As democracy encounters increasing difficulties, many citizens are turning to the domain of alternative politics and, in doing so, making considerable use of the Web and other new communication technologies. Clearly this is having significant impact, and new modes of political participation and even political cultures are emerging. In this volume, Peter Dahlgren analyses various factors that shape such Web-facilitated participation, including features of the Web itself as well as broader societal realities.

As democracy encounters increasing difficulties, many citizens are turning to the domain of alternative politics, and in so doing, making considerable use of the Web and other new communication technologies. Clearly this is having significant impact, and we see that new modes of political participation and even political cultures are emerging. Yet, we would be foolish to expect some simple 'techno-fix' for democracy; its problems are more complex than that. This volume analyses various factors that shape such Web-facilitated participation, including features of the Web itself as well as broader societal realities. Avoiding simplistic optimism or pessimism, the discussion highlights the tensions and force-fields that impact on participation. The presentation also addresses several key topics in regard to citizens' engagement, such as civic subjectivity, web intellectuals, and cosmopolitanism. While anchored in an extensive literature and wide theoretical vistas, the book is written in a clear and accessible style.

Contents:
Contributors: Ian Connell, Ann N. Crigler, James Curran, Peter Dahlgren, Klaus Jakubowicz, Todd Gitlin, Michael Gurevitch, Suzanne Hasselbach, Mark R. Levy, Paolo Mancini, John M. Phelan, Vincent Porter, Itzhak Roeh, Colin Sparks, Liesbet van Zoonen

- A concise and engaging textbook for students offering an original perspective on a concept that is a site of much industry and scholarly debate. - Combining work on both political media and entertainment, with an emphasis on social media, this is ideal for a range of undergraduate courses, particularly those exploring media audiences, media industries, social media and society and political engagement. - Each chapter includes a brief introduction, a conclusion with key points, sub headings, and a broad range of international case studies that show how the points of the chapter can work in practice for media engagement analysis.

- A concise and engaging textbook for students offering an original perspective on a concept that is a site of much industry and scholarly debate. - Combining work on both political media and entertainment, with an emphasis on social media, this is ideal for a range of undergraduate courses, particularly those exploring media audiences, media industries, social media and society and political engagement. - Each chapter includes a brief introduction, a conclusion with key points, sub headings, and a broad range of international case studies that show how the points of the chapter can work in practice for media engagement analysis.

This book integrates four distinct topics: young people, citizenship, new media, and learning processes. When taken together, these four topics merge to define an arena of social and research attention that has become compelling in recent years.

The general international concern expressed of declining democratic engagement and the role of citizenship today becomes all the more acute when it turns to younger people. At the same time, there is growing attention being paid to the potential of new media - especially internet and mobile telephony - to play a role in facilitating newer forms of political participation. It is clear that many of the present manifestations of 'new politics' in the extra parliamentarian domain, not only make sophisticated use of such media, but are indeed highly dependent on them.

With an impressive array of contributors, this book will appeal to those interested in a number of spheres, including media and cultural studies, political science, pedagogy, and sociology.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

One of the most difficult problems facing Western democracy today is the decline in citizens' political engagement. There are many elements that contribute to this, including fundamental socio-cultural changes. The book summarizes these contexts and situates itself within them, while focusing on the media's key role in shaping the character of civic engagement. In particular, it examines the new interactive electronic media in terms of their civic potential. Looking at the evolution of the media landscape, the book interrogates key notions such citizenship, public sphere, agency, identity, deliberation, and practice, and offers a multi-dimensional analytic framework called 'civic cultures'. This framework is then applied to several settings, including television, popular culture, journalism, the EU, and global activism, to illuminate the role of the media in deflecting and enhancing political engagement, as well as in contributing to new forms of political involvement and new understandings of what constitutes the political.

This book integrates four distinct topics: young people, citizenship, new media, and learning processes. When taken together, these four topics merge to define an arena of social and research attention that has become compelling in recent years. The general international concern expressed of declining democratic engagement and the role of citizenship today becomes all the more acute when it turns to younger people. At the same time, there is growing attention being paid to the potential of new media - especially internet and mobile telephony - to play a role in facilitating newer forms of political participation. It is clear that many of the present manifestations of 'new politics' in the extra parliamentarian domain, not only make sophisticated use of such media, but are indeed highly dependent on them. With an impressive array of contributors, this book will appeal to those interested in a number of spheres, including media and cultural studies, political science, pedagogy, and sociology.

One of the most difficult problems facing Western democracy today is the decline in citizens political engagement. There are many elements that contribute to this, including fundamental socio-cultural changes. The book summarizes these contexts and situates itself within them, while focusing on the media s key role in shaping the character of civic engagement. In particular, it examines the new interactive electronic media in terms of their civic potential. Looking at the evolution of the media landscape, the book interrogates key notions such citizenship, public sphere, agency, identity, deliberation, and practice, and offers a multi-dimensional analytic framework called civic cultures . This framework is then applied to several settings, including television, popular culture, journalism, the EU, and global activism, to illuminate the role of the media in deflecting and enhancing political engagement, as well as in contributing to new forms of political involvement and new understandings of what constitutes the political.

Combining institutional textual and audience analysis, this book introduces students to the factors which have shaped television's development in contemporary Europe, and invites them to assess the issues that are at stake in its future. Divided into three parts, the book moves from the European broadcasting environment, through current patterns and trends in programming and programme making, to TV genres and issue-specific broadcasting. Incorporating a range of pedagogical devices: boxes of key facts, activities and notes for further reading, Television across Europe offers an essential introductory guide to television in Western Europe.

Understanding the function and health of contemporary political systems requires an appreciation of the media's role in general, and of the most influential form of mass media in particular: television. In his broad-ranging text, Television and the Public Sphere, Peter Dahlgren both clarifies the underlying theoretical concepts of civil society and the public sphere and relates these to a critical analysis of the practice of television as journalism, as information, and as entertainment. Dahlgren demonstrates the limits and the possibilities of television and the formats of popular journalism and connects these to the audience's potential to interpret, resist, or construct its own meanings. What does a realistic understanding of television's functions and capabilities imply for people and democracy in a mediated age? Relating social and cultural theory of mediated societies to the actual realities of televised communication, Television and the Public Sphere is essential reading for scholars and students in media and communication studies, sociology, and politics of the media.

In counterpoint to conventional examinations of images of journalism which tend to concentrate on its informational role in the political process, this book provides a lively analysis of journalism in its other guise - as entertainment.

In a series of interrelated studies, the authors examine the theoretical problems in assessing popular journalism and consider common examples of its manifestations - its relationship to media stars, the coverage of sport, and the presentation of news in a popular' form.