978-1506344461 Solution Manual Part 3

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Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, 6th edition

Ralph Hanson

Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, 6th edition

Ralph Hanson

Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, 6th edition

Ralph Hanson

Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, 6th edition

Ralph Hanson

1. discuss the development of the book from the earliest pictographs to mass–produced

publications;

2. describe two major cultural changes that took place with the development of the type mold and

printing press;

4. discuss the tension between “popular” books and “great” books; and

1. Why would a National Book Award winner choose to write comic books? Are comic books “real”

books? Why or why not?

2. How do ideographs and phonetic alphabets differ from each other? What are advantages and

disadvantages of phonetic alphabets?

3. How did the development of movable type transform the book publishing industry?

4. How does a publisher differ from a printer?

5. Are books often banned successfully in the United States? Why or why not? Defend your

6. Aside from not involving paper, how do e–books differ from conventional books?

Media Literacy Exercises

Media Literacy Exercise—Best Seller Lists

Among the most important of the bestseller lists are those published by the New York Times and

USA Today. The USA Today bestseller list differs from other bestseller lists because it includes fiction and

nonfiction, paperback and hardback books in a single list. Also, the USA Today list attempts to mirror the

actual sales of books nationwide rather than those reported by a select group of bookstores like those

that report to the New York Times. Compare and contrast the USA Today and New York Times bestseller

lists. How is each structured? What can you discover about the book business with the USA Today list

that you won’t find out by examining the New York Times lists?

Another newspaper book section and bestseller list worth checking out is the one from the

Washington Post. It can be interesting to contrast what folks in Washington are reading compared to

the rest of the country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books

As always, feel free to use whatever grading scheme works best for you. I have used a criterion–

based system, where I assume that most students will complete the assignment in a competent manner

and should earn a grade of B.

To earn a grade of B, students should answer the basic questions. Most likely you would have them

compare and contrast the top ten books on each list.

• To earn a grade of A, students should recognize that the top bestselling hardback novels may be

relatively far down on the USA Today list, which combines fiction, nonfiction, paperback, and

hardback all on one list.

• To earn a grade of C, students will compare the books on the lists without significant

observations about the book business.

Media Literacy Exercise―What Are You Reading?

What is the book you have read most recently that wasn’t assigned to you by a teacher? Why

did you choose it? Did you like the book? Why or why not? Was it on the bestseller lists? Can you

explain why?

NOTES: The difficulty with this assignment is that many of your students may not have read a book for

pleasure recently. You may have to expand this to include novels and nonfiction from the course work to

get everyone to complete it.

As always, feel free to use whatever grading scheme works best for you. I use a criterion–based system,

where I assume that most students will complete the assignment in a competent manner and should

earn a grade of B. A graduate student grades my papers using the following standard:

To earn a grade of B, the student should answer the questions in a well–developed essay of 350–500

words. A likely answer will involve that the book was by a favorite author, or that it provided helpful

advice.

The Literary Equivalent of a Big Mac and a Large Fries

A reader survey sponsored by the publishing industry showed that if people found

themselves stranded on a desert island, their first choice in books would be the Bible. Their second

choice? A Stephen King novel. King has had more than 20 books on the New York Times best–seller

list, making him one of the most popular living authors. King’s works are often criticized for being

nothing more than popular fiction, a charge that King cheerfully accepts: “I’m a salami writer,”

King told USA Today. “I try to write good salami, but salami is salami. You can’t sell it as caviar.”

He has also said that his work is “the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries.”40

King dismisses the separation between serious literature and popular fiction, saying that

there must be a good story to go with good writing: “So–called literary critics who praise

gorgeous writing without a story are like some guy dating a model, saying she’s dumb as a stone

boat, but is great to look at.”41

Despite making no claims to being a literary writer, King was honored in 2003 when he

was given the National Book Award for his contribution to American writing. The award was

controversial because King has been considered a popular writer rather than a serious one. In

his acceptance speech, King said he hoped his being honored would help bridge the gap

between the two. “For far too long the so–called popular writers of this country and the so–

called literary writers have stared at each other with animosity and a willful lack of

understanding. . .. But giving an award like this to a guy like me suggests that in the future things

don’t have to be the way they’ve always been. Bridges can be built between the so–called

popular fiction and the so–called literary fiction.”42

King’s selection for the National Book Award didn’t end up being an isolated incident.

