The work contains some 2,700 professional terms, from the past to the most modern, in printing, film, radio, television, and online publishing. As the areas from which they have drawn concepts and terms the authors list printing, typography, layout, photography, image editing, lighting, newspapers, magazines, film, radio, sound, television, video, broadcasting, Internet, computers, communications, market research, public relations, advertising, media law, language, linguistics, stylistics, and jargon. They provide a competently formulated and readable explanatory text, a surprising collocation of terms, and a successful thematic diversity of material.

Compiled over several years, this work is a compendium for public-relations and advertising professionals and a useful complement to a number of more narrowly focused professional dictionaries. The bibliography contains 24 works for further reference, along with 120 addresses for contacting media and organizations. The work falls short of meeting specialists' needs, but it is probably sufficient as a universal reference work for advertising agencies, members of the press, and communications consultants. [wub/ga]

 

Commissioned by the Press and Information Office of the German federal government, this directory describes in great detail the ownership of the 334 daily and weekly newspapers that were in existence in Germany in 1999. The data are based mostly on public records and, to a lesser extent, on information gathered from the publishing companies themselves. To the extent possible, the descriptions list percentages of ownership (personal and corporate), capital investment, and joint ventures with other publishers. Arrangement of the directory is by state, and then alphabetically by city. The book includes title, personal name, and corporate name indexes. The author notes that the composition of ownership does not necessarily reflect an existing power structure at a newspaper, and he also cautions against placing complete trust in the information, as in some cases the owners of record are only "straw men." Nonetheless, for the first time important data on the ownership of newspapers in Germany have been collected. Even though the book does not offer any interpretation of the raw data, it will serve as a significant resource for future researchers who want to analyze German newspaper ownership in more detail. [wub/ba]