Political Campaigns and Political Advertising:
A Media Literacy Guide
Pub Date: November 2008
Greenwood Press  192 pages
Reading Level: Middle School-College
DDC  320 (Political Science)
ISBN-10: 0313347557
ISBN-13: 978-0313347559
Library of Congress record

Description
Examining political campaigns and political advertising through the analytical lens of media literacy, this well-illustrated and timely handbook guides readers through the maze of "spin" that is the hallmark of the modern political campaign. It dissects the persuasive strategies in the political messages we encounter in the media and demonstrates the importance of critical thinking in evaluating media "stories." Key concepts of media literacy are applied to political advertising in traditional media (newspapers, television, radio), the Internet, blogs, wikis, social networking, user-generated Web sites, and other electronic formats familiar to young voters.

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Table of Contents: Foreword Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Timeline: A History of the Media and Politics Introduction Chapter 1 Media Literacy: Understanding the Meaning behind the Messages Chapter 2 Propaganda and Spin: The Power of the Image over the Word Chapter 3 The Media Experts Chapter 4 Analyzing Photographs Chapter 5 And Then There Was Radio Chapter 6 Why Television? Chapter 7 Popular Appeals and Techniques of Persuasion in Political Advertising Chapter 8 Analyzing Campaign Events Chapter 9 The Role of New Media and New Technology Tools Chapter 10 Trying to Fix the Money Problem in Elections Glossary Resources

Bonus material not included in the book:

How the media cover campaign events
(photo analysis)

Obama-Oprah Rally (Columbia SC)

John Edwards (photo)

News Networks Converge on SC for Primary

GOP TV Ad Spending (Primary/Caucus) Database

Friday Jan.25 SC Demo Party Stump-Hillary Clinton

Today Show & Other Media: Primary Day Jan. 26

News Magazine Cover Images

Contemporary Political Editorial Cartoons

Visual literacy on the campaign trail (blog post)

  Read more about this book
and the others in the series

Coming Distractions Questioning Movies
Pub Date: March 2007
Capstone Press   32 pages
Dewey 791.43
Lexile Level: 700L
Reading Level:  Grades 3-5
ISBN: 9780736867665 / 0-7368-6766-X /

Title Summary: Action flicks, romantic comedies, animated classics-there are all kinds of movies to choose from.
So how do filmmakers get you to watch their movie? Well, grab your popcorn. It's time to ask questions about the messages in movies.

Description of series:  Give young readers the tools they need to evaluate the barrage of media messages that reach them every day. Value assumptions, product placements, and cues to act are embedded in each media message. This
fun series embraces media as entertaining and useful but also empowers readers as they learn a systematic way to question pop culture and to recognize how influential media messages are.