Some key features for this edition include:
- New emphasis on the relevance of Visual Storytelling in today's media.
- Updated features provide readers with additional information about specialized topic areas:
- Opening vignettes use current issues to introduce the concepts to be discussed in each chapter.
- “Media People” boxes profile key figures in media industries;
- Full-page, visually-enhanced “Media Timelines” cast key development in the mass media in a graphic chronology and place media milestones in the larger social context.
- Global Emphasis throughout the book highlights media diversity and cultural issues for readers to help foster a deeper understanding of media literacy in today’s global economy.
- Learning tools and enhanced pedagogy—including Learning Ahead goals; Study Preview; marginal glossary; Chapter Wrap-Up, Review Questions; lists of key concepts, terms and people; and Media Sources-help readers understand central concepts and prepare for the course.
- Flexible organization into three parts, The Mass Media, Mass Messages, and Mass Media Issues, allows readers to examine different aspects of mass communication on their preferred schedule.