Comunicación y cultura

Communication studies is a fragmented field. As a result of its roots in various disciplinary traditions, it is built on fluid intellectual boundaries with no theoretical or analytical center. Should we worry about this state of dispersion or be concerned that the discipline does not meet the basic conditions that define an academic field of inquiry?

Silvio Waisbord argues that communication studies is a post-discipline and that it is impossible to transcend fragmentation and specialization through a single project of intellectual unity. What brings communication studies together is an institutional architecture of academic units, professional associations, and journals, rather than a shared commitment to a common body of knowledge, questions, and debates. This should not, Waisbord argues, be a matter of concern. Communication studies is better served by recognizing dispersion, embracing pluralism, fostering cross-cutting lines of inquiry, and tackling real-world problems, rather than hoping to meet conditions which would qualify it as a discipline.

Communication: A Post-Discipline is important reading for scholars and advanced students of communication studies, as well as anyone interested in the state of this fascinating and vital academic field.

Summary
Cold War–era FBI files on famous scientists, including Neil Armstrong, Isaac Asimov, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Alfred Kinsey, and Timothy Leary.

Armed with ignorance, misinformation, and unfounded suspicions, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover cast a suspicious eye on scientists in disciplines ranging from physics to sex research. If the Bureau surveilled writers because of what they believed (as documented in Writers Under Surveillance), it surveilled scientists because of what they knew. Such scientific ideals as the free exchange of information seemed dangerous when the Soviet Union and the United States regarded each other with mutual suspicion that seemed likely to lead to mutual destruction. Scientists Under Surveillance gathers FBI files on some of the most famous scientists in America, reproducing them in their original typewritten, teletyped, hand-annotated form.

Readers learn that Isaac Asimov, at the time a professor at Boston University's School of Medicine, was a prime suspect in the hunt for a Soviet informant codenamed ROBPROF (the rationale perhaps being that he wrote about robots and was a professor). Richard Feynman had a “hefty” FBI file, some of which was based on documents agents found when going through the Soviet ambassador's trash (an invitation to a physics conference in Moscow); other documents in Feynman's file cite an informant who called him a “master of deception” (the informant may have been Feynman's ex-wife). And the Bureau's relationship with Alfred Kinsey, the author of The Kinsey Report, was mutually beneficial, with each drawing on the other's data.

The files collected in Scientists Under Surveillance were obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests by MuckRock, a nonprofit engaged in the ongoing project of freeing American history from the locked filing cabinets of government agencies.

The Scientists Neil Armstrong, Isaac Asimov, Hans Bethe, John P. Craven, Albert Einstein, Paul Erdos, Richard Feynman, Mikhail Kalashnikov, Alfred Kinsey, Timothy Leary, William Masters, Arthur Rosenfeld, Vera Rubin, Carl Sagan, Nikola Tesla

In October 2116, when Donald Trump's lawyer demanded that The New York Times retract an article focused on two women that accused Trump of touching them inappropriately, David McCraw's scathing letter of refusal went viral and he became a hero of press freedom everywhere. But as you'll see in Truth in Our Times, for the top newsroom lawyer at the paper of record, it was just another day at the office.

McCraw has worked at the Times since 2002, leading the paper's fight for freedom of information, defending it against libel suits, and providing legal counsel to the reporters breaking the biggest stories of the year. In short: if you've read a controversial story in the paper since the Bush administration, it went across his desk first. From Chelsea Manning's leaks to Trump's tax returns, McCraw is at the center of the paper's decisions about what news is fit to print.

In Truth in Our Times, McCraw recounts the hard legal decisions behind the most impactful stories of the last decade with candor and style. The book is simultaneously a rare peek behind the curtain of the celebrated organization, a love letter to freedom of the press, and a decisive rebuttal of Trump's fake news slur through a series of hard cases. It is an absolute must-have for any dedicated reader of The New York Times.

Howard Tumber is Professor in the Department of Journalism at City, University of London, UK. He is a founder and co-editor of Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism. He has published widely in the field of the sociology of media and journalism.

Silvio Waisbord is Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, USA. He was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Communication, and he has published widely about news, politics and social change.

David Jiménez se curtió cubriendo guerras, desastres y revoluciones durante casi dos décadas antes de ser nombrado director de El Mundo. Lo que parecía un reto ilusionante —dirigir el diario en el que entró como becario a los 23 años— se transformó en una batalla por la defensa de la independencia del periódico frente a un establishment político y económico decidido a controlarlo.

Jiménez ofrece un relato único sobre cómo respira la vida en una redacción —sus personajes, rivalidades, traumas y éxitos—, cómo funciona el juego de favores entre los medios y el poder y qué precio pagan quienes se niegan a participar en él. Presidentes, reyes, ministros, banqueros, capos del dinero, comisarios y periodistas protagonizan esta crónica sobre los secretos inconfesables del periodismo y los hilos que gobiernan España.

El Director es, además, un retrato íntimo de las encrucijadas éticas, las relaciones personales, las amistades y deslealtades que se viven cuando se ocupa el despacho de uno de los grandes diarios del país.

