Brian L. Ott (left) is a scholar and public intellectual who has been studying rhetoric, media, and their intersection for more than 20 years. He has authored numerous books and essays on the changing nature of communication in the digital era, and he has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Politico. His op‐eds have appeared in outlets such as USA Today, Newsweek, The Hill, and Salon. He currently serves as Professor of Media and Communication and Director of the TTU Press at Texas Tech University.
Robert L. Mack (right) is an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University—named the “gold standard” of honors institutions by The New York Times. His research fuses approaches in rhetoric, psychoanalysis, and media studies in order to understand the management of appeal in popular culture. His work has appeared in The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, The Journal of Communication and Religion, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video.
Third Edition
This third edition first published 2020
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Edition History
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Ott, Brian L., author. | Mack, Robert L., 1985– author.
Title: Critical media studies : an introduction / Brian L. Ott, Robert L. Mack.
Description: Third edition. | Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2019] | Previous edition: Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2014. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019031010 (print) | LCCN 2019031011 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119406129 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119406273 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119406280 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Mass media.
Classification: LCC P90 .O88 2019 (print) | LCC P90 (ebook) | DDC 302.23–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019031010
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019031011
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © dowell/Getty Images
To our millions of readers, welcome to the third edition of Critical Media Studies: An Introduction! We want to begin by thanking all of you for the seemingly endless submission of fan letters. We apologize that we are not able to respond to every letter, but given their sheer number, it is simply not feasible. That is what we would be saying if this was a New York Times best‐selling book. But, alas, it is a college textbook. So, perhaps it would be more appropriate for us to simply say, “Hey, Ian, Cara, and crazy Uncle Jeb, thanks for reading our book. Now, please stop emailing us fake negative reviews from Amazon.” Truth be told, it’s hard to know how many people have actually read the book. By “hard,” we mean we’d have to email our publisher and ask for sales data, and that just seems like a lot of work. So, instead, we’re just going to assume that the book is a big hit, especially in Wakanda (hello, fellow fans of Black Panther!).
When we began work on the first edition of the book nearly 10 years ago, it was tentatively titled Critical Media Studies: An Interstellar Guide to Fabulous Dinner Conversation. In the ensuing time, the book has undergone numerous changes, not least of which was a rethinking of its title. Apparently, “some” (who shall remain nameless, Elizabeth Swayze!) thought that the reference to dinner conversation might be confusing and misleading. We remain convinced, however, that it would have been an effective way to target the fans of food‐themed reality TV shows – a crucial demographic that has, in our opinion, been ignored by academic publishers for far too long (hello, fellow fans of Hell’s Kitchen!). Although we harbor no hard feelings about this change, we nevertheless hope that readers will discuss the book over dinner (or any meal‐like activity, including tea time: hello, British readers!) and that the ensuing conversation will be fabulous.
Another significant development has been the book’s cover art. Initially, we wanted an image of two squirrels “doing it” … a metaphor, of course, for the frenzied but emotionally hollow exchange that occurs between media producers and consumers. But, as with the title, more sensible heads prevailed, resulting in the equally enticing image of Tokyo at night. We, nevertheless, would like to thank our friend, Greg, for bravely approaching said squirrels, snapping a picture, and almost losing a finger in the process (hello and apologies, Greg!). Despite our disappointment that the squirrel‐on‐squirrel image was not selected, we believe that the existing cover is equally appropriate to the themes raised in the book. The rain symbolizes the steady stream of media messages that relentlessly pour down upon us each day. The unfamiliar signs of the cityscape invite readers to wonder about their meanings, just as Critical Media Studies asks readers to wonder about the role of media in their lives. The array of brilliant colors that make up the image reflects the array of critical perspectives contained in the book, each shedding its own light on the media.
In closing, we wish to acknowledge our debt to the various individuals who have helped us bring this project to completion. In particular, we would like to express our gratitude to the team at Wiley‐Blackwell, especially Daniel Finch, Senior Project Editor, Todd Green, Executive Editor, Nivetha Udayakumar, Production Editor, and Kelley Baylis, Editorial Assistant. We feel fortunate to have had such a dynamic, creative, and patient team working with us. We also wish to thank the permissions team for securing various copyright permissions for this edition of the book. Finally, we wish to extend a very special thanks to Katelyn Johnson, who provided invaluable research assistance for the third edition, and Jackson De Vight, who joined us at the last minute to assist with final revisions (thank you, Katelyn and Jackson, for your many contributions; we are in your debt … not legally, of course, just figuratively; please don’t sue us!). Since it is cliché to say that any and all mistakes are solely our own, we instead locate the blame squarely with the Illuminati (hello, Illuminati!).
Cheers,
September 2019
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