Customer Reviews

Media of Mass Communication, The (8th Edition) (MyMassCommLab Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm using this book in an online class on mass communication and I have to admit that I actually enjoy reading this book.

It covers every area of the media and its a very simple and informative read. 'Simple' used in this context means that I don't have to re-read a paragraph two or three times, just to make sense of what the author is trying to convey.

The chapters are pretty short, and the book has lots of nice, bright pictures (that's my inner child speaking). Each chapter begins with stories about a media personality and that's always interesting. I end up saying "I didn't know that," a lot to myself.

What I really like about the book is that its very up to the moment. It even mentions Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction.

So, if you have to take a class, especially an online class, it's nice to have a textbook that's so user friendly.

This book is utterly basic and not fit for even a community college class, more like a junior high or maybe a high school class. Presumably, it's written for people who don't know what the author is talking about and are completely stupid. The author never fails to bring his own viewpoints into supposedly writing an objective, educational book. My professor confessed that they wouldn't have used this book to teach the class, but that they were taking over the class for the first time from another professor who had used it.

I was taking a mass communication class that used this book, but dropped the class in favor of spending more time working on the school paper. I missed absolutely nothing, and in fact, learned more about mass communication this way.

If you are buying this book thinking this is the text required for your course - don't buy this edition! From the description, I thought that this is the text WITH the MyCommunicationLab Series materials that Allyn and Bacon/Pearson distributes as a shrink-wrapped package. HOWEVER, this listing is misleading, this is JUST the text. You have to order and pay for the MyCommunicationLab Series materials separately if you buy this book. And they are not available through Amazon. So if you are getting this text for casual reading, OK, but if you are getting it for a course text be sure to order ISBN 978-0-205-79897-1. The good news is that Amazon is good about returns and this book is going back.

I found this text at the the best price on Amazon. It came as promised and was in better condition than I had anticipated.

Great! Book was exactly as described. ;) came rite in time, i give 5 stars!!

I started using an earlier version of this book three years ago for my college mass
media class. I decided it was time to update-a media text should be current. A big mistake. My students liked the 8th edition and so did I. The 9th edition is disjointed and needs a great deal of supplemental material. This has been a long academic year. I will pick another book for next semester.

Vivian did a fine job introducing readers to the history of journalism and relating it to where journalism and mass media has come since those first days of covering the Civil War. Readers should be open minded and consider the ethics and history as they absorb the material for the full benefit of Vivian's work.

I'm currently taking an intro to mass communication class and I find this book very poorly written with examples that illustrate the author's point of view as fact and do nothing to further explain the concepts. I've taken a media class before and find the subject very interesting, but this book is over-simplified and reads like a book I would have had to read in junior high, not college. It is easy to read, but at the expense of being thorough or interesting. I'm not impressed.

The sender sent this book off pretty quick, but the book could of been wrapped better! The book came in a manilla envelope, considering it was a thick paperback, I thought it should of been wrapped in an envelope, then put into one. So, the book came with a lots of dents and the binder was a little beat up.

The book itself is great! However the copy I received when purchasing is not. I received an Examination Copy.

For those that do not know what an examination Copy is... An Examination Copy is a book that's sent out from the publisher for free to teachers and other people in an attempt to sell the book. Upon sending this book out to potential customers, it is suppose to be on a basic level of understanding that the book will not be sold. The reason being is because it takes away from well deserved royalties that belong to the author and publisher. Someone profited from the book I purchased where the publisher/author has not. This is slightly disappointing.