Books by WSU faculty

Communications, Journalism

1. 

   Deciding Communication Law: Key Cases in Context

   By Susan Dente Ross, associate professor, communication

    

   From the publisher: “This clearly written and well-focused volume combines concise decisions of the primary areas of communication law with the foundational case decisions in those domains. Thus, in one volume, students of communication law, constitutional law, political science, and related fields find both the key rulings that define each area of law and a detailed summary of the legal concepts, doctrines, and policies so vital to understanding the rulings within their legal context.”

   

   

    

2. 

   Global Media: Menace or Messiah?

   By David Demers

    

   Demers shows that turning control of individual media organizations over to professional managers often results in more criticism of dominant values and presentation of a greater range of ideas.

   Read a review from WSM

   

   

    

3. 

   History and Future of Mass Media: An Integrated Perspective

   by David Demers

    

   From the publisher: For more than a century neo-Marxist scholars have argued that mass media corporations are more interested in maximizing profits than in serving the public interest. Media corporations in general and global media in particular, they argue, produce content that generally is incapable of facilitating meaningful social change, especially change that benefits the poor and disadvantaged groups.
   
   This book argues that the neo-Marxists mostly have it wrong. Although corporate media are structurally organized to maximize profits and produce content that generally helps elites achieve their goals, this does not mean corporate media have less capacity to facilitate social change than entrepreneurial or other forms of media. In fact, historical evidence and comparative critical studies presented in this book show that mass media become more, not less, critical of dominant power groups, institutions and value systems as they become more "corporatized."
   
   This proposition is part of a larger theoretical model that integrates the role of both social structure and human agency in explaining the persistence of modern capitalism. The structural part of the theory also enables scholars to make predictions about the future of mass media, including the ideas that the Internet is "stealing" some of the mediating power of traditional mass media, and the market power of global media will grow in absolute terms but will shrink in relative terms because of increasing competition from new and traditional media.

   

   

    

4. 

   Reporting that Matters: Public Affairs Coverage

   By John Irby, clinical associate professor, communications, et al

    

   From the pubblisher: Public Affairs Reporting offers an inclusive and diverse perspective to public affairs reporting. Public Affairs Reporting shows readers how to present the news in ways that engage and empower and conveys the importance of a multicultural approach to reporting. "Professional Tips" sections in each chapter provide a series of questions and answers from professional journalists, and "Reporting Resources Lists and Links"section provides more than 120 resources, including local government/politics, newspapers, videos, magazines, ethics, and journalism organizations. Information on the changing world of journalism, story idea generation, interviewing, team reporting, storytelling, narrative style, and finding and getting a job.