New Television Networks Background Reports

In a culture where the media provide a steady diet of stories of conflict, this collection is among the first to study the phenomenon of conflict itself as well as its relationship with the media. Mary S. Mander's introduction provides an intellectually rich foundation for this diverse exploration of the nature and implications of studying media and social conflict. Contributors address such topics as the black press and the black community, industrial and institutional control of television programming, and media depictions of police-mediated hostage negotiation. Framing Friction is both a comparison of current modes of communications research and a persuasive call to move beyond conceiving of conflict as a state of dysfunction. These essays bring a new and invigorating perspective to the role of conflict, describing it as a constructive rather than a destructive social force.