Chapter Overview

To help you begin reading, thinking, and writing about culture, Chapter 1 of Reading Culture invites you to participate in a study of the news. The book provides information that helps define what is meant by "reading the news," which includes all kinds of news; sports, business, and celebrity news as well as local and national news. The chapter also explores the ways in which the news media shapes the news for viewers, readers, and Internet users.

This Companion Website offers you a chance to investigate "reading the news" and the media through activities that will help you explore these themes. The five Web Exercises aid in your own cultural analysis of the news. The Wired Culture activity explores the reliability and integrity of news taken from Weblogs. Film Clips investigates film and contemporary culture. Visual Culture Online offers sites to explore news images, journalists, pop culture, and museum collections, and Mining the Web contains a more open-ended glimpse at the broader scope and implications of various venues that relate to news.