Completely updated, with current examples and new coverage of digital media, this popular handbook provides a range of qualitative approaches that enable students to effectively decipher information conveyed through the channels of mass communication – photography, film, radio, television, and interactive media. It aim is to help students develop critical thinking skills and strategies with regard to what media to use and how to interpret the information that they receive. The techniques include ideological, autobiographical, nonverbal, and mythic approaches. An Instructor’s Manual is available to professors who adopt this new edition.