Reading and Writing in the Media
Spring 2008
Ms. Cathy Belben, Instructor

Media Websites
Media History Project
Media Education Foundation
Adbusters
On the Media This Week
NPR (National Public Radio) Media
Newswatch: Views on the News

Media Research Center
Media Research Center (MRC) is a conservative media watchdog group dedicated to bringing political balance to the news and entertainment media.

Eye on the Media--site dedicated to preventing suicide and analyzing violence in the media

Media Matters
A non-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the media.

Alternet.Org
Syndication service and online community of the alternative press, featuring news stories from alternative newsweeklies, magazines and web publications.

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)
FAIR, the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986.

NON-FICTION BOOKS IN THE BEHS LIBRARY ABOUT MEDIA ISSUES

Alderman, John. Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3 and the New Pioneers of Music. (780 ALD)
Alderman traces the music industry's history and the power struggles precipitated by the proliferation of MP3 technology and the infamous web presence, Napster.

Burke, David. Saturday Morning Fever (791.456 BUR).
 A history of the “golden age” of Saturday-morning cartoons, primarily from the late 60s through the 1970s, and an examination of the impact of these shows on the kids and culture of the time. Includes descriptions of the most popular shows, including live-action Sid and Marty Krofft TV shows for kids like Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Seamonster, The Bugaloos, and HR PufnStuf.

Calabro, Marian. Zap! A Brief History of Television. (784.55 CAL)
Surveys the history of television and the different kinds of programs broadcast, including situation comedies, dramas, and children's television.

Cartwright, Nancy. My Life as a Ten-Year-Old Boy. (791.45 CAR)Nancy Cartwright’s claim to fame? She’s the voice of Bart Simpson, the irreverent-but-adorable main character on the TV show The Simpsons. In this biography, Cartwright describes her work on the show, the business of television and the creative process behind The Simpsons.

Cirino, Robert. Power to Persuade:  Mass Media and the News. (070.4 CIR)
Over 150 cases of media decision-making that has affected American history. Discusses the power of newsmakers, and how decisions about which news is presented affects the way viewers and readers experience the world.

Coontz, Stephanie.  The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. (306.85 COO)

Examines how television and movies have created a mythological historical image of family life and social mores.

de Graaf, John, et. al. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. (306.09 DEG)

Uses the metaphor of a disease to explore how society has been affected by Americans' obsessive quest for material gain.

Denison, D.C. As seen on TV: An Inside Look at the Television Industry. How It Works and Who Does What from Eng to MTV. (791.45 DEN)

Looks at television from the point of view of people who make it, including photographers, segment producers, audio engineers, computer-graphic artists, grips, gaffers, and animators. Information is included about network news, talk shows, prime time serials, cable programming, and more.

 Douglas, Susan. Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. (302.3 DOU)
Discusses the contradictory images of women in American popular culture.

Durning, Alan. How Much is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth. (363.7 DUR)
Discusses the effect of consumer society on the environment and on the human spirit. 

 Finkel, Michael. True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa. (070.92 FIN)
In the haunting tradition of Joe McGinniss's Fatal Vision and Mikal Gilmore's Shot in the Heart, True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa weaves a spellbinding tale of murder, love, and deceit with a deeply personal inquiry into the slippery nature of truth.

 Fisher, David. Tube: The Invention of Television. (621.88 FIS)
Tells the story of the development of television, looking at the diverse group of inventors around the world who pursued different paths in their quests to perfect the technology that would send moving pictures flying through the air and into people's homes.

 Fox, Roy. Harvesting Minds: How TV Commercials Control Kids. (305.23 FOX)
Explores how commercials affect kids' thinking, language, and behavior.

 Gabler, Neal. Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. (302.2 GAB)
Motion pictures introduced a new way of seeing that has so dominated the national consciousness that everything including religion, politics, art, and news seem like branches of show business.

 Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. (302 GLA).

Explains why major changes in society often happen suddenly and unexpectedly and describes the personality types who are natural originators of new ideas and trends.

 Grossman, Dave. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill. (302.23. GRO)

The writer uses recent statistics and research, as well as numerous case studies and experts, to call teachers, parents, and all adults to help halt the youth violence that has been shown to be a product of violent TV shows, video games, and movies.

Heath, Chip, and Heath, Dan. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. (302.13 HEA)

Examines why some ideas struggle to attract public interest while other, less important, ideas circulate rapidly.