Popular children’s writer Judy Blume won the following year.

Read King’s acceptance speech for the National Book Award using this link:

http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_sking.html

Media Literacy Exercise―The Literary Equivalent of a Big Mac and a Large Fries

Read the Test Your Media Literacy box “The Literary Equivalent of a Big Mac and a Large Fries”

in your text on pages 139–140. Then read Stephen King’s address that he gave after winning the National

Book Award: http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_sking.html

After you have done so, write an essay (400–600 words) addressing the following questions:

• What does King mean when he says he is the “literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries”?

• Is he being hard on himself, or is that a fair statement?

• Based on the books you read for English class and the books you read for fun, what is the

difference between serious literature and popular fiction?

• Could any of Stephen King’s books be considered serious literature?

• Is there a style of writing or storytelling that makes it literature? What might make something

literature or pop culture? How “popular” or alternative does a book need to be (or not)? Is

something like A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens literature or popular fiction?

40 Bob Minzesheimer, “Hit No. 35 Could Be in the ‘Bag,’” USA Today, September 17, 1995, D1–2.

41 Ibid.

42 Stephen King, “National Book Award acceptance speech, 2003,” available from

www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_sking.html. National Book Foundation, 2003.

Suggested Readings

• Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman (New York: Harper Collins, 1998): Is writing a

dictionary sexy? One of the biggest contributors to the dictionary was a homicidal lunatic doctor

who wrote all his contributions from his room in an insane asylum. You can read the complete story

in The Professor and the Madman.

• Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (New York: Scribner, 2000): The master of horror

provides a brief memoir of childhood and his battle with drugs and alcohol, along with a discussion

of good writing technique.

• Brian Lamb, Booknotes: America’s Finest Authors on

Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas (New York: Times Books, 1997): An anthology of interviews

from the C–SPAN book interview program of the same name.

• All of the Chapter 4 links posted to my RalphEHanson.com blog

http://www.ralphehanson.com/category/chapter–4/

Lecture Builders

OMAHA AUTHOR RAINBOW ROWELL & BANNED BOOKS

Omaha author (and former newspaper columnist) Rainbow Rowell did not grow up well–off. She

grew up primarily in Omaha, Nebraska, but spent several years living in rural areas, getting by at times

without phone service, electricity, or gas. In an early column, she discussed having her family

circumstances improve:

We went from desperate to poor. And poor felt so good. My mother went on Aid to

Families with Dependent Children—welfare . . . We had food, real food. Milk and

oranges and yogurt. Pasta, apples, cheese. Hamburgers. Potatoes. Bread and cereals.

And beans. 43

Rowell understood what it meant to grow up poor. She had to be talked into taking the ACT

college entrance exam by her high school principal because she didn’t think she could afford to go to

college. 44

Rowell also understood what it meant to be teased, to be bullied. In one of her first columns

written for the Omaha World–Herald, she talked about growing up with the first name Rainbow. The

teasing wasn’t even always intentional. Adults would hear her say her name was Rainbow and reply,

“Isn’t that sweet. But what’s your real name?” Children could do more, chanting “Rambo, Rambo,

43 Rainbow Rowell, “Poverty’s Child,” Omaha World Herald, July 29, 1997.

44 Rainbow Rowell, “Mr. Harvey, Take a Bow,” Omaha World Herald, July 7, 1997.

Rainbow Bright.” The final question that everyone eventually came to was, “So, were your parents, like,

hippies?” And, as much as she would like to deny it, she had to plead guilty. She was named after the

Jimi Hendrix album Rainbow Bridge.45

To Rowell, writing about children who live in and deal with poverty is a big deal because it was a

part of her life. As a college student, she wrote about how she felt about growing up poor: “Sometimes I

think that no matter how hard I study and smile and struggle, the poverty is still in me, rotting on my

breath, devouring my stomach, burning in the back of my throat. In my eyes.” 46

Her experiences growing up poor help shape the story Rowell tells in her award–winning novel

for teens, Eleanor & Park. The book tells the story of a poor, overweight girl who connects with a Korean

American boy who loves indie music. As John Green put it in his New York Times review of the book,

“The world cannot allow Eleanor a boyfriend of any kind, because she’s poor and fat and dresses funny.

