Makeover TV:
Selfhood, Citizenship and Celebrity
by Brenda Weber
PN1992.8 .R43 W43 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Reality television, once thought of as a passing fad, has turned out to take over to profile every aspect of daily life. If it can be filmed, then it will be made (think fist pumpers of Jersey Shore – really, MTV?). The trend extends to makeovers as well, everything from home renovations to body transformations. I admit that I have lost many hours of my life glued to the TV, stuck on House Hunters or What Not to Wear marathons. But what does that say about us, our way of life, our society?

Weber, professor of gender studies at Indiana University, takes on the phenomenon of televised makeovers and analyzes how these shows represent much larger cultural ideas. She watched over 2,500 hours of the genre (I want her job!) to come up with these narratives about the ‘rebirth’ of individuals to a national audience. The author contends that the makeover experts exert their influence on participants, emphasizing the distinct differences between males and females. This hyper-’genderization’ speaks volumes about our current society and what makeovers do to a person’s self-identity.

Packaging Boyhood:
Saving Our Sons from Superheroes,
Slackers and Other Media Stereotypes
by Brown, Lamb and Tappan
HD9970.5 .C483 U635 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Growing up has never been easy, for some, harder than others. One could argue that the rise of television and the Internet has made it even harder to get through childhood emotionally unscathed. This week’s featured title tackles how the media influences being a kid in this day and age.

Brown, Lamb and Tappan have compiled their research from surveying over six hundred boys from across the country about what it’s like to be a young male. They examine the messages that the media sends these budding adolescents and how these seemingly positive portrayals contain dark undertones. The authors try to figure out what they wear, watch, hear, read and do in order to examine the effects of the external forces on the lives of these boys. They contend that parents and adults should help boys to process these images and encourage them to be themselves and not conform to media stereotypes.

And don’t worry – you won’t have to wait for the study of the girls, as they were the subject of the 2006 book by the same researchers (minus Tappan), Packaging Girlhood, HD9970.5.C483 U655 2006 (Main Collection, 3rd floor).

The Myth of Digital Democracy
By Matthew Hindman
JK1764 .H56 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

The Internets have revolutionized the way we live our lives. You get your news of the day from CNN.com as opposed to flipping through a newspaper or turning on the television. Instead of making phone calls, you send e-mails. You rely on online product reviews to make purchasing decisions. You blog about your opinions to the world on everything from how you’re feeling at the moment to your political leanings. The electronic series of webs and tubes have given the power to the people, right?

Not so fast there, buddy, says Hindman, political science professor at Arizona State University. The popular belief that the Internet has made politics and the public sphere more accessible given the proliferation of political websites and blogs doesn’t hold up. The author contends that the power has not shifted, that when in reality, it has only strengthened the elite media outlets. He and his colleagues not only looked at the top political and news websites, but also examined link structures and search engine queries to find out just how individuals end up at particular sites. Hindman’s work demonstrates that while the Internet has definitely changed political participation in some ways, the corporate media, the big guys if you will, still control the scene.

Manage the Media:
(Don’t Let the Media Manage You)
By William Holstein
HD59.6 .U6 H653 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor

A reputation, whether individual or group, is intangible and can pave the way to success or failure. Public perception of a company has become fragile with the proliferation of the media and technology. They’re not only competing with the reporters and newspapers in the traditional realm, they’re also defending their names against everyone from bloggers to Amazon product reviewers. One misstep could mean finding yourself in a very deep hole with no way out. So what is an organization to do? This week’s featured title details the challenges of today’s media and how to handle them.

Holstein, a veteran business writer for the New York Times, Fortune and Barron’s, among others, has written a short (just over one hundred pages), no-nonsense book about dealing with potential communications pitfalls. Directed at CEOs, the author explains the importance of communication and public relations, complete with examples of both good and bad PR management. The emergence of the Internet (as well as Web 2.0 and social networking tools) has enabled individual consumers to rally against the big, bad corporation. Holstein provides strategies for putting corporate communication first, shaping the message and ensuring that the company’s image stays intact.

