How Media Inform Democracy

Toril Aalberg is Associate Professor of Media Sociology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.James Curran is Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. He is the author or editor of 20 books about the media, some in conjunction with others. These include Media and Democracy (Routledge, 2011), Media and Society, 5th edition (2010, Bloomsbury), Power Without Responsibility, 7th edition (with Jean Seaton, 2010, Routledge) and Media and Power (2002, Routledge), translated into five languages.

• I: Introduction 1: How Media Inform Democracy: Central Debates, Toril Aalberg and James Curran 2: Research Design, Toril Aalberg, Zan Strabac and Tove Brekken II: How Media Provides Political Information 3: Media Systems and the Political Information Environment. A Cross-National Comparisons, Toril Aalberg, Peter van Aelst and James Curran 4: The Political Information Environment during Election Campaigns, Peter van Aelst, Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud and Toril Aalberg 5: News Substance: The Relative Importance of Soft and De-contextualized News, Tove Brekken, Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud and Toril Aalberg III: How Media Affects Public Knowledge And Perceptions 6: News Content, Media Use and Current Affairs Knowledge, James Curran, Sharon Coen, Toril Aalberg and Shanto Iyengar 7: Media, Political Trust and Political Knowledge: A Comparative Perspective, Kees Aarts, Audun Fladmoe and Jesper Strömbäck 8: Does Knowledge of Hard News go with Knowledge of Soft News? A Cross-National Analysis of the Structure of Public Affairs Knowledge, Kyu S. Hahn, Shanto Iyengar, Peter van Aelst and James Curran 9: Informed Citizens, Media Use and Public Knowledge of Parties Policy Positions, Anders Todal Jenssen, Toril Aalberg and Kees Aarts 10: The Financial Crises as a Global News Event: Cross-National Media Coverage and Public Knowledge of Economic Affairs, Jesper Strömbäck, Anders Todal Jenssen and Toril Aalberg 11: News Consumption and Public Opposition to Immigration across Countries, Zan Strabac, Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud and Anders Todal Jenssen 12: Conclusion, Toril Aalberg and James Curran

'The book is rich with interesting findings...a vital addition to both scholars and society.' – MichaelKarlsson, Global Media Journal