Read complete books and articles on: Democracy and the Media

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Democracy and the Media

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Mass Media in Liberal Democratic Societies » Read Now
by Stanley Rothman. 344 pgs.

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...Tocqueville. 1945. Democracy in America . New...Doris A. 1990. Media Power in Politics...Louis. 1955. The Liberal Tradition...decapitate a liberal democracy. TWO THE...
2.

Democracy and the News » Read Now
by Herbert J. Gans. 168 pgs.

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American democracy was founded on the belief that ultimate power rests in an informed citizenry. But that belief appears naive in an era when private corporations manipulate public policy and the individual citizen is dwarfed by agencies, special interest groups, and other organizations that have a...
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American democracy was founded on the belief that ultimate power rests in an informed citizenry. But that belief appears naive in an era when private corporations manipulate public policy and the individual citizen is dwarfed by agencies, special interest groups, and other organizations that have a firm grasp on real political and economic power. In Democracy and the News, one of America's most astute social critics explores the crucial link between a weakened news media and weakened democracy. Building on his 1979 classic media critique Deciding What's News, Herbert Gans shows how, with the advent of cable news networks, the internet, and a proliferation of other sources, the role of contemporary journalists has shrunk, as the audience for news moves away from major print and electronic media to smaller and smaller outlets. Gans argues that journalism also suffers from assembly-line modes of production, with the major product being publicity for the president and other top political officials, the very people citizens most distrust. In such an environment, investigative journalism--which could offer citizens the information they need to make intelligent critical choices on a range of difficult issues--cannot flourish. But Gans offers incisive suggestions about what the news media can do to recapture its role in American society and what political and economic changes might move us closer to a true citizen's democracy. Touching on questions of critical national importance, Democracy and the News sheds new light on the vital importance of a healthy news media for a healthy democracy.
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3.

Media, Markets and Democracy » Read Now
by C. Edwin Baker. 377 pgs.

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Giving people the media they want is thought to justify the move toward deregulation that has swept media policy circles. Freedom of the press is thought to require resistance to government interventions in the media realm. This book uses economic and democratic theory to undermine the premises of...
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Giving people the media they want is thought to justify the move toward deregulation that has swept media policy circles. Freedom of the press is thought to require resistance to government interventions in the media realm. This book uses economic and democratic theory to undermine the premises of both beliefs. It also relies on these theories to evaluate journalistic practice, to recommend appropriate governmental policy toward the media, and to defend a preferred constitutional conception of press freedom. These issues should be vitally important to anyone interested in the proper practice of journalism, media policy, a free press, or democracy.
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4.

The Mass Media and Democracy: Between the Modern and the Postmodern, in Journal of International Affairs » Read Now
by James W. Carey. 21 pgs.

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5.

Media and Power » Read Now
by James Curran. 308 pgs.

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Media and Power addresses three key questions about the relationship between media and society.*How much power do the media have?*Who really controls the media?*What is the relationship between media and power in society?In this major new book, James Curran reviews the different answers which have...
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Media and Power addresses three key questions about the relationship between media and society.*How much power do the media have?*Who really controls the media?*What is the relationship between media and power in society?In this major new book, James Curran reviews the different answers which have been given, before advancing original interpretations in a series of ground-breaking essays.This book also provides a guided tour of the major debates in media studies. What part did the media play in the making of modern society? How did 'new media' change society in the past? Will radical media research recover from its mid-life crisis? Is public service television the dying product of the nation in an age of globalization? Media and Power provides both a clear introduction to media research and an innovative analysis of media power.
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6.

Election Polls, the News Media and Democracy » Read Now
by Paul J. Lavrakas, Michael W. Traugott. 352 pgs.

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Is election polling, properly done, the media's single greatest contribution to democracy? The polling scholars and practitioners whose research is presented in this volume lend ample support to this controversial claim by the editors.
7.

Communicating Democracy: The Media and Political Transitions » Read Now
by Patrick H. O'Neil. 225 pgs.

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8.

Democracy without Citizens: Media and the Decay of American Politics » Read Now
by Robert M. Entman. 242 pgs.

