News and Media Books

These books are so cute - they are really helpful when it comes to teaching the food guide pyramid to children.

Always a fan of good, wholesome TV shows like "Full House." Nice to see a new Full House series. It keeps the fan favs, class clown Jeff & his friend Lucas, plus Cassie and Mandy. And, the Book Universe Michelle is as great as ever. Michelle writes for her 3rd grade class paper that the whole school will read. And, she investigates a "ghost" in this girl's supposedly haunted house. Bit spookier than most FH books, but still good for little kids, like the "Further Adventures" ones. (This may be the reason, to attract the mystery readers to "Full House.) Michelle's 1st person POV is a plus. We learn Cassie's afraid of lots of stuff, so kids who are afraid of more stuff won't feel alone. And, we learn the real "fhost" is actually...something you'll have to see for yourself.

Christina Edwards' Finding New Media Jobs Online tells how to locate local, statewide and international resource listings and opportunities, how to locate online career resources tailored for a particular objective in media, and how to post effective listings on sites. Details include analysis of site traffic, strategies for finding employment on the internet, and understanding how online recruiting differs from traditional.

In this book Garfield, Jon, and Odie go to the farm for Christmas. While on the farm Jon's family sets up the tree, eat a Christmas dinner and then listen to an old Christmas story. Odie looks for a good gift to give to Garfield ,also Garfield learns the true meaning of Christmas and also finds a good present for Granny.

Ever wish you lived in the 1800's , the good ol' days, the simple times when life was once not as complicated as it is today. If so or if you are just curious about what life and the world may have been like ,this book is a must. A great book for all readers who love small towns everywhere. Two years of a small town's history from the 1830's lay dormant in the attic of an old historic home for untold years only to be discovered and brought alive over 150 years later by the author, Rita Frost Lynch. The book provides delightful accounts of the way life was both locally and internationally during that era but it also revealed life was not all that uncomplicated as some may think and the good ol' days certainly were not good for all. Slavery is once again refreshed in our minds as we read accounts of sales going on around town and we are reminded it was not all that long ago when all people were not allowed basic freedoms or even simple dignity. A part of history never to be forgotten but also, never to be repeated. I highly recommend this book to all.

This book is a must read for political science, foreign relations, military, and communications professionals and students. It provides a framework for discussion on topics of communications technology, international relations and military-media relations as they have evolved in the post-WWII era. While this description seems to cast a wide net for readers, the book does indeed deliver. While admittedly critical of the news media, the author suceeds in providing a realistic context to promote discussion on how international relations are affected by new communications technologies and the global media network.
Divided into four chapters with well-defined sub-heads, the author begins by briefly discussing the evolution of communications technologies and their impacts in the present day "information age." In his introduction, the author offers his own analysis of Alvin Tofler's Third Wave theory and its present and future impact, as well as an analysis of modern communications and how they constitute a "fourth dimension" of international relations.
Chapter one (International communications and international politics since 1945) examines the new political orders existing in the aftermath of World War II. Included are discussions about the rival Superpowers' use of new information technologies during the Cold War, as well as the political ramifications of an ever-expanding global communications network - to include the emergence of CNN as a powerful factor in international politics.
Chapter two (Brushfires and firefighters: international affairs and the news media) examines the effects of the news media on foreign policy, diplomacy and culture. The effects of television on all of the above are major themes throughout with an in-depth discussion of the effects of electronic news gathering (ENG) and continued discussion of the "CNN effect."
Chapter three (Illusions of reality: the media and the reporting of warfare) focuses on debunking some of the current myths regarding media-military relations as well as analyzing coverage throughout history, but most notably from Vietnam and the 1991 Gulf War. The author draws a further distinction between media reporting of "our wars" and "other people's wars" before concluding the discussion.
Chapter four (Mind games: information warfare and psychological operations) is an extensive discussion of the leveraging of third wave technologies in order to gain advantage on the 21st century battlefield. The author provides analyses of psychological (PSYOP) and propaganda operations, and how they have been used to success since the 1950s to the present. Included is an in-depth look at the stunning success of PSYOP operations in the 1991 Gulf War.
Relatively short (202p.) and well-documented, this book is one of the best discussion-starters available for students of communications, the media, and its effects on global diplomacy and military affairs.

Iraq 2003 was a long time acomin' and will be a long time agoin'. Last night, before writing these lines, I watched BBC World. It showed one of its extended conference call interviews with media people in the US, the Arab world and Europe. Subject: the effects of Iraq 2003 on the media. Participants from the large media groups were worried about safety of their staff - some are still being killed. Those from Washington were worried about how they can extend embedding. The obvious response "embed on both sides," say Fridays and Saturdays with the US forces, Monday to Thursday with their opponents, was never mentioned. Why? Because the issue of reporting from all sides has never really been tackled. Arab speakers in the program focused on the politics of what's happening now in the region and its connections with the war, an understandable choice coming straight after the death of Arafat and the re-election of Bush.
GMGW, with its six main sections, 30 chapters, and successful attempt to scan the globe for contributions, seeks to tackle the core questions. Technologies are new, in war and in the media; the hazy border between objectivity and propaganda is as hard to define as ever; journalism as another way of conducting war is as alive as ever; and, above all, the difference between conflicts which can be presented as part of show biz', and those which cannot, is always important. For the brutal truth is that, for all the razza mattaz, Iraq 03 is not such a big deal seen from the angle of death (is there another angle to see it from?). Anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 Iraqis, depending on whose figures you believe, the vast majority civilians have been killed or severely injured over an 18-month period. We are still counting, and will be for a long while to come. The devastatingly sad fact, however, is that this is a relatively small number compared with most wars , not to mention the "silent tragedies" of natural disasters, genocides, and long running conflicts. It is scarcely necessary to say that casualties on the US side, which have averaged about two per day since the conflict began, are trivial.
The contributors to this book, being involved journalists and others deeply interested in media matters, offer a wide range of clearly presented thoughts on all the eternal subjects. Their reflections are testimony to their personal commitment to serious examination of the problems, and to the unfortunate likelihood that profound cleavages of view will persist and quite possibly deepen. In what are usually called the democratic countries, this is taken as testimony of a thriving polity. Elsewhere, it is taken as a sign that hegemony hurts. A title of one of the chapters is telling. It reads "Al-Jazeera: A Broadcaster creating Ripples in a Stagnant Pool." If the U.S. Presidency is to be believed, the whole point of Iraq 03 was to make the pool turbulent. The whole debate on the politics has been about whether this is the way to do it. If this book serves to help that debate encompass both the best of the Arab world's journalists and those of elsewhere, it will have achieved a superb result. If it helps to go one step further, and persuade the US administration that belief (especially selective) is not always synonymous either with the truth, or with telling the truth, it will be a miracle.

This is a very interesting work on the Hong Kong media, which has become rather 'colourful' and, at times, 'noisy' in the past few years. This study depicts quite a number of recent incidents involving the media and proceeds on to reflect the current media trends in the city. Well worth reading!

Divided as most good books are between the past trends, the present and what may happen this is an interesting books.

The three parts are ¨

1) News as agents of Globalisation

2) News Agencies in the Furnace of Political Transition

3) Defining News: Contestation and construction

Each part section is divided into several chapters and because this book is written by a team of people there is an international context.

Writing a short book on the global economic and social situation means you have to simplify, and this can be tricky. Korten wrote a large book (When Corporations Rule The World) where he studied the key arguments in detail. I think this enabled him to now write a pamphlet that organizes the key arguments for a more democratic a more participatory society in a very didactic way. The global mess we have created may be complicated, but in fact the alternatives are fairly simple, and Korten presents them with art.