The world cannot allow Park a girlfriend because he likes wearing eyeliner, and everyone knows that’s

gay.”47

The language in Eleanor & Park is raw. The other kids on the school bus are cruel to the two

misfits, and the bullies use crude and offensive language as they mock the two friends. Because of these

disturbing elements, Rowell was uninvited from doing a reading in an Anoka County, Minnesota, library,

and a group called the Parents Action League asked the school district to remove its 70 copies of the

book from the Anoka–Hennepin school libraries. Members of the group “also called for the librarians

who chose Eleanor & Park for the district’s voluntary summer reading program to be punished.” 48

The Anoka–Hennepin school board decided that the book was inappropriate for the summer

reading program, writing that the book would be “R–rated” if it were a movie, based on adult content

and profanity in the story. Once the school board removed Eleanor & Park from the summer reading list,

it also decided to not finalize its contract with Rowell to come to a reading at the library. 49

Rowell told World–Herald columnist Erin Grace that it seemed to her that the people opposed to

her book wanted to close their eyes to a part of the world that is real. “When these people call Eleanor

& Park an obscene story, I feel like they’re saying that rising above your station isn’t possible…. That if

you grow up in an ugly situation, your story isn’t even fit for good people’s ears. That ugly things cancel

out everything that is beautiful.” 50

Despite the school district’s decision to cancel Rowell’s reading, the Omaha author still visited

the area, when the Saint Paul Public Library and the Avalon Charter School gave her a fresh invitation to

45 Rainbow Rowell, “Living With Colorful Name,” Omaha World Herald, July 21, 1997.

46 Rowell, “Poverty’s Child.”

47 John Green, “Two Against the World: ‘Eleanor & Park,’ by Rainbow Rowell,” New York Times, March 8, 2013,

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/books/review/eleanor–park–by–rainbow–rowell.html?_r=0.

48 Erin Grace, “Grace: Minnesotans Cancel Rainbow Rowell’s Book Visit After Parents’ Complaints,” Omaha

World Herald, September 25, 2013, http://www.omaha.com/news/grace–minnesotans–cancel–rainbow–rowell-s-

book–visit–after–parents/article_206b548d–01c1–5668–adc4–51a2579b087d.html.

49 “Using ‘R Rated’ Book Without Asking Parents Was Wrong, School Chair Says,” MPR News, September 25,

2013, www.mprnews.org/story/2013/09/25/daily–circuit–eleanor–and–park–anoka–hennepin.

50 Grace, “Grace: Minnesotans Cancel Rainbow Rowell’s Book Visit.”

come visit. Rowell participated in both a reading and a forum on controlling access to young adult

books. 51

NOTES: COPYING OF OLD FORMS: Early printed books looked a great deal like hand–copied manuscripts,

not because the printers wanted them to, but because that was the only model they had for what a

book should look like. This phenomenon of new media copying old media takes place again and again,

with early radio shows sounding like vaudeville shows, early television sounding like radio, but with

pictures, and so on. It takes time to figure out what to do with a new medium. Media scholar Neil

Postman points out that it was almost 80 years after book printing got started that it occurred to anyone

to use page numbers.

NOTES: DANIELLE STEELE: Another author popular among students you might discuss is Danielle Steele.

Steele grew up privileged, attending an exclusive, private French school in New York and marrying for

the first time at age seventeen. She worked in a range of media jobs before going into writing

novels―she was a vice president of Supergirls, an all–woman public relations and advertising agency;

she wrote for Cosmo, Ladies Home Journal, and Good Housekeeping; and, like Stephen King, she taught

high school English for a while. Steele wrote her first novel in the early 1970s for a $3,500 advance and

then failed to sell her next five books. But she kept persevering, and eventually broke out of the pink–

collar ghetto of paperback originals into the world of hardback novels. By the 1990s, Steele was making

$25 million a year, yet she still typed her books on her 1947 Olympia manual typewriter. (See, it doesn’t

take the latest, greatest computer to be a superstar author!)

