Publisher Description

Digital technologies have fundamentally altered the nature and function of media in our society, reinventing age-old practices of public communication and at times circumventing traditional media and challenging its privileged role as gatekeepers of news and entertainment. Some critics believe these technologies keep the public involved in an informed discourse on matters of public importance, but it isn't clear this is happening on a large scale. Propaganda disguised as news is flourishing, and though interaction with the digital domain teaches children valuable skills, it can also expose them to grave risks.

John V. Pavlik critically examines our current digital innovations-blogs, podcasting, peer-to-peer file sharing, on-demand entertainment, and the digitization of television, radio, and satellites-and their positive and negative implications. He focuses on present developments, but he also peers into the future, foreseeing a media landscape dominated by a highly fragmented, though active audience, intense media competition, and scarce advertising dollars. By embracing new technologies, however, Pavlik shows how professional journalism and media can hold on to their role as a vital information lifeline and continue to operate as the tool of a successful democracy.

Notes

Media in the Digital Age offers a contemporary portrait of digital media in which big ideas are portals for the changing vessels of new media. It draws on historical precedent as well as the instant lessons of Web 2.0--and beyond. -- Everette E. Dennis, Fordham Graduate School of Business Media in the Digital Age takes us on a comprehensive and engaging tour of the complex and shifting digital world--its gadgets, its producers, its content, its users, and its issues. John V. Pavlik has produced a solid work of scholarship enlivened by real-world examples of how the new media technologies are changing our lives. -- Dean Mills, Missouri School of Journalism

Author Biography

John V. Pavlik is professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University. His articles have appeared in CNN.com and Television Quarterly, among other venues, and his books include Converging Media: Introduction to Mass Communication in the Digital Age, Journalism and New Media, and New Media Technology: Cultural and Commercial Perspectives.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction 1. Digital Delivery Media 2. Devices to Access Digital Media 3. Audiences or Users of Digital Media 4. Producers of Digital Media 5. Content in the Digital Age 6. Distributors of Digital Media 7. Financers and Owners of Digital Media 8. Regulation and Law of Digital Media 9. Production and Protection of Digital Media 10. Inventors and Innovators of Digital Media 11. Ethical Considerations in the Digital Age 12. Children and Digital Media Epilogue Notes Bibliography Glossary Index

Review

This book is probably the closest thing around to a satellite view of that fast-changing landscape. -- Justine Johnstone Metapsychology

Promotional

" Media in the Digital Age offers a contemporary portrait of digital media in which big ideas are portals for the changing vessels of new media. It draws on historical precedent as well as the instant lessons of Web 2.0& mdash;and beyond." -- Everette E. Dennis, Fordham Graduate School of Business

Review Quote

"This book will make a fabulous text for college students starting their investigation of digital media... Highly Recommended." -- CHOICE

Promotional "Headline"

A comprehensive roadmap to the technologies transforming media in the twenty-first century.

Details