Media, Crisis and Democracy
Mass Communication and the Disruption of Social Order
- Marc Raboy - University of Montreal, Canada
- Bernard Dagenais - Laval University, Quebec
They examine the relationship between communication and civil society through a number of actual cases of media responses to `crises', ranging from the Gulf War of 1991 to recent events in Eastern Europe. Individual examples of mediated crises emphasize the complexities of understanding the role of the media in struggles of identity around nationality, ethnicity and gender.
`[A] very useful collection of essays.... More thematically coherent than many such volumes.... The book is quite topical and readable, considering its depth; most of the authors avoid turgid jargon or intellectual dandyism.... Not just required reading for academic specialists - it is also accessible to motivated journalists and senior undergraduates. It definitely has a place as a supplementary text in courses on media/ideology, socio-political conflict, and social movements' - Canadian Journal of Communication
`Required reading for anyone with an eye on the future of government... the volume breathes new life into the debate emerging in the wake of events in France in May 1968' - Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
`Gives the reader a wealth of thought-provoking analyses of the concept of crisis and the relationship of the concept to society, to the governing of the body politic and to the mass media.... This book will help all students of crises, politics and the media gain greater insights' - Canadian Journal of Political Science
`An interesting and, on occasion, important discussion of the crucial relationship between media and democracy' - Political Studies