Even novelists as successful as Steele never lose their basic sense of insecurity. Steele writes ten

hours a day, turning out books at nine–month intervals, compared to many authors who write a new

book every year or every other year. Steele told California Magazine:

“You always worry that this book isn’t going to be as interesting as the last one . . . Especially

after I’ve done a big book, I think, ‘Oh, I’ll never be able to do something like this again,’ and then

suddenly there it is.”

My Kindle Ate My Homework!

When you buy a book at the bookstore, you expect to be able to do whatever you want

with it. As long as you don’t misplace it, it’s yours. You can read it, mark it up, or even resell it. But

with e–books, especially those with digital rights management that limits their use to your reader,

the rules are different.

How different?

That’s what Michigan high school senior Justin Gawronski discovered in 2009. He had

been assigned George Orwell’s novel 1984 as summer reading for his Advanced Placement

English class. He bought and downloaded a copy of the book using his Amazon Kindle. He made

full use of the Kindle’s note–taking function, electronically highlighting passages and keying his

notes in the device to pages in the book. But when Amazon discovered it was selling an

unlicensed copy of Orwell’s classic (see previous page), the company reached into his Kindle and

zapped 1984 out of existence.

51 Shannon Prather, “After Anoka County Library Balks, St. Paul Library Invites Author to Speak,” Star Tribune,

October 22, 2013, www.startribune.com/local/north/228805941.html.

Now, finding a free copy of 1984 online to replace the copy he lost is not difficult. (The

website www.george–orwell.org has all of Orwell’s works for free.) What was a problem for

Gawronski was that he lost all the connections between what he had read and what he had

written, along with all the highlighting? It was as though all the notes he had taken in the margin

of the book had been stripped out and run together without any context.52

Gawronski is suing Amazon for deleting the book without his permission, rendering his

notes “useless.” This has led some commentators to call this the “Kindle ate my homework

case.” Gawronski is suing Amazon for removing the book from his Kindle and, more important,

for interfering with his note taking. He is seeking at least $5,000 in damages. Gawronski’s

attorney told the press, “Amazon.com had no more right to hack into people’s Kindles than its

customers have the right to hack into Amazon’s bank account to recover a mistaken

overpayment.”

Brad Stone, writing in the New York Times, points out that a growing number of civil

libertarians and customer advocates wants Amazon to fundamentally alter its method for selling

Kindle books, lest it be forced to oneday change or recall books, perhaps by a judge ruling in a

defamation case—or by a government deciding a particular work is politically damaging or

embarrassing.

Stone quotes a law professor who says that deleting the illegal copy of 1984 was the right

thing to do, given all the problems associated with online copyright—especially since Amazon

refunded everyone’s money.

VIDEO HINTS: Back in 2000, when A&E did their Biography of the Millennium: 100 People 1000 Years,

they ranked the top 100 people of the last 1,000 years. At the top, as the most significant person, was

publishing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg. Without Gutenberg, they argue, none of the other major ideas

of the last 500 years could have spread. The segment on Gutenberg is at the end of the program and

runs for about five minutes. It’s a great way to get into a discussion of publishing.

You can view it here:

http://www.ralphehanson.com/2012/02/01/link–ch-4-gutenbergs–influence/

52 David Pogue, “Some E–Books Are More Equal Than Others,” The New York times,

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/some–e-books–are–more–equal–than–others/; Jeffrey P. Bezos, “An

Apology from Amazon,” Amazon.com,

http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG

&cdThread=Tx1FXQPSF67X1IU&displayType=tagsDetail; Mark Millian, “Kindle Teen Tattles on Amazon for

Losing His Homework,” Los Angeles Times, http://www.thisisbrandx.com/2009/07/kindle–teen–tattles–on–amazon–

.html; David Sarno, “Highlights from the ‘1984′ Lawsuit against Amazon,” Los Angeles Times,

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/07/highlights–from–the–1984–lawsuit–against–amazon.html;

Christopher Null, “Amazon Ate My Homework: Kindle Kid Sues over Deleted Notes,” Yahoo!.tech (2009),

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/146875.

