Communicating Unreality : Modern Media and the Reconstruction of Reality

Rating:
Summary: Interesting ideas, flawed presentation
Review: This book, which is a major study on the impact of media on what we refer to as reality, is interesting. The ideas are set forth in a very logical, matter-of-fact fashion. It covers first the methodology, the historical (such as it is) ideas, and then it presents the data, and finally the conclusions. For those interested in media studies, this is invaluable as a starting place and for a general overview.

That said, this book is flawed. It spends a lot of time repeating itself. In one chapter near the beginning, it makes a statement, and in the next chapter, it repeats itself ad nauseum. When a whole chapter can be summed up in less than a paragraph, there's a problem.

The other major flaw is a definite lack of examples. Weimann makes blanket statements and then neglects to back them up with sufficient description. It's nice to say that cop shows convince people that there are many more policemen in the world than there really are, but does this happen in other fields? How does this affect people? Are they less likely to go into police work because they feel there is a surfeit of policemen? Do they feel safer at night, knowing that there are more police around?

Too often, the book neglects those questions.

However, as a general overview or textbook (with the implication that the student must find the answers or examples him- or herself), this book works very well.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting ideas, flawed presentation
Review: This book, which is a major study on the impact of media on what we refer to as reality, is interesting. The ideas are set forth in a very logical, matter-of-fact fashion. It covers first the methodology, the historical (such as it is) ideas, and then it presents the data, and finally the conclusions. For those interested in media studies, this is invaluable as a starting place and for a general overview.

That said, this book is flawed. It spends a lot of time repeating itself. In one chapter near the beginning, it makes a statement, and in the next chapter, it repeats itself ad nauseum. When a whole chapter can be summed up in less than a paragraph, there's a problem.

The other major flaw is a definite lack of examples. Weimann makes blanket statements and then neglects to back them up with sufficient description. It's nice to say that cop shows convince people that there are many more policemen in the world than there really are, but does this happen in other fields? How does this affect people? Are they less likely to go into police work because they feel there is a surfeit of policemen? Do they feel safer at night, knowing that there are more police around?

Too often, the book neglects those questions.

However, as a general overview or textbook (with the implication that the student must find the answers or examples him- or herself), this book works very well.