Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology

MEDIA NOW, Eighth Edition, empowers you to think critically about the media and its effects on culture by providing a thorough understanding of how media technologies develop, operate, converge, and affect society. MEDIA NOW prepares you for encounters in the expanding fields of the Internet, interactive media, and traditional media industries through engaging, up-to-date material that covers the essential history, theories, concepts, and technical knowledge you need to thrive. Extensively updated in a new eighth edition, MEDIA NOW provides a comprehensive introduction to today's global media environment and ongoing developments in technology, culture, and critical theory that continue to transform this rapidly evolving industry and affect our daily lives.

Dr. Joseph D. Straubhaar is the Amon G. Carter Centennial Professor of Communication in the Radio-TV-Film Department and Latino Media Studies Director in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously served as Director of the Center for Brazilian Studies within the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies. Dr. Straubhaar has published books, articles, and essays on international communication, global media, digital inclusion, international telecommunications, Brazilian television, Latin American media, comparative analyses of new television technologies, media flow and culture, and other topics. His primary teaching, research, and writing interests include global media, international communication and cultural theory, the digital divide in the United States and other countries, and global television studies. In addition to his own research in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, Dr. Straubhaar has taken student groups to Latin America and Asia, and he has presented seminars abroad on media research, television programming strategies, and telecommunications privatization. Currently he serves on the editorial boards of COMMUNICATION THEORY, MEDIA INDUSTRIES, CHINESE JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, STUDIES IN LATIN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE, COMUNICACI�N E CULTURA, and REVISTA INTERCOM. Visit Professor Straubhaar at http://rtf.utexas.edu/faculty/joe-straubhaar.

Dr. Robert LaRose is an Emeritus full professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. He was recently honored with the MSU William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award. Other accolades include the Outstanding Article Award of the Year in the field of communication from the International Communication Association and the McQuail Award for the Best Article Advancing Communication Theory from Amsterdam School of Communication Research for his 2010 paper "The Problem of Media Habits". Dr. LaRose conducts research on the uses and effects of the Internet and has published and presented numerous articles, essays, and book chapters on computer-mediated communication, social cognitive explanations of the Internet and its effects on behavior, understanding Internet usage, privacy, and more. In addition to his teaching and research, he is an avid watercolor painter and traveler. Visit Professor LaRose at http://www.msu.edu/~larose.

Dr. Lucinda Davenport is the Director of the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, a nationally accredited program since 1949. She previously served as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, among other administrative positions. In addition to the Michigan State University Excellence in Teaching Award and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences Faculty Impact Award, she has earned national honors for her research, which focuses mainly on news media and innovative technology, media history, and journalistic ethics. Dr. Davenport has professional experience in newspaper, radio, television, public relations, and digital news, and she is known to be an innovator with digital news and journalism education. She earned her Ph.D. in mass communication from Ohio University, an MA in journalism from the University of Iowa, and a BA double major in journalism and Radio/TV/Film from Baylor University. Her master's thesis and doctoral dissertation were firsts in the country on computerized information services and online news. Visit Dr. Davenport at http://jrn.msu.edu.