One of the most difficult problems facing Western democracy today is the decline in citizens political engagement. There are many elements that contribute to this, including fundamental socio-cultural changes. The book summarizes these contexts and situates itself within them, while focusing on the media s key role in shaping the character of civic engagement. In particular, it examines the new interactive electronic media in terms of their civic potential. Looking at the evolution of the media landscape, the book interrogates key notions such citizenship, public sphere, agency, identity,...

Peter Dahlgren clarifies the underlying theoretical concepts of civil society and the public sphere, and relates these to a critical analysis of the practice of television as journalism, as information and as entertainment. He demonstrates the limits and the possibilities of the television medium and the formats of popular journalism.

As democracy encounters difficulties, many citizens are turning to the domain of alternative politics and, in so doing, making considerable use of the new communication technologies. This volume analyses the various factors that shape such participation, and addresses such key topics as civic subjectivity, web intellectuals, and cosmopolitanism.

Hallowed in course titles and leveraged in the nomenclature of international organizations, yet unfit to bring any clarification or synthesis that actually provides structure, the objectifying expression communication internationale has no scientific value, except as a research object. Yet, the expression bears meanings that must urgently be put into perspective, since it lends itself to discursive construct which often varies greatly according to the crossed-and often masked-interests of an ever-increasing number of actors on a global scale and based on the political-cultural fields...

Hallowed in course titles and leveraged in the nomenclature of international organizations, yet unfit to bring any clarification or synthesis that actually provides structure, the objectifying expression communication internationale has no scientific value, except as a research object. Yet, the expression bears meanings that must urgently be put into perspective, since it lends itself to discursive construct which often varies greatly according to the crossed-and often masked-interests of an ever-increasing number of actors on a global scale and based on the political-cultural fields...