1st Edition
Media Criticism in a Digital Age Professional And Consumer Considerations
SECTION I: CRITICAL ROOTS
1 The Essence of Criticism
2 Critical Functions
3 Criticism and the Communication Process
4 Knowledge Acquisition and Processing
SECTION II: CRITICAL INGREDIENTS
5 Tonal and Talent Ingredients
6 Stage-Molding Ingredients
SECTION III: CRITICAL GRATIFICATIONS
7 Business Gratifications
8 Consumer Gratifications
SECTION IV: CRITICAL APPROACHES
9 Depiction Analysis
10 Structural Analysis
11 Probing Ethics and Values
12 Aesthetics and Art
13 The Logic of Aesthetic Form
SECTION V: CRITICAL CONCLUSIONS
14 Reality Programming
15 Composite Criticism
Appendix: Specimen Scripts
The Cosby Show: "Theo’s Holiday"
The Newsroom: "Dinner at Eight"
The Simpsons: "Bart Sells His Soul"
Biography
Peter B. Orlik is director and professor in Central Michigan University’s School of Broadcast & Cinematic Arts. Industry experience includes work as copywriter, radio announcer/music director, and television promotions executive. He was the 2001 recipient of the Broadcast Education Association’s Distinguished Education Service Award (that organization’s highest honor) and a 2003 inductee into the Michigan Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Criticism that attacks without analysis does no good. What we need are knowledgeable critics capable of examining the media and providing intelligent insight. Media Criticism in a Digital Age provides the tools to prepare thoughtful media commentators who are capable of helping us better understand media. Dom Caristi, Professor, Ball State University
Using personal experience and reasoned scholarship, Orlik incorporates the fundamentals of traditional media criticism into an accessible approach to dealing with new and emerging media. David Byland, Editor, Journal of Media Education
Orlik shows media consumers as well as media practitioners (and wannabes) how to evaluate the ever-changing media industries and their products through various approaches, especially "composite criticism." Such assessment provides comprehensive, effective, and meaningful critiques – both positive and negative – that contribute to media literacy in the 21st century. Louise Benjamin, Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Kansas State University
