A Stage For Debate

A Stage for Debate presents a detailed analysis of the repertoire of the leading German-language stage of the nineteenth century, Vienna’s Burgtheater. The book explores the extent to which the Burgtheater repertoire contributed to important political and cultural debates on individual liberty, the role of women in society, and the understanding of national and regional identity. The relevance of the Burgtheater as a forum for political debate is assessed not by the degree to which the performed plays transgressed established norms, but by the range of positions that were voiced on a given topic. Martin Wagner investigates the roughly 1,000 plays from across Europe that were introduced to the Burgtheater’s repertoire between 1814 and 1867 by combining a general overview with detailed interpretations of especially successful plays. Wagner reveals that the Burgtheater was significantly more involved in contemporary debates than the stereotype of this stage as an artistically refined but apolitical institution suggests. Drawing from theatre studies and German and Austrian studies more broadly, A Stage for Debate revises the history of one of Europe’s leading theatres.

This book examines Vienna's Burgtheater, the most prestigious German-language stage in the nineteenth century.

Since their inception, the presidential debates Americans have watched on television were carefully negotiated. This book closely examines a previously unexamined type of political communication, presidential debate negotiation. While it has been widely known that all general election presidential debates since 1960 have been negotiated by the participating candidates, no one has ever completed a systematic study of them. In particular, the 1960, 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988 negotiations were examined in detail. For each of these election cycles, a comprehensive narrative of what occurred during the pre-debate negotiations was constructed based on primary source materials, media accounts, and other secondary sources. Comparisons across election cycles were made in order to draw some conclusions about presidential debate negotiation. Presidential debate negotiations are not just negotiations, but rather also a form of political rhetoric for several different players. The research concluded that that there are five contexts in which presidential debate rhetoric occurs and the rhetoric is aimed at two audiences. Within each context, the functions and strategies of the rhetoric were discussed and explained from the perspective of the sponsor of the debate(s), the candidates and their representatives, as well as the media.

Exploring the controversy surrounding therapeutic human cloning, this book draws upon data collected from news articles and interviews with journalists to examine the role of mass media in shaping biomedical controversies. With specific reference to the US and the UK as two leading scientific nations grappling with the global issue of therapeutic cloning, together with attention to the important role played by nations in Southeast Asia, this book sheds light on media representations of scientific developments, the unrealistic hype that can surround them, the influence of religion and the potentially harmful imposition of journalistic and nationalist values on the scientific field. Empirically grounded and theoretically innovative, The Therapeutic Cloning Debate will appeal to social scientists across a range of disciplines with interests in science communication, public engagement, cultural and media studies, science politics, science journalism, the sociology of expert knowledge and risk. It will also appeal to scientists, journalists, policymakers and others interested in how news media frame science for the public.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this volume, 15 contributions discuss the role or roles of early modern ('literacy' and non-literary) forms of theatre in the formation of public opinion or its use in making statements in public or private debates.

sharp satire of the presidential debate that changes the course of electoral politics (and the news business) forever--by Jim Lehrer, who has been a moderator of past presidential debates. The targets of this satire--religious fundamentalists, political handlers, self-important journalists, feral network programming heads--could not be more timely.