The Media and the Public explores the ways a range of media, from the press to television to the Internet, have constructed and represented the public.
Provides a new synthesis of recent research exploring the relationship between media and their publics
Identifies ways in which different publics are subverting the gatekeeping of mainstream media in order to find a voice and communicate with others
Situates contemporary media-public discourse and relationships in an historical context in order to show the origin of contemporary public/political engagement
Creates a theoretical expansion on the role of the media in accessing or denying the articulation of public voices, and the ways in which publics are harnessing new media formats to produce richer and more complex forms of political engagement
About the Author
Stephen Coleman is Professor of Political Communication and Co-Director of the Centre for Digital Citizenship, Institute for Communications Studies, University of Leeds. He is the author of The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice, and Policy (with Jay G. Blumler, 2009) and Public Trust in the News: A Constructivist Study of the Social Life of News (with David Morrison and Scott Anthony, 2009).
Karen Ross is Professor of Media and Public Communication at the University of Liverpool. She has written and edited many books, including Gendered Media: Women, Men and Identity Politics (2009), Popular Communication: Essays on Publics, Practices and Processes (2008), Rethinking Media Education: Critical Pedagogy and Identity Politics (2007), and Women and Media: Critical Issues (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006).
Features
Explores the ways a range of media, from the press to television to the Internet, have constructed and represented the public in
Situates contemporary media-public discourse and relationships in an historical context in order to show the origin of contemporary public/political engagement
Explores the role of the media in accessing or denying the articulation of public voices, and the ways in which publics are harnessing new media formats to produce richer and more complex forms of political engagement
Part of the ICA Communication in the Public Interest Series,and meant to be accessible to interested lay-readers, policy makers, and students, as well as scholars working in communication, media, sociology, and political science