Descubre el inmenso poder terapéutico del habla. Un texto interesante, emotivo e imprescindible sobre la importancia y los beneficios de hablar para comunicarnos así como de hablarnos a nosotros. Hablar es la actividad humana más eficaz para proteger la autoestima, gestionar nuestro programa vital, disfrutar de la convivencia y las relaciones afectivas y facilitar nuestro bienestar físico, mental y social.

All the science in Breaking Bad—from explosive experiments to acid-based evidence destruction—explained and analyzed for authenticity.

Breaking Bad's (anti)hero Walter White (played by Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston) is a scientist, a high school chemistry teacher who displays a plaque that recognizes his “contributions to research awarded the Nobel Prize.” During the course of five seasons, Walt practices a lot of ad hoc chemistry—from experiments that explode to acid-based evidence destruction to an amazing repertoire of methodologies for illicit meth making. But how much of Walt's science is actually scientific? In The Science of “Breaking Bad,” Dave Trumbore and Donna Nelson explain, analyze, and evaluate the show's portrayal of science, from the pilot's opening credits to the final moments of the series finale. The intent is not, of course, to provide a how-to manual for wannabe meth moguls but to decode the show's most head-turning, jaw-dropping moments. Trumbore, a science and entertainment writer, and Nelson, a professor of chemistry and Breaking Bad's science advisor, are the perfect scientific tour guides. Trumbore and Nelson cover the show's portrayal of chemistry, biology, physics, and subdivisions of each area including toxicology and electromagnetism. They explain, among other things, Walt's DIY battery making; the dangers of Mylar balloons; the feasibility of using hydrofluoric acid to dissolve bodies; and the chemistry of methamphetamine itself. Nelson adds interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes and describes her work with the show's creator and writers. This is a book for every science buff who appreciated the show's scientific moments and every diehard Breaking Bad fan who wondered just how smart Walt really was.

La educación es un proceso complejo, propio solamente de hombres y mujeres, que incide sobre cada individuo y el conjunto de la sociedad, mucho más allá de lo que sucede en la institución escolar. El sistema educativo de cada país es complejo y de diversificadas manifestaciones individuales e institucionales, que conllevan la necesidad de conocer y comprender con la máxima actualidad posible. Lo hacen desde siglos atrás a través de diferentes medios de comunicación, y en concreto mediante la prensa pedagógica, que se centra en los asuntos conectados a la escuela. Pero existen también otras muchas publicaciones periódicas que se detienen en la difusión y comentario de los temas educativos que tocan aspectos diferentes a los de la escuela, y que no dejan de desempeñar de formas variadas, y desde otros espacios, otras funciones educativas y formadoras, proponiendo a sus lectores aquellos valores, actitudes, dominios cognitivos y procesos de aprendizaje diferentes a los del currículo escolar, pero necesarios para la convivencia en la vida cotidiana. De ello se ocupa este libro, Prensa pedagógica, mujeres, niños, sectores populares y otros fines educativos, cuando dedica varios estudios a valorar la importancia de la prensa relacionada con la mujer, la infancia, la acción cultural entre sectores populares, o la información relativa sobre otros asuntos educativos que aparece recogida en la prensa diaria o semanal publicada en muchos países del mundo.

Aprovechar más el cúmulo inmenso de talentos y recursos de nuestra comunicación para ser más exitosos en la vida o la profesión, resume la intención principal de este libro. Llegar antes y de manera más plácida a nuestras metas vitales y profesionales, sería entonces el efecto deseado para sus lectores. Concebido gracias al aporte previo de una mirada de autores, investigadores y talentos que dedicaron tiempo y esfuerzo a decodificar nuestro enorme potencial, además de sugerir líneas para concretarlo en resultados exitosos, sus diferentes capítulos(de estilo intencionalmente desenfadado) invitan a un viaje a través de nosotros mismos, en el que cada parada hará énfasis en un área concreta de esa inmensidad de nuestro potencial, con el claro objetivo de llevarlos sólida y confiadamente a la concreción. Estudiantes, profesionales, docentes, gente de negocios o cualquier persona interesada en aprovechar más y mejor sus capacidades para lograr sus objetivos, son destinatarios idóneos quienes deseamos, feliz crecimiento y rápido éxito genuino, en lo que se propongan.

How the creative abundance of today's media culture was made possible by the decline of elitism in the arts and the rise of digital media.

Media culture today encompasses a universe of forms—websites, video games, blogs, books, films, television and radio programs, magazines, and more—and a multitude of practices that include making, remixing, sharing, and critiquing. This multiplicity is so vast that it cannot be comprehended as a whole. In this book, Jay David Bolter traces the roots of our media multiverse to two developments in the second half of the twentieth century: the decline of elite art and the rise of digital media. Bolter explains that we no longer have a collective belief in “Culture with a capital C.” The hierarchies that ranked, for example, classical music as more important than pop, literary novels as more worthy than comic books, and television and movies as unserious have broken down. The art formerly known as high takes its place in the media plenitude. The elite culture of the twentieth century has left its mark on our current media landscape in the form of what Bolter calls “popular modernism.” Meanwhile, new forms of digital media have emerged and magnified these changes, offering new platforms for communication and expression.

Bolter outlines a series of dichotomies that characterize our current media culture: catharsis and flow, the continuous rhythm of digital experience; remix (fueled by the internet's vast resources for sampling and mixing) and originality; history (not replayable) and simulation (endlessly replayable); and social media and coherent politics.