Can the Media Serve Democracy?

Can the Media Serve Democracy? PDF

Author: S. Coleman

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-01-02

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1137467924

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This landmark collection brings leading scholars in the field of political communication to debate one of the most important questions of our age: Can the media serve democracy? For the media to be democratic, they must enter into a positive relationship with their readers, viewers and listeners as citizens rather than consumers who buy things, audiences who gaze upon spectacles or isolated egos, obsessed with themselves. The media's first task is to remind people that they are inhabitants of a world in which they can make a difference. By enabling citizens to encounter and make sense of events, relationships and cultures of which they have no direct experience, the media constitute a public arena in which members of the public come together as more than passing strangers.

Social Media and Democracy

Social Media and Democracy PDF

Author: Nathaniel Persily

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-09-03

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1108835554

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A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy

Rich Media, Poor Democracy PDF

Author: Robert W. McChesney

Publisher: New Press, The

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1620970708

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An updated edition of the “penetrating study” examining how the current state of mass media puts our democracy at risk (Noam Chomsky). What happens when a few conglomerates dominate all major aspects of mass media, from newspapers and magazines to radio and broadcast television? After all the hype about the democratizing power of the internet, is this new technology living up to its promise? Since the publication of this prescient work, which won Harvard’s Goldsmith Book Prize and the Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award, the concentration of media power and the resultant “hypercommercialization of media” has only intensified. Robert McChesney lays out his vision for what a truly democratic society might look like, offering compelling suggestions for how the media can be reformed as part of a broader program of democratic renewal. Rich Media, Poor Democracy remains as vital and insightful as ever and continues to serve as an important resource for researchers, students, and anyone who has a stake in the transformation of our digital commons. This new edition includes a major new preface by McChesney, where he offers both a history of the transformation in media since the book first appeared; a sweeping account of the organized efforts to reform the media system; and the ongoing threats to our democracy as journalism has continued its sharp decline. “Those who want to know about the relationship of media and democracy must read this book.” —Neil Postman “If Thomas Paine were around, he would have written this book.” —Bill Moyers

Democracy and the Mass Media

Democracy and the Mass Media PDF

Author: Judith Lichtenberg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1990-05-25

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9780521388177

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These essays discuss US policy in regulating the media and the reconciliation of the First Amendment.

The Problem of the Media

The Problem of the Media PDF

Author: Robert D. McChesney

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2004-03-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1583671064

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The symptoms of the crisis of the U.S. media are well-known—a decline in hard news, the growth of info-tainment and advertorials, staff cuts and concentration of ownership, increasing conformity of viewpoint and suppression of genuine debate. McChesney's new book, The Problem of the Media, gets to the roots of this crisis, explains it, and points a way forward for the growing media reform movement. Moving consistently from critique to action, the book explores the political economy of the media, illuminating its major flashpoints and controversies by locating them in the political economy of U.S. capitalism. It deals with issues such as the declining quality of journalism, the question of bias, the weakness of the public broadcasting sector, and the limits and possibilities of antitrust legislation in regulating the media. It points out the ways in which the existing media system has become a threat to democracy, and shows how it could be made to serve the interests of the majority. McChesney's Rich Media, Poor Democracy was hailed as a pioneering analysis of the way in which media had come to serve the interests of corporate profit rather than public enlightenment and debate. Bill Moyers commented, "If Thomas Paine were around, he would have written this book." The Problem of the Media is certain to be a landmark in media studies, a vital resource for media activism, and essential reading for concerned scholars and citizens everywhere.

Media, Markets, and Democracy

Media, Markets, and Democracy PDF

Author: C. Edwin Baker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-11-05

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 1139432427

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Government interventions in media markets are often criticized for preventing audiences from getting the media products they want. A free press is often asserted to be essential for democracy. The first point is incorrect and the second is inadequate as a policy guide. Part I of this book shows that unique aspects of media products prevent markets from providing for audience desires. Part II shows that four prominent, but different, theories of democracy lead to different conceptions of good journalistic practice, media policy, and proper constitutional principles. Part II makes clear that the choice among democratic theories is crucial for understanding what should be meant by free press. Part III explores international free trade in media products. Contrary to the dominant American position, it shows that Parts I and II's economic and democratic theory justify deviations from free trade in media products.

America's Battle for Media Democracy

America's Battle for Media Democracy PDF

Author: Victor Pickard

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1107038332

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Drawing from extensive archival research, the book uncovers the American media system's historical roots and normative foundations. It charts the rise and fall of a forgotten media-reform movement to recover alternatives and paths not taken.

How Media Inform Democracy

How Media Inform Democracy PDF

Author: Toril Aalberg

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1136633820

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In this timely book, leading researchers consider how media inform democracy in six countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Taking as their starting point the idea that citizens need to be briefed adequately with a full and intelligent coverage of public affairs so that they can make responsible, informed choices rather than act out of ignorance and misinformation, contributors use a comparative approach to examine the way in which the shifting media landscape is affecting and informing the democratic process across the globe. In particular, they ask: Can a comparative approach provide us with new answers to the question of how media inform democracy? Has increased commercialization made media systems more similar and affected equally the character of news and public knowledge throughout the USA and Europe? Is soft news and misinformation predominantly related to an American exceptionalism, based on the market domination of its media and marginalized public broadcaster? This study combines a content analysis of press and television news with representative surveys in six nations. It makes an indispensable contribution to debates about media and democracy, and about changes in media systems. It is especially useful for media theory, comparative media, and political communication courses.

Democracy and the Media

Democracy and the Media PDF

Author: Richard Gunther

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2000-08-28

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 9780521777438

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This book presents a systematic overview and assessment of the impacts of politics on the media, and of the media on politics, in authoritarian, transitional and democratic regimes in Russia, Spain, Hungary, Chile, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. Its analysis of the interactions between macro- and micro-level factors incorporates the disciplinary perspectives of political science, mass communications, sociology and social psychology. These essays show that media's effects on politics are the product of often complex and contingent interactions among various causal factors, including media technologies, the structure of the media market, the legal and regulatory framework, the nature of basic political institutions, and the characteristics of individual citizens. The authors' conclusions challenge a number of conventional wisdoms concerning the political roles and effects of the mass media on regime support and change, on the political behavior of citizens, and on the quality of democracy.

The Media, Journalism and Democracy

The Media, Journalism and Democracy PDF

Author: Margaret Scammell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-17

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 135174710X

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This title was first published in 2000. Offering original insights into the relationship between media and democratic theory, this volume brings together a renowned collection of international specialists who examine media and democracy, professional journalism, the anatomy of content and the current issues which concern both institutions. Challenging conventional discourse, this comprehensive collection contains the most incisive and informative articles on this fundamental subject.