Mediated Politics: Communication in the Future of Democracy (Communication, Society and Politics)

This book explores the changing nature of democracy in light of dramatic changes in the media of mass communication: the Internet, the decline of network television news and the daily newspaper; the growing tendency to treat election campaigns as competing product advertisements; the blurring lines among news, ads, and entertainment. It explores such questions as: Does the Internet make it easier for citizens to find political information? Do today's highly competitive old and new mass media serve the needs of democratic citizenship? Does the new media environment produce public opinion that is more or less manipulated, or manipulated in new ways? Mediated Politics explores the changing media environments in contemporary democracy: the internet, the decline of network news and the daily newspaper; the growing tendency to treat election campaigns as competing product advertisements; the blurring lines between news, ads, and entertainment. By combining new developments in political communication with core questions about politics and policy, a distinguished roster of international scholars offers new perspectives and directions for further study. Several broad questions emerge from the book: with ever-increasing media outlets creating more specialized segments, what happens to broader issues? Are there implications for a sense of community? Should media give people only what they want, or also what they need to be good citizens? These and other tensions created by the changing nature of political communication are covered in sections on the changing public sphere; shifts in the nature of political communication; the new shape of public opinion; transformations of political campaigns; and alterations in citizens' needs and involvement Edited By W. Lance Bennett, Robert M. Entman. A Collection Of 22 Papers By American And European Scholars Who Debated And Discussed Issues At Workshops Funded By The Annenberg Public Policy Center (university Of Pennsylvania) And Held In Washington, D.c. And Philadelphia. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Explores the changing media environments in contemporary democracy: the Internet, the decline of network news and the daily newspaper; the growing tendency to treat election campaigns as competing product advertisements; and the blurring lines between news, ads and entertainment Mediated political communication has become central to politics and public life in contemporary democracies.