Media Perspectives for the 21st Century brings together key international scholars to explore concepts, topics and issues concerning the communication environment in contemporary democratic societies. It combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to provide an interdisciplinary and truly global perspective that reflects the trends, theories and issues in current media and communication research.

The collection raises significant questions about the study of the media by challenging approaches to major media and societal issues, and analyses in more depth the range of concerns that shape both the present and the future media landscape and the issues these can create for communication. It also investigates the main effects of technological developments on the domain of the news media and journalism.

Divided into two main sections, Part I provides accounts of the role of the media in society, and deals with agendas that affect the field of communications studies. Part II goes on to examine the world of new media and offers analyses on the developments of the 21st century. Chapters deal with various dimensions of media from a number of different perspectives and socio-political contexts, covering a wide range of topics including Social Networking, Political Communication, Public Journalism, Global Infotainment and Consumer Culture.

Media Perspectives for the 21st Century will be highly useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers and academics, in the fields of media and communication studies, mass communication, journalism and new media.

This open access book traces the evolution of the European media landscape in the last 30 years, from 1990 to 2020. It is based on the theoretical classical hypotheses of regional media systems provided by Hallin and Mancini and at the same time puts them to test. The book further defines the proportions between geocultural patterns – national, regional, European, and global – to outline evolutionary trends in media landscapes. It analyzes to which degree European media have become more European, in the historical course of administrative unification and breaks the results down into concrete indexes and indicators.  The book discusses the media systems of the member states of the European Union through a regional perspective, identifying similarities, differences, as well as their convergence in the digital age. It sheds light on the evolution of media systems in Europe, introduces existing relevant theoretical perspectives, and offers an overview of the new developments in European media. The book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of political science, communication, media, cultural, and policy studies, as well as practitioners and professionals interested in a better understanding of the European media landscape's evolution.

This open access book traces the evolution of the European media landscape in the last 30 years, from 1990 to 2020. It is based on the theoretical classical hypotheses of regional media systems provided by Hallin and Mancini and at the same time puts them to test. The book further defines the proportions between geocultural patterns – national, regional, European, and global – to outline evolutionary trends in media landscapes. It analyzes to which degree European media have become more European, in the historical course of administrative unification and breaks the results down into concrete indexes and indicators.  The book discusses the media systems of the member states of the European Union through a regional perspective, identifying similarities, differences, as well as their convergence in the digital age. It sheds light on the evolution of media systems in Europe, introduces existing relevant theoretical perspectives, and offers an overview of the new developments in European media. The book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of political science, communication, media, cultural, and policy studies, as well as practitioners and professionals interested in a better understanding of the European media landscape's evolution.

Media Perspectives for the 21st Century brings together key international scholars to explore concepts, topics and issues concerning the communication environment in contemporary democratic societies. It combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to provide an interdisciplinary and truly global perspective that reflects the trends, theories and issues in current media and communication research.

The collection raises significant questions about the study of the media by challenging approaches to major media and societal issues, and analyses in more depth the range of concerns that shape both the present and the future media landscape and the issues these can create for communication. It also investigates the main effects of technological developments on the domain of the news media and journalism.

Divided into two main sections, Part I provides accounts of the role of the media in society, and deals with agendas that affect the field of communications studies. Part II goes on to examine the world of new media and offers analyses on the developments of the 21st century. Chapters deal with various dimensions of media from a number of different perspectives and socio-political contexts, covering a wide range of topics including Social Networking, Political Communication, Public Journalism, Global Infotainment and Consumer Culture.

Media Perspectives for the 21st Century will be highly useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers and academics, in the fields of media and communication studies, mass communication, journalism and new media.

Culture, politics, economics and technology all impact upon policy decisions. To investigate the factors that influence communications policy, however, one has to go beyond conventional views of media and communication studies and combine these with policy studies. Communications Policy: Theories and Issues utilizes new research to highlight key debates and developments, and addresses a broad spectrum of contemporary concerns regarding the structure and the organization of communications systems in the past, present and future. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical research findings, this comprehensive text explores the contemporary theories and issues in communications policy that affect all democratic societies as they seek to address the challenges of emerging information and communications technologies. Featuring contributions from distinguished authors across a range of media disciplines, Communications Policy introduces challenging ideas about how communications should be structured in the future and is essential reading for all policy makers, researchers and students of communications policy. Editors: Stylianos Papathanassopoulos is Professor in Media Organization at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is the author of Television in the 21st Century (2005), Media and Politics (2004) and European Television in the Digital Age: Issues, Dynamics and Realities (2002). Ralph Negrine is Professor of Political Communication in the Journalism Studies Department at the University of Sheffield. His previous books include The Transformation of Political Communication (Palgrave, 2008), Television and the Press Since 1945 (1999) and The Communication of Politics (1996). Contributors: Bram Abramson, Johannes M. Bauer, Sandra Braman, Dom Caristi, Alistair Duff, Gisela Gil-Egui, Alison Harcourt, Jackie Harrison, Robert W. McChesney, Serge Proulx, Marc Raboy, Concetta M. Stewart, Yan Tian and Roxanne Welters.

This work examines the political choices that surround the new technologies of telecommunications and broadcasting, and focuses on the essential issues of who determines how they are implemented and why, as well as who benefits from them. In its study of the distributional potential of these technologies, the book concentrates on the political and economic interests that are in conflict over the possibilities, and, in particular, on the ways in which the American and European governments have attempted to innovate, organize, and control information technology, telecommunications, and broadcasting. The technological innovation backed by industrialized governments, the authors contend, has largely served political and military interests rather than those of the general population. Written from the perspective of the individual citizen, the book argues that the emphasis by governments on industrial leadership has preempted concern for access, information, and accountability. Among the issues discussed are the impact that the globalization of industry is having on national sovereignty; the evolution of three international trading blocs through the standardization of high definition television and digital networks; the politics of cable and satellite transmission; and the convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications. This work offers a unique linkage between telecommunications, broadcasting, and information technology, and it argues that governments have lost sight of the informational underpinnings of the democratic process. Students of politics, international relations, political economy, and media studies will find this book to be an invaluable resource.

Has the communication of politics become professionalised? Who are the 'professionals' and what part do they play in the political process? Can the process of professionalisation be observed in different political systems? These, and related questions, about the changing nature of practices in political communication are explored in this book that looks at developments across a number of different countries. The different ways in which the idea of the professionalisation of political communication has been commonly used is explored and the authors develop a framework for understanding changing practices in political communication and in different contexts, for example, in respect of political campaigns and elections in general, and in respect of communication by governments. It is also focuses on these same themes in specific countries: Germany, France, Britain, Greece, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Sweden.