The Media And Public Life

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 In this lucid and intelligent guide, John Nerone traces the history of the media in public life. His unconventional account decenters professional journalism from its central role in providing information to the people and reconceives it as part of a broader set of media practices that work together to represent the public. The result is a sensitive study of the relationship between media and society that sheds light on the past, present and future of news and public life. The book demonstrates clearly that the media have always been deeply embedded in social, economic, and political institutions and structures. Large transformations and historical shifts are brought to life in the book through closer study of key moments of change such as the rise of liberal political institutions, the market revolution, the industrial revolution, bureaucratization and professionalization, globalization, and the ongoing digital revolution. By integrating theoretical concepts with detailed and vivid historical examples, Nerone shows how print and news media became entangled with public institutions. The Media and Public Life brings new light on the ways in which people have understood the meaning of a free and democratic media system. It is essential reading for all students and scholars of media, history and society.

This distinctive volume offers a thorough examination of the ways in which meaning comes to be shaped. Editors Stephen Reese, Oscar Gandy, and August Grant employ an interdisciplinary approach to the study of conceptualizing and examining media. They illustrate how texts and those who provide them powerfully shape, or "frame," our social worlds and thus affect our public life. Embracing qualitative and quantitative, visual and verbal, and psychological and sociological perspectives, this book helps media consumers develop a multi-faceted understanding of media power, especially in the realm of news and public affairs.

The original edition of Public Journalism and Public Life, published in 1995, was the first comprehensive argument in favor of public journalism. Designed to focus the discussion about public journalism both within and outside the profession, the book has accomplished its purpose. In the ensuing years, the debate has continued; dozens of newspapers and thousands of journalists have been experimenting with the philosophy, while others still dispute its legitimacy. This larger second edition further develops the philosophy, responds to the arguments against it, outlines how specific principles can be applied, and explains the importance of public deliberation and the role of values in public journalism. Divided into three sections, it can be used as a supplement to the first edition or as a starting point for those being newly introduced to the ideas that have been the subject of debate within the profession and among those interested and involved in civic life at all levels. Section 1 summarizes two major arguments -- why journalism and public life are inseparably bound in success or failure and why the way journalism operates in the current environment fosters failure more often than success. Section 2 looks at the evolution of the profession's culture, its impact on the author's extensive career, and how he grew to believe that substantive change is needed in journalism. Section 3 deals with the implications of public journalism philosophy -- how it requires the application of additional values to daily work, its evolution in the early years and where its current focus should be, plus various questions about the future of cyberspace.

For over a decade the "Media Studies Journal "has joined in the debate about the media and proposed solutions to problems that divide the media and the public. Its contributions by leading figures in print and other media have helped better professional, scholarly, and public understanding of the media's role in society. During this time, the world has experienced vast changes, with the end of the cold war and the rise of democracies and market economies almost every where--conditions that have generally benefited freedom of expression. "Media and Public Life "is a retrospective of ten years of some of the most arresting published work derived from the "Media Studies Journal." Some of the journal's most enduring essays appear in this volume. Among them are: "How Vast the Wasteland Now?" by Newton N. Minow; "In the South--When It Mattered to Be an Editor" by Dudley Clendinen; "Seething in Silence--News in Black and White" by Ellis Cose; "Requiem for the Boys on the Bus" by Maureen Dowd; "The Flickering Images That May Drive Presidents" by Robert MacNeil; and "The Inevitable Global Conversation" by Walter B. Wriston. "Media and Public Life "reflects the diversity of issues and perspectives that has been a trademark of the "Media Studies Journal. "The chapters aptly depict the growing field of communication and media studies. Many ideas are taken into consideration, including the great functions of communication (like information, opinion, entertainment, and publicity), trends (such as news in the post-cold war period), and specific industries (such as radio and book publishing). Throughout the book the consequences and impact of media institutions on society and public life are maintained. "Media and Public Life "will be of value to communications specialists, media studies scholars, and sociologists.

Outlines the complex interactions between journalists and politicians, media organizations and government, which play such an important role in creating our public culture. There is a focus on Australian issues but the book also considers the British media and and the growing influence of America.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 In this lucid and intelligent guide, John Nerone traces the history of the media in public life. His unconventional account decenters professional journalism from its central role in providing information to the people and reconceives it as part of a broader set of media practices that work together to represent the public. The result is a sensitive study of the relationship between media and society that sheds light on the past, present and future of news and public life. The book demonstrates clearly that the media have always been deeply embedded in social, economic, and political institutions and structures. Large transformations and historical shifts are brought to life in the book through closer study of key moments of change such as the rise of liberal political institutions, the market revolution, the industrial revolution, bureaucratization and professionalization, globalization, and the ongoing digital revolution. By integrating theoretical concepts with detailed and vivid historical examples, Nerone shows how print and news media became entangled with public institutions. The Media and Public Life brings new light on the ways in which people have understood the meaning of a free and democratic media system. It is essential reading for all students and scholars of media, history and society.

The daily news plays a major role in the continuously changing mix of thoughts, feelings and behavior that defines public opinion. The News & Public Opinion details these effects of the news media on the sequence of outcomes that collectively shape public opinion, beginning with initial attention to the various news media and their contents and extending to the effects of this exposure on the acquisition of information, formation of attitudes and opinions and to the consequences of all these elements for participation in public life. Sometimes called the hierarchy of media effects, this sequence of outcomes describes the communication process involved in the formation of public opinion. Although the media landscape is undergoing rapid change, key elements remain the same, and The News & Public Opinion emphasizes these basic principles of communication established over decades of empirical social science investigations into the impact of mass communication on public opinion. The primary audience for this book is students, both advanced undergraduates and graduate students, as well as members of the general public who want to understand the role of the news media in our civic life.

Democracy is based on the belief that the media gets the attention of voters. But is this plausible in an age of multiplying media, disillusionment with the political system and time-scarcity? This book addresses this question, and charts experiences of 'public connection'.