Dr. Robert McKenzie's textbook, Comparing Media From Around The World, is a smartly written interactive dissection of four different types of media (newspaper, television, radio and web sites) juxtaposed by eight different countries from around the globe (China, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Mexico, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Not only does the reader receive textbook instruction, but insight into how other countries produce, direct, police and determine what information will be released over the same communication mediums.
Comparing Media is a methodical culmination of a lifetime of Dr. McKenzie's personal travel experiences and research. The concepts and processes that he teaches us will enable us to apply these concepts to any country or region in the world.
The reader is first introduced to the eight countries chosen for comparison, their strengths and weaknesses, and why they were chosen. This is followed by a thorough explanation of the concept of the book and how the book will be laid out.
Dr. McKenzie goes on to reveal how citizens of a country are held captive to a narrow perspective of other countries because of the limited selection of media that are accessed. The reader is then educated on the "media systems" (entities made up of multiple interrelated parts), a strong basis that is intricate to understanding the rest of the book.
The textbook looks at the cultural characteristics and philosophies of the eight dissected countries. Dr. McKenzie also delves into the regulation of media as well as the financing, accessibility and the actual media content itself. He even takes on news reporting, again methodically country by country, weighing bias versus objectivity and depth versus brevity in news reporting itself. The final chapters give insight into media imports and exports for each of the countries and what factors influence the exporting of the media content.
This textbook should be a required read for any student entering the media communication field. The theories, concepts and teachings would even be appropriate for advanced high school classes. The reader will find that each chapter is met with a heady and challenging set of "primer" questions designed to help establish a baseline of knowledge about the subject matter at hand, and also to pique the reader's curiosity. Dr. McKenzie has objectively, and with a bit of true wit, written an instructional manual on how one should view, understand and compare media in their country and most importantly, when visiting or comparing media with another country. If not careful, the reader may find themselves engrossed in understanding media and not find it to be a textbook at all.
