Media Theory, Religion and Theology

Author: Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel
ISBN: 9780870784378
Pages: 193
Summary: In the wake of scandal over Bill Clinton's "inappropriate relationship" with intern Monica Lewinsky, media watchdogs Bill Kovach (the ombudsman for "Brill's Content") and Tom Rosenstiel offer a detailed analysis of how the news is made and unmade in the information age. A "journalism of assertion," they pessimistically observe, is starting to eclipse the more traditional "journalism of verification," as media outlets feel compelled to feed "the never-ending news cycle" of 24-hour cable news channels and Internet sites rather than allow reporters the time to pursue tips and fact-check their material. The result is a debased form of journalism in which reporters rely on unnamed sources and often run with stories before finding second sources to back them up. Sources often control the flow and content of news by timing their leaks and striking deals with reporters, while editors increasingly replace expensive reporting with a much cheaper staple of professional debaters and so-called experts who engage in prepackaged conflict. The authors zero in on how the media reported the Monica Lewinsky affair: in its first weeks, they show, a full 41 percent of the media's "reporting" was actually opinion and analysis, rather than hard news. "The study's most important finding," they write, "was the extraordinary degree to which reporting and opinion and speculation were now intermingled with mainstream journalism." Kovach and Rosenstiel perhaps underestimate the liberating potential of the new media--journalism's tired old gatekeepers no longer hold a monopoly over information--but "Warp Speed" is nevertheless an important contribution to our understanding of what we know and how we know it. "--John J. Miller"

Author: Martin Howard
ISBN: 9781932857054
Pages: 192
Summary: In this handbook for locating the hidden sales messages that bombard us everyday, Martin Howard explains the new techniques that corporations are using to make subconscious approaches without your consent. It covers the five major zones where consumers are being confronted: in the retail shopping context, at major events and concerts, through information media, personal friendships, and your computer.
Up until recently, there was a social contract that alerted consumers to advertising messages. They were clearly labeled, endorsements were obvious and certain areas were off-limits. That contract has been broken, and many corporations are resorting to underhanded methods to persuade.
Our shopping centers, stadiums, telephones, friendships and editorials are all "fair game." Marketing messages have crossed into the social sphere.
"We Know What You Want" points out dozens of examples of how these signals are being relayed and gives you the tools and techniques to decode these messages and make your own decisions.
Inspired by the popular book "Coercion" by Douglas Rushkoff, this book presents key ideas and case examples in a practical, easy-to-follow, illustrated format. Rushkoff himself contributes the Introduction. "We Know What You Want" has Rushkoff's full support; he calls it "an entertaining yet McLuhanesque Medium is the Message,' filled with engaging graphics and provocative but easy-to-follow guidelines for maintaining autonomy in a world made of marketing."
Martin Howard has spent over 15 years in the marketing field with over 10 of them in advertising agencies. While witnessing the decline of the traditional advertising agency, he became interested in emerging forms of communication and stumbled upon the writings of Marshall McLuhan and others, who charted the profound but underestimated impact of electronic media. Now a strong advocate for media literacy, his interest is in making these theories accessible to average consumers and students. He lives in Brisbane, Australia.

Author: Thomas Frank
ISBN: 9780805077742
Pages: 336
Summary: With a New Afterword by the Author"The New York Times" bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" ("Chicago Tribune"), "very funny and very painful" ("San Francisco Chronicle"), and "in a different league from most political books" ("The New York Observer"), "What's the Matter with Kansas?" unravels the great political mystery of our day: Why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank answers the riddle by examining his home state, Kansas-a place once famous for its radicalism that now ranks among the nation's most eager participants in the culture wars. Charting what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"-the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment-Frank reveals how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans.A brilliant analysis-and funny to boot-"What's the Matter with Kansas?" is a vivid portrait of an upside-down world where blue-collar patriots recite the Pledge while they strangle their life chances; where small farmers cast their votes for a Wall Street order that will eventually push them off their land; and where a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs has managed to convince the country that it speaks on behalf of the People.

