Fox's book is a field researcher's report about the effects of Channel One on kids. Using a tape recorder to document the words, the author collects convincing anecdotal evidence, then offers a good analysis of it. Kids today may well know the glittering surfaces and superficialities of ads -- the slogans and the celebrities -- but this book reminds us that kids are still kids: very naive, uncritical, and innocent about the ways of the world of persuasion. Fox elicits and records the comments of children as they talk about the ads they've seen on Channel One as part of this nationwide captive audience of over 8 million kids in classrooms, in a valuable locale and "day-part." Of special interest is the author's analysis of the kids' deep involvement in these ads, and of the many ways they incorporate and "replay" these ad messages. This book should be required reading -- and reflection --for every teacher, administrator, and school board member who is responsible for allowing Channel One into their classrooms.

This book is a fascinating read for anyone curious about the ways that language (including both words and images) is being used and abused in society today.

The first part of the book sets out some guidelines for analyzing and interpreting "mediaspeak," using some basic principles from rhetoric, logic, and general semantics, but presenting them in a lively, readable discussion with lots of current examples. This sets the tone of the whole book, as it shows how to "read between the lines" of current media messages and images.

MediaSpeak would be a great textbook for advanced high school or college classes in composition, speech, linguistics, social psychology, applied logic, or cultural studies. Using the methods Fox presents, students could examine the many, MANY examples of "doublespeak," "salespeak," and "sensationspeak" that surround and bombard them every day. Nothing could be more important to citizens in a democracy than the kind of logical literacy that such a study would promote.

I especially like the way the author melds stories-current, historical, and his own personal ones-into a thoughtful yet entertaining mix. For instance, discussing the history of Doublespeak, Fox observes that "by the mid-1700s America's landowning aristocracy mainly feared that those groups they were exploiting the most-the poor whites, the Indians, and the slaves-would somehow unite against them. . . . The ruling class resolved this dilemma by creating a wondrous invention-not liberty and equality, but the language of liberty and equality-not the real thing, but a representation of the real thing. The flaming prose of Thomas Paine and others was perfect for keeping poor whites, Native Americans, and black slaves off the backs of the ruling class. The patricians' patriotic rhetoric galvanized just enough poor whites to fight against Britain." (65)

In addition to such historical background, Fox names and discusses the unexamined assumptions that allow doublespeak to work its magic so effectively on the American psyche, such as a belief in "rugged individualism," "newer is always better," and various questionable myths about technology. In the latter discussion we learn that Microsoft technicians have been instructed not to use the term "bugs" in conjunction with computer malfunctions but to call problems, instead, "known issues, undocumented behaviors, and design side effects." (77) Along the way, Fox cites his own experiences, such as discovering Sartre and Warhol in the Kansas City Public Library, as well as referring to research he has conducted on the effect of TV commercials on school-age children.

MEDIASPEAK, it seems to me, would appeal to any reader who is interested in making sense of the blooming, buzzing confusion of our new electronic world. Thumbs Up!