Grundlagen der Medienkommunikation

Today, in a 'Visual Age' 'inundated' by images, media communication is dominated by the text-picture media (newspapers, magazines, books, posters, comics, etc.) and the picture-text media (films, TV, video clips, Internet). In these media, the attempt is made to establish a typical visual idiom alongside the text, a visual Esperanto or accumulation of 'visiotypes' designed as a guarantee of universal comprehensibility. Hence there is a need for an approach providing access to the images, texts and text-picture combinations, the theories about them in currency, and the central realizations of these theories in the praxis of the said media. The book sets out to provide such access, casting light in its later chapters on the relationship between language and art in the 20th century.

The volume is designed as an introduction to scholarly research on the book, approaching it as the basic and leading medium in early-modern and modern communication systems. The various aspects of the book medium are analyzed from a wide range of perspectives - the history of printing, the book and its relation to other media, social and economic factors. A further major concern is to provide an outline of basic approaches to a theory of media as a starting-point for a future theory of the book that has yet to be developed.

Comics are a specific art-form in their own right. As products of the print media (newspaper, magazine, book) and the electronic media (Internet) they have a global presence and are yet controversial in terms of their cultural acceptance. The present volume gives insights into the specifics of comics, comic research and comic criticism, and also into the history, production and distribution of this phenomenon. It attempts to define the comic from the principle of a 'story in pictures' and to develop a theory and an aesthetic of comics. In addition it draws on the huge range of narrative and other varieties to point up its highly variegated reception requirements.

In the first (systematic) section the flysheet as a medium is defined and set off against other media. Information is given on the conditions governing production, distribution and reception, and typical linguistic and formal features are discussed. Part Two offers a brief history of flysheets from the 15th century to 1848, focussing especially on the early Reformation and the Peasants' War but with constant reference to the other media of the respective epoch throughout.

At one time, the radio was the sole electronic medium of general relevance. Its programs fulfilled the function of providing non-stop entertainment and information. The challenge posed by television has caused it to specialize; today its users look to it a) to provide certain service functions, and b) to accompany them when they are out and about. With examples from the history of radio in various countries up to the present, the author delineates the specifics of radio communication, concentrating on subject matter, the expressive means employed, text varieties and formats.

Although there is a large volume of specialist literature on posters, a brief but all-encompassing overview like the one this volume sets out to provide has been conspicuous by its absence. The approach is a combination of the historical and the present-day, pointing up the specific feature of the poster medium and providing an introduction to the history of poster theory and to poster research. As much attention is given to artistic, economic, political, social, legal and general culture-historical aspects as to the question of the techniques of poster production and the distribution and dissemination of posters. The volume concludes with a comprehensive bibliography.

Advertising texts are utility texts confronting us in large numbers day in, day out. The present volume looks at the forms they take, their nature and the way(s) they operate. Proceeding from a discussion of the functions of advertising in political and economic life, the author discusses numerous examples of present-day advertising copy with respect to their economic, communicative and combined scripto-iconographic basis. Further, individual interpretations of print advertising and advertising programs in the media show how the methods, strategies and advertising ploys discussed are combined to form an effective integrated message.

The volume provides an introduction to themes and problems central to the hitherto almost totally neglected phenomenon of communication in magazines and journals. It considers first of all the constitution of the concept 'magazine/journal' and traces the history of magazine and journal titles from the 18th century to the present. A central concern is to develop a theory of magazine/journal communication. Distinctions are made between various types and forms of magazine and journal in their historical contexts. Subsequently, the specific functions and strongpoints of the various kinds of magazine and journal are discussed. Special reference is made to historical developments in the layout of magazines/journals and the kind of language employed in them. Further chapters centre on magazine/journal editors and authors, distribution and circulation, and magazine/journal readers. The volume closes with a round-up of magazine/journal research, magazine criticism and a brief history of magazines and journals. The volume as a whole sets out to provide both a general overview of the subject and to indicate routes to explore for further research into an increasingly important mass medium.

The volume provides an introduction to themes and problems central to the phenomenon of newspaper communication. It considers first of all the constitution of the concept 'newspaper' and the history of the emergence of newspaper articles. A central concern is to develop a theory of newspaper communication. Distinctions are made between various types and forms of newspaper in their historical contexts. Central distinctive functions of newspapers are, it transpires, information and publicity, control and criticism, education and instruction, advertising and documentation. Special reference is made to developments in the layout of newspapers and the kind of language employed in them. Further chapters centre on newspaper editors and journalists, newspaper distribution and circulation, and newspaper readers. The volume closes with a round-up in newspaper research, newspaper criticism and a brief history of the newspaper. The volume as a whole sets out to provide both a general overview of the subject and to indicate routes to explore for further research into what is still our most important mass medium.

The progress towards an 'information society' confronts media teaching with new challenges and also puts this discipline more squarely in the centre of ongoing discourse on media ethics, practical aspects of the media and media policy. Proceeding from a consideration of the social factors determining communication processes taking place via the media, the book attempts to situate reflection on media teaching and the activities this involves in a broader intellectual context. After a discussion of recent culture-critical debates and the bearing they have on the educational sphere, the author gives an outline of media teaching as a pedagogical discipline and the concepts central to it. The attempt is made to describe the media worlds inhabited by children and young people and the transformations they undergo in the course of accelerating social change; further, the answers provided by media pedagogy are related to the main topics dominating present-day debates in this field. Finally, the field of media teaching is summarized with reference to the important concept of 'media competence' and prospects for further development in this area are outlined. The volume represents what is probably the first attempt of its kind to situate media-pedagogic thinking in a broader interdisciplinary context, the emphasis throughout being on the way in which a systematic approach can be developed for resolving the practical problems involved.

Das Buch hat einführenden Charakter: es will Fernsehen im Spektrum der modernen Medien verstehen, zunächst anhand der elementaren Leistungen und Bedingungen des historisch veränderlichen "Dispositivs": welcher Art sind im einzelnen die kommunikations- und zeichenstrukturellen Grundlagen (Audiovisualität, Übertragung, Aktualität, Einweg- und Programmstruktur), seine technischen Voraussetzungen, seine öffentlich-institutionellen Rahmungen und seine soziokulturelle Verankerung in der privaten Nutzung, wobei die Beschreibung jeweils auf die deutschen Verhältnisse bezogen wird. Dann folgt die Darstellung dem Fernsehkommunikationsprozeß: von der Produktion über die Produkte bis zur Rezeption. Für die Produktionsseite fragt man nach Produktionsformen und Produktionsarten, nach wesentlichen Handlungsabläufen und Akteuren. Die Produkte, also die Fernsehsendungen, werden auf ihre Bausteine, die Codes, hin untersucht, auch deren Zusammenspiel wird betrachtet; dann werden wichtige Fernsehgattungen in fünf Gruppen beschrieben, außerdem wichtige Aspekte der Programmstruktur. Im letzten Kapitel geht es um zwei Aspekte der Fernsehrezeption, nämlich um Nutzungsdaten und um die gruppenspezifischen Prozesse der Fernsehaneignung. Mit der Perspektivenvielfalt wird ein knapper, aber umfassender Überblick über die moderne Fernsehforschung gegeben, der für Studierende und andere Interessierte versucht, die Spezifika des Mediums Fernsehen im Kontrast zu anderen Medien herauszuarbeiten.