The Television Will Be Revolutionized:
By Amanda Lotz
PN1992.5 .L68 2007
New Book Island, 2nd floor

According to the Nielsen’s Three-Screen Report (PDF), Americans watch a lot of video, between using the traditional TV, internet and mobile devices. Now that the semester is (pretty much) over, it means that some of you might have more time on your hands to do just that. This week’s featured title looks at how the most popular and powerful medium is transforming in these changing times.

Lotz, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan and self-described “early adopter of television gear,” examines the television in the “post-network era,” in which all aspects of the medium, from production to distribution, have multiplied. Technological innovations like DVR and iPods have freed consumers from time constraints, content creation has found new new modes of financing and advertising isn’t relegated to the commercials. The author delves into each of these considerations of the television as well as audience measurement and the future possibilities for digital storytelling in this thought-provoking volume on the (r)evolution of a household necessity.

The site is easy to browse. Just choose the year for the campaign you are interested in and at the bottom of the screen, thumbnails of the commercials appear, divided into Democrat and Republican. Click the one you want to view, and voila, you’re watching the commercial. You can even watch the “Peace Little Girl (Daisy)” commercial from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 campaign, called by this web site: “the most celebrated and perhaps most notorious of all political commercials.” It aired only once, and was so controversial it even made the cover of Time.

Besides the pure entertainment value, what I really liked is the additional information provided by the site. The credits and a transcript for each commercial chosen are easily accessible, and tabs to the right of the commercial provide information on the campaign, each candidate, and the results of the election (including the number of popular votes, states, and electoral votes won by each candidate).

So take a moment and check out this site. It’s cool, it’s funny–and who knows what you might learn along the way?

• 53.6% of adults that purchased Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the last six months are married?
• people that drive a car with a manual transmission are 42% more likely to watch the GAC (Great American Country) Channel?
• 30.5% of Wall Street Journal Online readers purchased a book online in the last twelve months?

How do I know all of these random facts? You might think that it’s all just useless information, but if you’re trying to design advertising campaign for a product, then these are golden nuggets. Maybe you need to profile who buys Bic pens versus Uni-ball pens. Whatever the case, Mediamark Reporter will give you the numbers to guide your analysis. Produced by Mediamark Research & Intelligence, the resource is a fountain of random and incredibly detailed information about consumers and their purchasing and media consumption habits. The Reporter contains over 550 product & service categories and 6,000 brands. Best of all, you can easily export the data to a spreadsheet for later use.

Want to know more? Check out the How to Use Mediamark Reporter guide or contact Kyle Naff, Business Librarian, at naffk@uww.edu or 472-5519.

This resource is restricted to UW-Whitewater faculty, staff and students and is for academic use only.

Happy browsing!

The Mediated Presidency:
Television News and Presidential Governance
by Stephen Farnsworth & S. Robert Lichter
E176.1 .F228 2006
New Book Island, 2nd floor

If you can break away from the television for a second, I’d like to feature a book that is PERFECT for today.

The media has become a major force in our society today, and presidents are no exception when it comes to scrutiny or praise. Farnsworth and Lichter, professors at University of Mary Washington and George Mason University respectively, analyze the impact of the news outlets on the Executive Office of the United States. It also takes into account the issues facing the nation, such as the economy (that’s not a big problem, right?) and in times of war. Focusing on the events of the past two decades, the authors critically evaluate the media coverage surrounding the individual tasked with running one of the most powerful countries in the world. The book also includes an extensive list of references for further research on the topic.

On the other hand, using a combination of library and free internet resources can provide a good estimation of the elusive advertising rates for radio and television. How do you do it? I’ve created a guide (based heavily on Carol’s fabulous print guide that we had at the Reference Desk) that explains what you need to find information that you need to calculate ad rates. If you have any questions, make sure to ask me!

From the Library’s home page, hover over Guides then click on By Subject. The guide (will be) linked under 5) Media: Ad Rates, Audience & Circulation. Or just go straight there – Media: Estimating Radio & TV Ad Rates.