The field of media literacy is not a new content-focused subject, but rather "a new way to teach all subjects." It is a key interest of the Center for Media Literacy (CML) which is dedicated to heaping citizens "develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture." This particular section of the website includes best practices documents,...

Created and maintained by Aaron Moore, a professor of sports media at Ithaca College, this Web page documents which publications (and other ancillary businesses) are owned and controlled by various media conglomerates around the United States. Some of the media conglomerates covered by this rather revealing site include such newer upstarts in the media business such as Clear Channel Communications...

This past Tuesday, in a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission relaxed some of the restrictions on media ownership, creating great rancor among public media watchdog groups and a number of concerned United States senators. Under the new changes a company can now own a newspaper and a television station in the same city, something which had not been possible for thirty years. In the...

Created in 1996, the Media Awareness Network (MNet) is a Canadian non-profit organization that works on the development of media literacy and digital literacy programs. The basic premise behind MNet is to equip adults with information and tools "to help young people understand how the media work, how the media may affect their lifestyle choices and the extent to which they, as consumers and...

As part of the publication series of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy (located within the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University), this 34-page paper examines the potential influence of global television news on the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. Written by Eytan Gilboa, a professor at Bar-llan University, the paper finds that, while...

Tuesday, Viacom and CBS announced their plans to merge, creating the largest media merger in history. The new entertainment company, which will retain the name Viacom, is valued at $80 billion. Along with newly acquired CBS, Viacom already owns several cable networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, and VH1; Paramount Pictures movie studio; and theme parks and holds major stock in the networks UPN and...

Created in 1979, The Media Institute exists to foster three goals: "freedom of speech, a competitive media and communications industry, and excellence in journalism." As part of their work, they publish books and monographs, convene conferences, and also prepare regulatory filings and court briefs. On their homepage, visitors can read their blog, and also look over their "Perspectives" series and...

Located at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, the Norman Lear Center is a "multidisciplinary research and public policy center exploring implications of the convergence of entertainment, commerce, and society." Named for the celebrated television writer and director, the Center offers a broad range of programs including the sponsorship of visiting fellows,...

The Virtual Institute of Information was developed by the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI), an independent Columbia University research center. The aim of the Virtual Institute of Information is to serve as a source of information for researchers interested in the "economic, business, policy and social aspects of telecommunications, cybercommunications and mass media." Resources...

The history of technology, particularly of communicative technologies such as the radio, is often overlooked by scholars. With this in mind, Thomas H. White has developed this fine site containing "articles and extracts about early radio and related technologies, concentrating on the United States in the period from 1897 to 1927." The site itself is divided into four large sections, ordered by...