The future of mass media may appear unpredictable and too complex to fathom, but Mass Media in 2025 takes a scholarly, theoretical approach to identifying trends and explaining their possibilities. Noted contributors approach a variety of media with a solid grounding in the history of each, and an eye for which may be vulnerable and which may thrive in the new technological age. Trends such as interactivity and niche building will affect everything from the newspaper to public relations, and this collection of essays provides a fascinating guide to where the next decades may take us.

Regardless of the visual, aural, or printed form, Mass Media in 2025 illustrates the degree to which older media will have to incorporate the level of interaction and specialization offered by newer media if they are to survive. These effects can already be seen in the proliferation of television channels, in the ironic bent of advertising, in the rise of infotainment in news organizations. This book shows not only how all of this has come to be, but also, more importantly, where it will go.

ERWIN K. THOMAS is a Professor/Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is the author of Make Better Videos With Your Camcorder and co-editor of A Handbook on Mass Media in the United States (Greenwood, 1994).

BROWN H. CARPENTER has been a reporter and editor for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot and the Ledger Star for over twenty-five years, and the co-editor of A Handbook on Mass Media in the United States (Greenwood, 1994).