Synopses & Reviews
Contemporary democracies are based on the belief that media can deliver the attention of the voting populations. But in an age of multiplying media, political disillusionment, and time-scarcity, is this plausible any longer? This book addresses this major question head on, drawing on the voices of people from the UK who were asked to write diaries about their experiences (or not) of 'public connection', as well as survey data and comparative research in the USA and elsewhere.
Review
"Nick Couldry, Sonia Livingstone, and Tim Markham apply a timely empirical lens to issues that have been taken-for-granted for too long. It has been too easy to assume a normative role for media in civic knowledge and participation in the face of evidence of decline and then to blame media for that decline. They show that the situation is much more subtle, nuanced, and complex than that; that while the media are central, media cannot alone address the broader conditions that strain a sense of public connection today." - Professor Stewart M. Hoover, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado "It is almost as if I had been waiting for precisely this book...it moves us beyond a number of lingering loose assumptions. With inspiring conceptual clarity, detailed empirical study, and a very accessible style, the authors explore the complex character of citizens' media connection in modern democracies." - Peter Dahlgren, Professor of media and Communication, Lund University, Sweden
Synopsis
Democracy is based on the belief that themedia gets the attention of voters. But is this plausible in an age of multiplying media, disillusionment with the political system and time-scarcity? This book addresses this question, and charts experiences of 'public connection'."
Synopsis
Democracy is based on the belief that the media gets the attention of voters. But is this plausible in an age of multiplying media, disillusionment with the political system and time-scarcity? This book, now available in paperback, addresses this question, and charts experiences of 'public connection'.
About the Author
NICK COULDRY is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. He is the author or editor of several books including
Media Rituals: A Critical Approach and
Listening Beyond the Echoes: Media, Ethics and Agency in an Uncertain World.
SONIA LIVINGSTONE is Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics, UK. She is the author or editor of many books including Young People and New Media, Making Sense of Television: the Psychology of Audience Interpretation (in its 2nd edition) and Handbook of New Media.
TIM MARKHAM is Lecturer in Journalism, Department of Continuing Education, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.
Table of Contents
List of Tables * List of Figures * Preface * PART I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS * Democracy and the Presumption of Attention * Media Consumption and Public Connection * Tracking Public Connection: Some Methodological Issues * PART II: THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT * Introduction * Mediated Public Connection: Broad Dynamics * The Variability of Media Use * Values, Talk and Action * Democracy Seen from Afar * Engagement and Mediation: Findings from the Public Connection Survey * PART III: CONCLUSION * Conclusion: the Future of Public Connection * Appendices * References * Index