Meant for students and professionals, it includes explanations using case studies. The design methodology is divided into conceptual, logical, and physical.

    Through this cultural perspective, students learn that audience members are as much a part of the mass communication process as are the media producers, technologies, and industries. This was the first university-level text to make media literacy central to its approach. Building on this tested emphasis, the fifth edition features a newly merged chapter on Cable and Television, a new chapter on The Evolving Mass Communication Process, updates on recent technologies and government rulings, including the Patriot Act, the Supreme Court ruling on Peer-2-Peer file-sharing on Grokster, "net neutrality," municipal WiFi, new advertising industry metrics such as ROI, BitTorrent, video news releases, and much more