Critical Studies in Media Commercialism

Robin Andersen is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies and Director of the Peace and Justice Program at Fordham University. She is the author of Consumer Culture and TV Programming, and her numerous articles appear in books and scholarly journals such as The Media Reader, Journalism and Popular Culture, and The Humanist. Her current research is focused on the environmental impact of consumer culture.Lance Strate is Associate Professor and Chair of Fordham University's Department of Communication and Media Studies. He is the editor (with Ron Jacobson and Stephanie B. Gibson) of Communication and Cyberspace and is currently working on a books entitled Understanding Media Ecology and The Legacy of McLuhan (with Edward Wachtel). He is Supervisory Editor of the Media Ecology Book Series and founding President of the Media Ecology Association.

'... an extremely comprehensive and versatile presentation of the subject. ... must be highly praised for providing the reader with a very wide spectrum of critical approaches to media commercialism from a range of reputed scholars and practitioners in the area of media and communication.' The International Journal of Media Management

• PART ONE: HUMAN NEED AND THE COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVE ; PART TWO: CONGLOMERATION, SYNERGY AND GLOBAL MEDIA ; PART THREE: ADVERTISING AND CULTURE ; PART FOUR: COMMERCIAL 'DIVERSITY'? ; PART FIVE: POLITICS, CITIZENSHIP, AND FRAGMENTATION ; PART SIX: RESISTING PERSUASIONS