Author: Bruce Bawer
ISBN: 9780767920056
Pages: 272
Summary: The struggle for the soul of Europe today is every bit as dire and consequential as it was in the 1930s. Then, in Weimar, Germany, the center did not hold, and the light of civilization nearly went out. Today, the continent has entered yet another “Weimar moment.” Will Europeans rise to the challenge posed by radical Islam, or will they cave in once again to the extremists?

As an American living in Europe since 1998, Bruce Bawer has seen this problem up close. Across the continent—in Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Stockholm—he encountered large, rapidly expanding Muslim enclaves in which women were oppressed and abused, homosexuals persecuted and killed, “infidels” threatened and vilified, Jews demonized and attacked, barbaric traditions (such as honor killing and forced marriage) widely practiced, and freedom of speech and religion firmly repudiated.

The European political and media establishment turned a blind eye to all this, selling out women, Jews, gays, and democratic principles generally—even criminalizing free speech—in order to pacify the radical Islamists and preserve the illusion of multicultural harmony. The few heroic figures who dared to criticize Muslim extremists and speak up for true liberal values were systematically slandered as fascist bigots. Witnessing the disgraceful reaction of Europe’s elites to 9/11, to the terrorist attacks on Madrid, Beslan, and London, and to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bawer concluded that Europe was heading inexorably down a path to cultural suicide.

Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born of the immigrants’ deep antagonism toward an infidel society that rejects them and compounded by misguided immigration policies that enforce their segregation and empower the extremists in their midst. The mounting crisis produced by these deeply perverse and irresponsible policies finally burst onto our television screens in October 2005, as Paris and other European cities erupted in flames.

WHILE EUROPE SLEPT is the story of one American’s experience in Europe before and after 9/11, and of his many arguments with Europeans about the dangers of militant Islam and America’s role in combating it. This brave and invaluable book—with its riveting combination of eye-opening reportage and blunt, incisive analysis—is essential reading for anyone concerned about the fate of Europe and what it portends for the United States.

Author: James Geary
ISBN: 9781582346168
Pages: 240
Summary: For lovers of words and seekers of wisdom, a lively history of aphorisms—the oldest written art form—and the intriguing people who have penned them, from the Buddha to Emily Dickinson.

Author: Rory Noland
ISBN: 9780310273349
Pages: 256
Summary: A practical guide to help worship team members spiritually prepare for worship by providing practical advice with each chapter which addresses a key issue church artists face and gives slice-of-life scenarios, group discussion questions, applications questions, biblical perspective, and personal action steps.

Author: Henry Jenkins
ISBN: 9780814742839
Pages: 304
Summary: View the Table of Contents.   Read the Introduction.
Henry Jenkins at Authors@Google (video)
"Building on the tradition of social commentators such as Gilbert Seldes, Robert Warshow, and Susan Sontag, Henry Jenkins brings his outstanding insight and compassionate counsel to contemporary cultural phenomena. Here not only media, but affect, matters. A delightful and helpful collection on popular pleasures."
—Janet Staiger, author of "Media Reception Studies"
”Offers a lively, diligently researched, and well-written account of one scholar’s engagement with the emotional punch of media.”—"PsycCRITIQUES"
Vaudevillians used the term "the wow climax" to refer to the emotional highpoint of their acts—a final moment of peak spectacle following a gradual building of audience's emotions. Viewed by most critics as vulgar and sensationalistic, the vaudeville aesthetic was celebrated by other writers for its vitality, its liveliness, and its playfulness.
The Wow Climax follows in the path of this more laudatory tradition, drawing out the range of emotions in popular culture and mapping what we might call an aesthetic of immediacy. It pulls together a spirited range of work from Henry Jenkins, one of our most astute media scholars, that spans different media (film, television, literature, comics, games), genres (slapstick, melodrama, horror, exploitation cinema), and emotional reactions (shock, laughter, sentimentality). Whether highlighting the sentimentality at the heart of the Lassie franchise, examining the emotional experiences created by horror filmmakers like Wes Craven and David Cronenberg and avant garde artist Matthew Barney, or discussing the emerging aesthetics of video games, these essays get to the heart of what gives popular culture its emotional impact.