Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits/Representing Resistance: Media, Civil Disobedience and the Global Justice Movement/Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World

Salzman, Jason (2003). Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits. New York, NY: Perseus Books, pp. 304. Opel, Andy and Donnalyn Pompper, eds. (2003). Representing Resistance: Media, Civil Disobedience and the Global Justice Movement. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. 296. Couldry, Nick and James Curran, eds. (2003). Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 320. Radical political is enjoying a truly global moment, thanks in large part to communication technologies that the electronic transmission of information and images possible. Members of the anti-globalization movement are at the forefront of the communication revolution, having recognized media as powerful tools for reaching worldwide audiences. The prominence of their independent Websites and other alternative media formats might suggest that traditional media, such as radio and newspapers, are obsolete for social movements. Three books vigorously refute this contention and underscore the currency and vitality of media alongside new? as agents of social action. Jason Salzman's Making the News contends that a creative, imaginative public relations program can help progressive groups attract mainstream media coverage. Andy Opel and Donnalyn Pompper's Representing Resistance reveals a thriving world of new activism in which anti-globalization activists use old and media to spread their message to citizens. Nick Couldry and James Curran's Contesting Media Power offers a view of an active and diverse global media landscape, where individuals situated outside of mainstream media institutions challenge dominant discourses by taking media production resources into their own hands. Salzman has a rich personal history as an advocate of progressive causes. He discovered a passion for protest at age 8, when his photo landed on the front page of the Denver Post for picketing in support of striking public school teachers. While attending Brown, he attracted national media attention for the anti-nuclear movement by placing a referendum on the student council ballot requesting that the university stock suicide pills to be dispensed in the case of nuclear attack. The episode piqued his interest in the use of public relations to advance progressive issues. Salzman's guide is a valuable addition to journalism and public relations classes, for it reveals what it takes to make the as the number of professional journalists shrinks and the use of public relations by corporate and institutional organizations soars. This book is a hands-on guide for students and activists whose media programs may lack sufficient edge. The revised edition offers a compendium of howto advice, covering such tactics as creating a media spectacle, finding celebrity endorsers, and launching spoof Websites to parody an intended political or corporate target. New chapters discuss the use of cyberspace and guerilla activism (including culture-jamming basics like altering billboards), as inexpensive, effective ways of garnering media interest. Making the News is valuable because it provides public relations students with an alternate view of the profession. Greater numbers of students in journalism and mass communication programs are enrolling in public relations courses, and they should be exposed to the prosocial uses of these tactics in the service of less well-resourced organizations. A career in public relations does not obligate an individual to engage in corporate puffery; Salzman's guide offers students a refreshing, inspiring view from the field. Opel and Pompper's Representing Resistance analyzes the relationship between the global justice movement and the media, including both traditional mass media and newer channels. The editors, professors at Florida State University, bring together a collection of essays that critique mainstream news media coverage of civil disobedience and analyze the use of creative grassroots tactics to bring movement ideas directly to citizens. …