 Johnson, Nicholas. How to Talk Back to Your Television Set. (791.45 JOH)
Discusses the power of television and ways viewers can improve programming.

Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good for You:  How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter. (306.07 JOH)

Presents an examination of popular culture in America, and suggests--with examples from research--that vehicles of mass media and entertainment such as television and video games are evidence of an increasingly sophisticated cognitive culture that makes the mind measurable sharper than in the past.

 Katz, John. Virtuous Reality: How America surrendered discussion of moral values to opportunists, nitwits, and blockheads like William Bennett. (303.23 KAT)

A discussion of the tension that exists within Americans who are wholeheartedly embracing new technology while at the same time decrying the dangers of the expanded access to information available through cable television, VCRs, personal computers, and CD-ROMs.

 Kilbourne, Jean. Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. (658.8 KIL)
Kilbourne analyzes the power of advertising and its effects on self-esteem, decision-making, and ultimately, health. She targets alcohol and tobacco advertisers, primarily, and examines the messages that images in their advertisements affect human behavior, and that of women in particular.

Kosko, Bart. Noise. (155.9 KOS)

The author provides a comprehensive history of noise describing how noise pollution can damage both human and animal life as well as some of the beneficial effects of noise if applied carefully to given situations.

Levy, Steven. The Perfect Thing: How the iPod shuffles commerce, culture, and coolness. (006.5 LEV)
Examines the popularity of the iPod and how it has influenced and affected business, society, and culture.

 Muharrar, Aisha. More Than a Label: Why what you wear or who you're with doesn't define who you are.  (305.235 MUH)

Drawn from a survey of more than one thousand teenagers, first-person stories help to address the problems inherent in labeling people.

 Packard, Vance. The Hidden Persuaders.(659.1015 PAC)

Psychology professors and other experts in human behavior analyze advertising and marketing to reveal how businesses use psychology to manipulate viewers and readers.

Peiss, Kathy Lee. Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture. (391.6 PEI)
A social history of cosmetics, looking at the ways in which women have used make-up to express their own sense of self and their role in society, and discussing the reasons why cosmetics--once primarily concocted in home kitchens--has grown to be a multi-billion dollar industry.

 Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. (302.2 POS)

Examines the effects of television culture on how we conduct our public affairs and how "entertainment values" corrupt the way we think.

Postman, Neil. How to Watch TV News.  (070.1 POS)

Discusses how people should prepare for watching television news by reading newspapers, magazines, and books to get the complete background of a situation and not rely totally on the influence of television to form opinions.

 Powers, Ron. The Beast, the Eunuch, and the Glass-Eyed Child. (791.45 POW)
Discusses the possibility that the distinction between entertainment, news, and education on television has nearly vanished.

Quart, Alissa. Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. (658.83 QUA)

Author Alisa Quart examines the increasing pressure placed on teenagers to purchase items based on their brand names. She also looks at the phenomena of teen consultants, who work for major companies and keep them informed about what's popular with other teens. 

 Savan, Leslie. The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV, and American Culture. (659.14 SAV)
Presents a methodical, entertaining, and enlightened diary of television commercials and their impact on viewers of all ages.

 Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. (363.192 SCH)

A national magazine award-winning journalist charts the fast food industry's enormous impact on our health, landscape, economy, politics, and culture.  Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that is likely to transform the way America thinks about the way it eats.

 Schor, Juliet. Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. (305.23 SCH)

The author examines the marketing techniques and strategies in television advertising, movies, and on the Internet that target children and attempt to convince them that the products they see are essential to their social survival.

 Sheffield, Rob. Love is a Mix Tape. (784.16 SHE)

Rob Sheffield recalls his connection to music through recollections of various mix tapes he's made and been given over the years, focusing in particular on the tapes and music he shared with his wife, Renee, who died at age 31 after just five years of marriage.

 Spurlock, Morgan. Don’t Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. (614.5 SPU)

Presents a comprehensive study on the effects of fast food on American health, and examines school lunch programs, marketing strategies by fast food restaurants, the decline in physical education, and the rise in obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, especially in children.

 Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. (305.42 WOL)

Wolf argues that women should be given the power to make their own choices about what constitutes beauty, and that the media (advertising, magazines, television, and movies send a continuous message that there is only one definition of beauty, and that women must conform to a particular set of standards and behaviors in order to be considered beautiful.