The story of Stephen King selling his first novel, Carrie, is told well in an A&E episode of Biography on

King.

You can view King’s acceptance speech of the National Book award on C–SPAN’s video site at

http://www.c–spanvideo.org/program/179258-1

SLIDE HINTS: Covers of current books to use in your slides can be found at Amazon.com and

Barnesandnoble.com. Often larger images will come up after clicking on the small thumbnail image that

shows up initially.

NOTES: EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS

Were Egyptian hieroglyphics pictograms or ideographs? Not an easy question to answer. Find out more

about this debate at the Public Broadcasting System’s website:

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/hieroglyph/

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a popular cultural reference that shows up in a range of occult stories,

most notably The Mummy movies and the campy Army of Darkness. But what is generally shown as a

leather–bound volume was actually a papyrus scroll. The following link to Cornell University’s PAPER,

LEATHER, CLAY & STONE Web exhibit will take you to images of the actual book which can make a nice

addition to your PowerPoint slides. It is part of a discussion of the development of paper, writing, and

books:

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Paper–exhibit/paper2.html

THE GUTENBERG BIBLE NOTES

View digitized images of Gutenberg’s famous 42–line Bible and read additional background about this

most famous of books:

The Gutenberg Bible at

www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/homepage.html

NOTES: Gutenberg is likely the most important single figure in the history of mass media, having built

the first practical technology for mass communication. Gutenberg’s Bible is referred to as the 42–line

Bible because it has 42 lines per page. As you look at the pages, you can see that they contain many of

the same illustrations, or illuminations, as did hand–copied books. After all, the hand–copied books were

the prevailing standard for what books ought to look like. This site is a good source of illustrations for

your slides.

The Cornell library site mentioned above also has images of Luther’s German Bible:

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Paper–exhibit/luther.html

NOTES: OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY (OED):

You can watch an interview with Simon Winchester, who has written about the creation of the

dictionary at http://www.c–spanvideo.org/program/Madm

To see the Oxford English Dictionary’s own website, go to http://oed.com/

Simon Winchester has now written a second volume about the creation of the dictionary that focuses

more on the dictionary itself, The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. The

Web link is for his book, The Professor and the Madman, which tells the tale of an insane American

doctor who did years of research for the dictionary from his cell in a British asylum. Along with the

streaming video, there is also a transcript of the program at the Booknotes website.

The OED website is primarily for subscribers, but it does offer a word of the day along with a history of

the OED. It is possible, even likely, that your library’s website will have a link to the full text of the OED.

This can be a fascinating resource, which gives the full history of every word in the English dictionary.

Don’t visit the site unless you have some time to spare! The OED is the logical outcome of the

standardization of language that got started with the development of the printing press.

NOTES: ONLINE BOOKSTORES:

The two biggest players in the world of online books are the independent bookseller Amazon.com and

the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain:

Amazon―http://amazon.com

Barnes & Noble―http://barnesandnobel.com

ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA:

Find out more about the world of romance novels and women’s fiction at the Romance Writers of

America website:

Romance Writers of America―www.rwanational.org/

NOTES: This is the professional organization for the women (and a few men) who write the hundreds of

romance novels published each year. The site is a good source of information about publishing, writing

contests, and popular authors in the world of romance and women’s fiction.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST

Check on all of the various New York Times bestseller lists at the Times website:

www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html

NOTES: The New York Times bestseller list is by far the best known of the various bestseller lists, though

it may or may not be the best measure of what is selling the most copies. For more on bestseller lists,

see the Bestseller Lists media literacy exercise. The page also contains a link to the Times extensive

coverage of book news.

Media Activities

Books as a Changing Medium

Read the following:

• It is apparent that books as a medium are going through a rapid period of change right now, but

this is not the first time this has happened. Last year The Atlantic’s website ran an excellent

article looking at 10 revolutions that have taken place in reading (and hence with books) over

the last couple of millenniums. ( I also have a blog post you can read on the subject.)

• The biggest change taking place right now is the enormous growth in the sale of e–books and e–

book readers. According to Gigaom, the U.S. consumer e–book market will be bigger than the

print book market by 2017, and Amazon.com notes that the online bookstore now sells more

Kindle–formatted e–books than hardbacks and paperbacks combined.