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"The free press cannot be free," Robert Entman asserts. "Inevitably, it is dependent." In this penetrating critique of American journalism and the political process, Entman identifies a "vicious circle of interdependence" as the key dilemma facing reporters and editors. To become sophisticated...
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"The free press cannot be free," Robert Entman asserts. "Inevitably, it is dependent." In this penetrating critique of American journalism and the political process, Entman identifies a "vicious circle of interdependence" as the key dilemma facing reporters and editors. To become sophisticated citizens, he argues, Americans need high-quality, independent political journalism; yet, to stay in business while producing such journalism, news organizations would need an audience of sophisticated citizens. As Entman shows, there is no easy way out of this dilemma, which has encouraged the decay of democratic citizenship as well as the media's continuing failure to live up to their own highest ideals. Addressing widespread despair over the degeneration of presidential campaigns, Entman argues that the media system virtually compels politicians to practice demagoguery. Entman confronts a provocative array of issues: how the media's reliance on elite groups and individuals for information inevitably slants the news, despite adherence to objectivity standards; why the media hold government accountable for its worst errors--such as scandals and foreign misadventures--only after it's too late to prevent them; how the interdependence of the media and their audience molds public opinion in ways neither group alone can control; why greater media competition does not necessarily mean better journalism; why the abolition of the FCC's Fairness Doctrine could make things worse. Entman sheds fascinating light on important news events of the past decade. He compares, for example, coverage of the failed hostage rescue in 1980, which subjected President Carter to a barrage of criticism, with coverage of the 1983 bombing that killed 241 Marines in Lebanon, an incident in which President Reagan largely escaped blame. He shows how various factors unrelated to the reality of the events themselves--the apparent popularity of Reagan and unpopularity of Carter, differences in the way the Presidents publicly framed the incidents, the potent symbols skillfully manipulated by Reagan's but not by Carter's news managers--produced two very different kinds of reportage. Entman concludes with some thoughtful suggestions for improvement. Chiefly, he proposes the creation of subsidized, party-based news outlets as a way of promoting new modes of news gathering and analysis, of spurring the established media to more innovative coverage, and of increasing political awareness and participation. Such suggestions, along with the author's probing media criticisms, make this book essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of democracy in America.
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9.

The Press and the Decline of Democracy: The Democratic Socialist Response in Public Policy » Read Now
by Robert G. Picard. 182 pgs.

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...Decline of Democracy Recent Titles...Contributions to the Study of Mass Media and Communications...the decline of democracy. Contributions to the study of mass media and...
10.

With Malice toward All? The Media and Public Confidence in Democratic Institutions » Read Now
by Patricia Moy, Michael Pfau. 218 pgs.

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Public opinion polls point to a continuing decline in confidence in the Presidency, court system, Congress, the news media, state government, public education, and other key institutions. Moy and Pfau analyze the reasons for this crisis of confidence, with particular attention to the role of the media.
11.

The People's Right to Know: Media, Democracy, and the Information Highway » Read Now
by Frederick Williams, John V. Pavlik. 258 pgs.

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...PEOPLES RIGHT TO KNOW: Media, Democracy, and the Information Highway The...The Peoples Right to Know: Media, Democracy, and the Information Highway THE PEOPLES RIGHT TO...
12.

Post-Intellectualism and the Decline of Democracy: The Failure of Reason and Responsibility in the Twentieth Century ("Media and Democracy" begins on p. 204) » Read Now
by Donald N. Wood. 304 pgs.

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Our society's institutional infrastructures--our democratic political system, economic structures, legal practices, and educational establishment--were all created as intellectual outgrowths of the Enlightenment. All our cultural institutions are based on the intellectual idea that an enlightened...
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Our society's institutional infrastructures--our democratic political system, economic structures, legal practices, and educational establishment--were all created as intellectual outgrowths of the Enlightenment. All our cultural institutions are based on the intellectual idea that an enlightened citizenry could govern its affairs with reason and responsibility. In the late 20th century, however, we are witnessing the disintegration of much of our cultural heritage. Wood argues that this is due to our evolution into a post-intellectual society--a society characterized by a loss of critical thinking, the substitution of information for knowledge, mediated reality, increasing illiteracy, loss of privacy, specialization, psychological isolation, hyper-urbanization, moral anarchy, and political debilitation. These post-intellectual realities are all triggered by three underlying determinants: the failure of linear growth and expansion to sustain our economic system; the runaway information overload; and technological determinism. Wood presents a new and innovative social theory, challenging readers to analyze all our post-intellectual cultural malaise in terms of these three fundamental determinants.
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13.

The Mass Media and the Education of Students in a Democracy: Some Issues to Consider, in Social Studies » Read Now
by Robert Ferguson. 5 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library
14.

A Policy Research Paradigm for the News Media and Democracy, in Journal of Communication » Read Now
by W. Lance Bennett. 10 pgs.

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...Paradigm for the News Media and Democracy by W. Lance...communication in democracy. On the journalistic...idealistic media critics...another, the media gates open...heard...
15.

Communication and the Culture of Democracy: Global Media and Promotion of Democracy in the Middle East, in International Journal of Instructional Media » Read Now
by Jabbar Al-Obaidi. 14 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library
16.

Communication and Democracy: Exploring the Intellectual Frontiers in Agenda-Setting Theory » Read Now
by Maxwell McCombs, Donald L. Shaw, David Weaver. 274 pgs.

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