Description
Book SynopsisWe are living in a period of great uncertainty. Votes for Brexit and Trump, along with widespread political volatility, are not only causing turmoil; they are signs that many long-predicted tipping points in media and politics have been reached. Such changes have worrying implications for democracies everywhere.
In this text, Aeron Davis bridges old and new to map the shifts and analyse what they mean for our aging democracies. Why are volatile, polarized electorates no longer prepared to support established political parties? Why are large parts of the legacy media either dying or dismissed as 'fake news'? How is social media rapidly rewriting the rules? And why do some democratic leaders look more like dictators, and pollsters and economists more like fortune tellers? These questions and more are addressed in the book.
Political Communication: A New Introduction for Crisis Times both introduces and challenges the established literature. It will appeal to advanced students, scholars and anyone else trying to understand the precarious state of today's media and political landscape.
Trade Review‘Liberal democracy is in the midst of a crisis in which media of all kinds are implicated in complex and multiple ways. Aeron Davis's book helps us understand why. This is essential reading for students of political communication.’
Andrew Chadwick, Loughborough University and author of The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power
‘This remarkable book brings political communication up to date by tracing the field from early models of press systems and the public sphere to the present era of democratic disruption. The comparative perspective is refreshing and well done. The insightful political analyses make core concepts come alive and point to new frameworks for understanding digital media and the disinformation age. Davis has written a classic.’
Lance Bennett, University of Washington
