This handbook surveys the history, organization, role, major issues, and future outlook for different segments of the mass media industry and for its various audiences in the United States. Following a brief introductory overview, experts offer broad perspectives through analyses of the advertising, book, cable, film, magazine, newspaper, public relations, radio, recording, and television industries and of present views about their audiences of minorities, women, children, the disabled, religious groups, and sports enthusiasts.

Each chapter reviews and synthesizes the...

The future of mass media may appear unpredictable and too complex to fathom, but "Mass Media in 2025" takes a scholarly, theoretical approach to identifying trends and explaining their possibilities. Noted contributors approach a variety of media with a solid grounding in the history of each, and an eye for which may be vulnerable and which may thrive in the new technological age. Trends such as interactivity and niche building will affect everything from the newspaper to public relations, and this collection of essays provides a fascinating guide to where the next decades may take us....