Book excerpt: A concise and affordable resource for the mass communication course, Media Essentials provides a flexible, informative, and relevant breakdown of what the media is, how it works, and how it impacts today’s most talked-about subjects. From #metoo to content streaming to social media and politics, students learn how a wide variety of recent developments have impacted the mass-media landscape—and how past innovation and change have informed our current media world. Media Essentials is available with LaunchPad, a robust online platform designed to help students fully engage with course content—and with the world of mass media. From our acclaimed LearningCurve adaptive quizzing, which helps students learn and retain concepts, to compelling features like an interactive e-book and a variety of entertaining and thought-provoking video clips, LaunchPad gets students connected with—and interested in—the information they need to succeed in class.