The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with an informational frame of reference that will permit the formation of critical judgments concerning America's mass media institutions. The book covers the broad spectrum of the communications media in terms of their impact on American society. Such topics are discussed as social aspects of mass communication, the phenomenon of print, the press in transition, early motion picture history, the hierarchy of Hollywood, motion picture self-regulation, development of American broadcasting, broadcasting law, commercial television, self-regulation of broadcasting, noncommercial television, mass communication and the Supreme Court, the United States and global communication, media and minorities, public relations and advertising, and the impact of new technology. (TS)