Mass Media Education in Transition: Preparing for the 21st Century

Media educators have long been debating the nature and purpose of media education. Issues relating to new technologies and the changing state of the media industry are ongoing concerns, but some of the most difficult questions go to the actual structure of media education itself: Is it best represented as an integrated field? Should it merge with other communication subfields, or potentially split into several separate fields? Media practitioners complicate matters further by questioning the necessity for media education at all. The continued consideration of and reaction to these issues will have a significant effect on media-related education and its associated practices.

In Mass Media Education in Transition, Thomas Dickson gives careful consideration to the state of media education and its future directions. He provides a history of mass media-related education as well as an overview of the major issues affecting media education at the end of the 20th century. He incorporates the visions of media education leaders as to the possible directions the field may take in the next century and includes in his discussion information that has been previously unknown or not readily available to media educators.

This volume provides a broad view of the major issues affecting all aspects of media education: print and broadcast journalism, advertising, public relations, and media studies. It also offers detailed insights as to the possibilities that lie ahead as the field continues to develop–a new professionalism, or a return to a prior vision of media-related education, or possibly something quite different.