Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere

Peter Dahlgren, Colin Sparks

Routledge, 1993 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 266 pages

Communication and Citizenship addresses a question which is increasingly at the centre of academic and journalistic debate: to what extent are the media in modern societies able to help citizens learn about the world, debate their responses to it and reach informed decisions about what courses of action to adopt? Can the media play a role in the formation of a public sphere at a time when public service broadcasting is under attack, and the popular press plays to the market with an output of celebrity gossip and sensationalized reporting?

About the author

In the course of my research, I have worked with and advised the European Union, Unesco, the Open Society Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the British Council, Universities in the US, Europe and East Asia, and many other organisations, academic, official, and non-governmental. I have participated actively in the professional associations of the field, both nationally and internationally. I was one of the founders of Media, Culture and Society, and I continue to play an active role as managing editor, as well as editing issues on a regular basis. I was a founder of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. I have organised several of its colloquia, and edited themed issues of its journal Javnost/The Public. In 2004, I took the initiative to launch an open access journal Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, on whose editorial board I serve. My current research interests include the comparative study of media systems undergoing rapid change. I am particularly interested in comparing the media systems of post-communist countries with those of other societies that have moved away from different forms of dictatorship towards more democratic forms of political rule. My other major current interest is in theories of media and communication.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere; Communication and society
• Editors: Peter Dahlgren, Colin Sparks
• Contributor: Colin Sparks
• Edition: reprint, revised
• Publisher: Routledge, 1993
• ISBN: 0415100674, 9780415100670
• Length: 266 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism; Social Science / Media Studies