This work brings together leading international media critics to examine the role of the media in society, its part in shaping social identities, and the ways in which it is changing democracy, providing a series of case studies, from the staging of US presidential election campaigns to broadcasting in the developing world. The contributors, who include James Curran, James Carey, Tamar Liebes, Larry Gross, Daniel C. Hallin, Sonia Livingstone and Todd Gitlin, engage with key questions such as: do the media offer a common framework of understanding, and strengthen social unity? Or do they promote a lynch mentality against public enemies, staging rituals of degradation and shame? Do the media help civil society to function for the benefit of all, or for the powerful few? The book draws upon cultural anthropology to offer a different view of media and identity to that which is dominant in cultural studies orthodoxy, and it investigates the future for liberal democracy in an age of globalization, with the fragmentation of the mass audience, the weakening of the nation state and the tabloidization of the media.

Media, Ritual and Identity examines the role of the media in society; its complex influence on democratic processes and its participation in the construction and affirmation of different social identities.
It draws extensively upon cultural anthropology and combines a commanding overview of contemporary media debates with a series of fascinating case studies ranging from political ritual on television to broadcasting in the third world.

Contesting Media Power is the most ambitious international collection to date on the worldwide growth of alternative media that are challenging the power concentration in large media corporations. Media scholars and political scientists develop a broad comparative framework for analyzing alternative media in Australia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Topics include independent media centers, gay online networks and alternative web discussion forums, feminist film, political journalism and social networks, indigenous communication, and church-sponsored media. This important book will help shape debates on the media's role in current global struggles, such as the anti-globalization movement.