• The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein talks about the advantages and disadvantages traditional

books have over electronic books.

Questions:

• How is the book industry changing in the 21st century? What is new about it? What is the same?

How are the changes that are taking place now different or similar to those that have taken

place in the past? Be specific, arguing with examples from your readings.

• Are e–books significantly different than books printed on paper? If they are different, what

makes e–books different? (Think about both the physical differences and the cultural and

business differences. Again, be specific with examples.)

• Have you used an e–book? Do you own a Kindle, Nook, or use e–book software on your

computer or tablet? What do you think of the experience?

Classroom Debate On Secret One: Influential Books

Are books more influential than television or movies? Why do you think so? Which medium has

caused more change and turmoil in the world?

NOTES: Although movies, television programming, and CDs attract the most attention when it comes to

concerns about media effects, there is a reasonable argument to be made that books have a much

bigger influence on people. The Bible, the Koran, and the Torah (scriptures for the Christian, Muslim,

and Jewish faiths) would have to rank very high on the list of most influential media content of all time.

Classroom Debate On Secret Six: Banned Books

Should parents be able to get books banned from schools because they find ideas or language in

them objectionable? Why or why not?

NOTES: For up–to–date information on book banning in the United States, visit the American Library

Association’s Banned Book Week website:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/index.cfm

The site outlines the most frequently challenged books, offers help with dealing with challenges, and

information about the law on banning or challenging books.

This can be the launching ground for either an in–class discussion or an out–of–class writing assignment.

As I mention in the textbook, it should be remembered that most attempts to challenge a title in the

United States result in it being removed from a library or a required reading list. The “banned book” is

typically still available within the community, though not with the ease that it was before.

Chapter 5―Magazines

Summary and Learning Objectives

Magazines were the first media to become national in scope rather than appealing to a limited

geographic area. They also contained articles designed to be of lasting appeal. Although there were

magazines available during the colonial period, the first significant American magazine was the Saturday

Evening Post. Espousing conservative, middle–class values, the Post was seen as a reflection of American

society. Literary and commentary magazines flourished in the 19th century, and several of them survive

today. These magazines provided a forum for important authors and were among the first to feature the

work of pioneering photojournalists like Mathew Brady.

W. E. B. Du Bois expanded the range of commentary magazines with the founding of the Crisis

as the official magazine of the NAACP. The Crisis became the first magazine to provide a forum for black

writers. The early 20th century saw a trend in investigative magazine reporting known as muckraking.

The work of the muckrakers set the stage for much of the investigative reporting done today by

newspapers and television news.

Henry Luce founded Time magazine in 1923, creating what would become one of the nation’s

largest media companies—Time Warner. Luce’s publishing empire grew to include not just the news in

Time, but also photojournalism in Life, sports journalism in Sports Illustrated, and personality and

celebrity journalism in People.

Women’s magazines got their start with Godey’s Lady’s Book under the editorship of Sarah

Josepha Hale. In addition to editing the magazine, Hale established many of the principles of modern

magazines: copyrighting the stories, running original material, and paying authors for their work. The

“seven sisters” women’s service magazines followed in much the same tradition as Godey’s and were

concerned mainly with the home, family, and quality of life. An alternative to the traditional values of

service magazines is offered by the more youth–oriented fashion/beauty/lifestyle magazines, such as

Glamour and Cosmopolitan.

Many magazines targeted at men appeal to them through their hobbies, but the two most

influential men’s magazines are Esquire and Playboy. Although Playboy was initially more explicit with

its pinup photography, both it and Esquire now feature men’s fashion, lifestyle coverage, and articles by

well–known writers. In recent years, a new type of men’s magazine focusing on adventure, fashion,

health, and sex has appeared; the most popular of these magazines is Maxim.

Trade publications are magazines that cover a particular industry rather than being designed for

consumers. Although they often are more serious and feature less photography and color than the

consumer magazines, they make up a substantial portion of the magazine market.

