially change that benefits the poor and disadvantaged groups. This book argues that the no-Marxists mostly have it wrong. Although corporate media are structurally organized to maximize profits and produce content that generally helps elites achieve their goals, this does not mean corporate media have less capacity to facilitate social change than entrepreneurial or other forms of media. In fact, historical evidence and comparative critical studies presented in this book show that mass media become more, not less, critical of dominant power groups, institutions and value systems as they become more "corporatized." This proposition is part of a larger theoretical model that integrates the role of both social structure and human agency in explaining the persistence of modern capitalism. The structural part of the theory also enables scholars to make predictions about the future of mass media, including the ideas that the Internet is "stealing" some of the mediating power of traditional mass media, and the market power of global media will grow in absolute terms but will shrink in relative terms because of increasing competition from new and traditional media. Contents: Preface. Introduction. A BRIEF HISTORY OF PRINT MASS MEDIA. The Printing Press and the Information Revolution. Early History of North American Printing. The Partisan and Penny Presses. Media Barons and the Corporate Newspaper. Structure of Modern Newspapers. Role and Function of Modern Newspapers. Books, Ideas, and Social Change. Magazines and Communities of Special Interest. A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MASS MEDIA. Motion Pictures and Morality Tales. Radio, Recordings, Love and Politics. Television as the Great Entertainer. The Internet and Mass Communication for Everyone. FUTURE OF MASS MEDIA. How Critics Envision the Future of Mass Media. Will the Critics' Predictions Come True? Who Will Control the Media of the Future? Who Interests Will Media of the Future Serve? Seven Trends for Mass Media in the 21st Century. Index.