Critical Media Studies by Ott and Mack - Book Report/Review Example

The paper "Critical Media Studies by Ott and Mack" is a good example of a book review on media. To understand the influence of media on our society, one needs to study the effect of mass media critically through a social science perspective. The aim of these readings is to understand the acquired information and its effects on society and human behavior. There are two types of information, first-hand and mediated (which came through a medium), therefore, studying the method through which information is transferred holds significant importance. Through television and other mass media, information is spread in the shortest span of time to a large audience, even in the remote areas. The wide spectrum of media studies and its access to broad spectators includes communication technologies covering the remote areas and providing information through internet and television broadcasts. Print, motion, sound, broadcast and new media have been sub-features of media. Digital computer technology and it’s an overpowering effect on media for distribution and circulation in establishing information has changed the methodology of communication. Thus, the distinguishing quality of new medium from the other four mediums can be meaningless, if it submerged those entire previous categories due to advancement.
In the age of information, it is important to study the media’s historical context for understanding the rapid change and development. When two diverse media modes use the same platform, the term is known as convergence. The mobility of media was made possible through digital technology when books were available in the form of e-books. Through which, the author has been trying to show the reader, how technology has taken charge and made evident changes in media. The presence of media almost everywhere makes its study imperative and its diverse effects on society make it an ever-expanding horizon. Mass media has manifested replacement of humans, existing values to a modified version of its own, and acted as an educational institute and a platform for news from a couple of decades.