But this wasn't always the case. Anyone interested in the history of news media will be fascinated by Live From Baghdad...Making Journalism History From Behind The Lines, the story of how Cable News Network (CNN) transformed television news in 1990 with its live coverage of the first Gulf war, in real time, from behind enemy lines. As CNN's producer in Baghdad, author Robert Wiener's job was to orchestrate the network's coverage from the Iraqi capital. His first person chronicle is by turns suspenseful, irreverent, and inspiring. Highly recommended for journalism, social studies and media teachers as well as anyone analyzing television coverage of the current Gulf conflict.

The latest addition to our primary sources collection is this multimedia overview of the press coverage during and after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Published by CBS News, but including contributions from many sources, What We Saw: The Events of September 11 includes essays by major magazine and newspaper correspondents, articles by distinguished journalists, riveting photographs and a DVD with excerpts from the broadcast coverage by CBS. Dan Rather provides the introduction. Due to some graphic imagery, video content should be previewed before classroom presentation.

At last - a K-12 media literacy curriculum material focusing not on reading/writing but on standards for oral communications - listening and speaking. Developed by a task force from the National Communications Association, the teaching activities in the two-volume set (K-6 and 7-12) make Creating Competent Communicators: Activities for Teaching Speaking, Listening and Media Literacy an invaluable new classroom teaching resource. The activity-based lesson plans have been classroom-tested and found to appeal to students at all ability levels. The extensive background sections help teachers integrate oral communication instruction across the curriculum. A low-cost but highly recommended resource.

With 150 photographs of famous people and ordinary folks, this engaging book teaches us how to understand the vocabulary of photolanguage and thus uncover the stories embedded in visual images. Photography, language arts and visual literacy teachers will appreciate Photolanguage: How Photos Reveal the Fascinating Stories of Our Lives and Relationships for helping students understand point-of-view, perspective, visual literacy and communications. It is particularly relevant in analyzing photos of celebrities and news photographs with particular slants.

Narrated by Jason Robards, Empire of the Air: The Men who Made Radio spans the years 1906 to 1955 to explore the lives of three early pioneers of radio -- David Sarnoff, Lee De Forest and Edwin Howard Armstrong – who helped launch the modern communications age. Their successes, failures and ambitions produced friendships and created bitter conflict – a story brilliantly told in Ken Burns's unique style. Visible time code at the bottom of the picture can be used to identify scenes for class viewing and analysis.

From the very first days of the motion picture industry, the battle over "decency" has played out in many ways. Hollywood Censorship Wars explores this little known history, including the reign of the Legion of Decency and the establishment of the Production Code of Ethics (the "Hays Code"), the controversy over Rhett Butler's "I don't give a damn,"in Gone with the Wind, the fear of communism and the creation of the Hollywood Black List, and finally, the compromise that resulted in the current MPAA ratings system. Use this excellent 50-minute video to stimulate classroom dialogue about freedom of speech, censorship, ethics and ratings. Historical examples of sexual and violent content are included, so be sure to pre-screen before classroom use.

Drawing on his 20 years of experience working with inner-city youth at the acclaimed Educational Video Center (EVC) in New York, Steven Goodman looks closely at both the problems and possibilities of video production to transform the lives of urban youth. Teaching Youth Media: A Critical Guide to Literacy, Video Production and Social Change describes a new way of rendering schools more learner-centered and community-based so that work is more meaningful to student's real lives. Covering school reform, literacy through multimedia production, case study "success stories," potential challenges associated with media instruction, the benefits of contextualized learning, and skills developed through documentary production - this is a must-have for teachers and potential teachers looking to empower students to explore, document and analyze the world around them.

Book: Increasing Student Learning Through Multimedia Projects describes how to connect multimedia projects to academic content and real-world contexts, basic steps of planning and assessing projects, and taking on new roles in the teaching and learning process.

CD-Rom: Project Based Learning with Multimedia includes video stories from actual elementary, middle, and high school classrooms with tips from students and teachers, student work samples, and student handouts. Guiding questions and easy-to-use templates help you develop curriculum goals, assessments, and instructional strategies.

Video: Multimedia: A Sneak Preview Elementary, middle, and high school students share six stages of planning, designing, and producing curriculum-based classroom multimedia projects. The program is specially designed for teachers to show to students when they first embark on Project-Based Learning with Multimedia.

The Gospel According to Tony Soprano explores the many reasons why the hit series has connected so deeply with American culture and cable television audiences . Spiritual teacher and writer Chris Seay analyzes the characters and their all-too-human behaviors and along the way, helps us evaluate our own humanity. Accessible, witty, and enlightening, this is essential reading for every fan of the television show, those interested in faith-based media literacy -- and anyone who wants to examine the larger questions of right and wrong in American popular culture.

What sets Great Women of Film apart are stunning full-page color portraits of 30 representative women who have broken through barriers of the motion picture industry. Although a few well known actresses are included (Jodie Foster, Susan Sarandon), the book also celebrates those who work behind the camera -- makeup artists, editors, production designers, special-effects technicians and more. Each woman tells her own story, shares secrets of her craft, and offers advice to the next generation. An inspiring reference book, it belongs in every high school and college library.

This handy 64-page guidebook provides curriculum suggestions and critical-thinking activities to get grades 3-5 actively engaged in processing and producing print news. Concise and inexpensive, Getting the Most Out of Teaching With Newspapers demonstrates how newspapers inform, educate, entertain and help us interpret and influence our world - while providing a wealth of engaging activities involving the meaning, use and production of journalism and newspapers.