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Newer Version Available
Cover of American Government and Politics in the Information Age v3.0
Published: 
November 2017
Page Count: 
556
ISBN (Digital): 
978-1-4533-8655-2

American Government and Politics in the Information Age

Version 3.0
By David L. Paletz, Diana Owen, and Timothy E. Cook

Key Features

  • Learning objectives, key takeaways, and key terms in every chapter
  • Civic Education boxes
  • Annotated set of readings accompanies every chapter
  • Links to video and audio clips, political and media websites, and research databases
  • Annotated list of noteworthy fiction and nonfiction films accompanies every chapter
  • Customizable

Students

Online Access Price:  $32.95 Color Printed Textbook with Online Access Price:  $57.95
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This textbook is suitable for the following courses: Introduction to American Government and Politics, American Government and Politics, Politics and the Media

American Government and Politics in the Information Age is a comprehensive and lively introduction to the vital subject of American Government and Politics. Inspired by students’ familiarity with the mass media and fluent use of communication technologies, the authors also connect the book’s subject matter with these media and technologies. They show how the media interact with and depict the American political system; the similarities and differences between these descriptions and the real world of government and politics; and the consequences these interactions and depictions can have for the public, politics, government, and public policies. The authors also show students how the media can help them intervene productively in politics and get things done.

New in This Version

  • Extensively updated throughout.
  • New key terms.
  • New appendices that include the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  • Participation chapter 8 depicts media-related forms that appeal to students, as well as social movements and the use of digital media.
  • A new feature on student participation following the Parkland school shooting. The box is in Section 8.6, "Participation, Voting, and Social Movements in the Information Age."
  • Added content in chapter 11, Campaigns and Elections.
  • Up-to-date coverage of President Trump and his use of communications and relations with the media.
  • Revised section on President Trump and the media in Section 13.4, "The Presidency in the Information Age."
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Instructor’s Manual

Instructor’s Manual

The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

Test Generator - powered by Cognero

Test Generator - powered by Cognero

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Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

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Test Item File

Test Item File

Need assistance in supplementing your quizzes and tests? Our test-item files (in Word format) contain many multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions.

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David L. Paletz Duke University

David L. Paletz (PhD University of California at Los Angeles) is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He has been director of Duke’s Film/Video/Digital Program and for six years the editor of Political Communication. His degrees are all from the University of California, Los Angeles. Paletz specializes in American government and politics (defined broadly to include the foundations, public, institutions, and processes) and political communication (defined broadly to include news, opinion, and entertainment). Among the courses he has taught are American Government, Politics and the Media in the U.S., Film and Politics, Documentary Film, and Politics and the Libido. He is the author of The Media in American Politics: Contents and Consequences, 2nd ed. (Routledge), and co-author of Media Power Politics (Free Press, 1983) and Politics in Public Service Advertising on Television (Praeger, 1977). He is the editor of and a contributor to Political Communication in Action (Hampton Press, 1996) and Political Communication Research, vols. I and II (Ablex, 1987 and 1996); a co-editor and contributor to Taken by Storm: Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War (University of Chicago Press, 1994), and Terrorism and the Media (Sage, 1992); co-author of Business as Usual (Hampton Press, 2003) and Glasnost and After: Media and Change in Eastern/Central Europe (Hampton Press, 1995); and the author or co-author of some sixty other publications. He created and chaired for many years the Political Communication Research Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research and chaired the Political Communication Section of the American Political Science Association. Among his research and teaching awards are a Congressional Fellowship from the American Political Science Association, a Humanities Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, two Fulbright Scholarships, and the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award from Duke University. In 2012 he received the David Swanson Award for Service to Political Communication Scholarship from the Political Communication Sections of the American Political Science Association and the International Communication Association.

Diana Owen Georgetown University

Diana Owen (PhD University of Wisconsin) is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Civic Education Research Lab (https://cerl.georgetown.edu/) at Georgetown University where she teaches in the Communication, Culture, and Technology graduate program. She is a graduate of George Washington University and received her doctorate in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Diana has been an American Political Science Association Congressional Media Fellow and is the recipient of the Daniel Roselle Award from the Middle States Association for the Social Studies. She is the author, with Richard Davis, of New Media and American Politics (Oxford, 1998) and Media Messages in American Presidential Elections (Greenwood, 1991). She is a coeditor of The Internet and Politics: Citizens, Voters, and Activists (Routledge, 2006) with Sarah Oates and Rachel Gibson; she is a coeditor of Making a Difference: The Internet and Elections in Comparative Perspective (Lexington, 2009) with Richard Davis, Stephen Ward, and David Taras; and a coeditor of Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). She has published in numerous scholarly journal articles and book chapters in the areas of American government, mass political behavior, political communication, media and politics, political socialization, civic education, and elections and voting behavior. Her most recent work focuses on digital media in American elections and the intersection of civic education and political engagement. She is the recipient of several grants from the U.S. Department of Education supporting programs and research on high-needs primary and secondary school students. She is grateful for the support of her husband of over forty years, Jeffrey, and her cats, Bella and Gio.

Timothy E. Cook Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge

Timothy E. Cook (1954–2006) was a political scientist who held the Kevin P. Reilly, Sr. Chair of Political Communication at Louisiana State University from 2001 after twenty years as a professor at Williams College. He was the first occupant of the Laurence Lombard Chair at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and was a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School. Tim was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow which afforded him the opportunity to study the internal workings of Congress as a participant observer. He made lasting contributions in the fields of American government and media and politics. He is the author of the landmark works, Making News and Making Laws: Media Strategies in the House of Representatives (Brookings, 1987) and Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution (University of Chicago, 1999 and 2005). Tim was a coauthor of Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign (University of Chicago Press, 1996). Both Governing with the News and Crosstalk were honored with the Doris Graber Award of the Political Communication Section of the American Political Science Association for the best book published in ten years. Tim also was the editor of Freeing the Presses: The First Amendment in Action (Louisiana State University Press, 2006). In addition to these works, Tim published journal articles and book chapters in the fields of legislative studies, presidential politics, elections and voting behavior, political communication, political socialization, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual politics. Tim was inducted in the Louisiana State University Manship School Hall of Fame in 2011. Tim passed away from brain cancer at the age of 51. He is survived by his spouse, Jack Yeager, a professor of French at Louisiana State University.

Additions & Errata

  • Updated link in Section 15.5 "New Media" to correct link for the Supreme Court's official website: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/oral_arguments.aspx.
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