Fashion magazines have been criticized in recent years for featuring extremely thin models in

both ads and editorial content. Critics argue that the unrealistic image promoted by these models can

contribute to the development of eating disorders in young women. Several magazines and advertisers

have bucked this trend and featured plus–sized models and even ordinary people. Other conflicts in the

magazine industry can involve the blurring of editorial content and advertising, as well as the photos and

headlines used on covers.

Magazines in the 21st century are continuing many of the trends that made them successful

throughout their history, including building relationships with readers, adapting to change, advertising

support, and defining major issues in society. Magazines continue to be successful in their print formats,

but are expanding their content with tablet versions and other digital offerings.

After studying this chapter, you will be able to

1. explain the importance of the Saturday Evening Post in the development of the mass media in

the United States;

3. illustrate how magazines have given a voice to different groups of people;

5. describe what is meant by “native advertising” and why it is controversial; and

1. How do photographer Annie Leibovitz’s striking magazine covers change our understanding of

who her subjects are?

2. How did the existence of magazines lead to the development of a national culture in the United

States in the late 19th century?

3. How does Godey’s Lady’s Book compare with modern women’s magazines? Could Godey’s be

designed to fit into the modern magazine market? Why or why not?

4. Why has Playboy magazine stepped back from full female nudity in its magazine that was

defined by pinup photos? What has changed in the magazine market that led to this

transformation?

5. Models sometimes fight back against excessive digital editing (popularly known as

Photoshopping) of their photos. What are their concerns? Are these concerns a serious

problem?

6. Is a magazine that is delivered digitally to a tablet still a magazine? Why or why not?

Media Literacy Exercises

Media Literacy Exercise―The evolution of women’s magazines

Visit the Godey’s Lady’s Book website (http://www.history.rochester.edu/godeys/ ) and look at

one of the complete issues. Compare and contrast the content of Godey’s with that of one of the

modern women’s magazines. How are they similar? How are they different? (This website has the text

Media Literacy Exercise―Magazine covers

Take a look at ten issues of magazines that you read on a regular basis. (They can be issues of a

single magazine or of different magazines) Make a list of the people who appear on the covers. What

sort of distribution of people do you find (i.e., male/female, race/ethnicity, old/young)? Why do you

think these people were placed on the cover (other than that they will sell magazines)? List several

cover lines that you find interesting. Would they draw you into the magazine? Why or why not? Write a

cover line of your own for a story in one of the magazines.

NOTES: This makes an excellent research project for a smaller class. If you assign specific magazines to

students, you can collect a fairly good size data set to see whether the magazines you’ve picked match

the New York Times’s results from the text. You might also either give students or have them develop a

uniform coding sheet if you want to compare their results.

You can learn more about the New York Times story about magazine covers here:

http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/transcripts_112202_magazine.html

An interesting alternative assignment, if you have a smaller class, is to give students a couple of

magazine articles to read and then write provocative cover lines for them.

Grading Rubric:

Levels of Achievement

Criteria

Deficient

Less Than Assigned

As Assigned

Superior

Length

Weight

25.00%

0 %

Assignment is

significantly

under length

70 %

Assignment is under

assigned length

85 %

Assignment is approximately 500

words

100 %

Assignment is fully

developed essay that goes

beyond basic assignment

Cover

Data

Weight

25.00%

0 %

Assignment

omits significant

details

70 %

List is vague or

incomplete on one or

more of the required

details

85 %

Assignment includes name of

magazines, cover dates, and

information about who was on the

covers

100 %

Assignme

nt contains all

required materials;

elaborates on details

Cover

Analysis

Weight

25.00%

0 %

Assignment

omits significant

details

70 %

Assignment is vague or

incomplete in one or

more of the required

details

85 %

Assignment’s analysis includes

required discussion of demographic

distribution and reasoning behind

cover model’s presence

100 %

Analysis adds

understanding beyond

basic concepts

Cover

Lines

Weight

25.00%

0 %

Assignment

omits significant

details

60 %

Assignment is vague or

incomplete in one or

more of the required

details

85 %

Assignment discusses cover lines,

how they draw readers into the

magazine; includes a cover line you

have written

100 %

Assignment has added

depth to discussion of

actual and

original cover

lines