Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Preface; PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS; Chapter 1 The Panoply of Political Communication; Palin and Political Media; A Contemporary Approach; Normative Theories of Democracy; Classical Direct Democracy; Liberal Democracy; Deliberative Democracy; Pulling the Democratic Strands Together; Political Communication: A Critical Approach; Perspectives; Plan and Goals of this Book; Conclusions; Chapter 2 What Is Political Communication?; Defining Political Communication; Contemporary Political Communication
Political Communication Involves Three Key Players: Leaders, Media, and the PublicPolitics Is Played on a Media Platform; Technology Is a Centerpiece of Political Communication; Political Communication Has Gone Global; Political Communication Can Be a Force of Good and Evil; Themes and Questions; Conclusions; Chapter 3 The Study of Political Communication; Early History of Political Communication Scholarship; Lippmann's Insights; ABCs of Propaganda; The Pendulum Swings; Influence in Illinois; Joseph Klapper Makes His Statement; A New Perspective; A New Set of Questions
Pulling It All TogetherSocial Science and Political Communication; Research Methodologies; Content Analysis; Experiment; Survey; Conclusions; Chapter 4 Media and Political Knowledge; What Do Americans Know about Politics?; Why Do People Know So Little?; The Case for a Minimally Informed Citizenry; Media and Political Knowledge; Mass Communication Perspective; Psychological Approach; Sociological Approach; Putting It Together; Political Knowledge in the Age of the Internet; Conclusions; Chapter 5 Contemporary Political Socialization; Themes in Political Socialization
Studying Political SocializationImpact of Televised ""Backstage"" Portrayals; Interpersonal Communication Dynamics; Family Communication; Schools; Media: From News to Satire; Impact of Media Satire on Youth; New Media and Political Engagement; Conclusions; PART TWO: POLITICAL NEWS; Chapter 6 Agenda-Setting; Introduction to Agenda-Setting; Do the Data Support Agenda-Setting?; Evidence for Causation; Consequences of Agenda-Setting: The Power of Priming; Priming Revisited; Conclusions; Chapter 7 Agenda-Building; The Big Picture; Media, Public, and Policy Agendas; What Shaped the Media Agenda?
Agenda-Building and PolicymakingPolicy Impact; What's Next? Agenda-Building in the Digital Age; Conventional Media Still Matter; Conclusions; Chapter 8 Framing; What Framing Means; Social Scientific Underpinnings; Theory and Research; When Do Frames Work?; Macro Aspects of Framing; Framing Wars: The War on Terror; Initial Horror and Response; Indexing and News Media Subservience during the Military Build-Up; News, Indexing, and the Horrors at Abu Ghraib; Cascading Frames: News Media Challenge the Status Quo; Summary and Evaluation; Conclusions
Summary
What impact do news and political advertising have on us? How do candidates use media to persuade us as voters? Are we informed adequately about political issues? Do 21st-century political communications measure up to democratic ideals? The Dynamics of Political Communication: Media and Politics in a Digital Age explores these issues and guides us through current political communication theories and beliefs. Author Richard M. Perloff details the fluid landscape of political communication and offers us an engaging introduction to the field and a thorough tour of the d
