• Table of Contents List of Contributors Introduction 1. The Intellectual Legacy of Elihu Katz James Curran and Tamar Liebes Section 1: Media and Ritual 2. Mass Communication, ritual and Civil Society Jeffrey C. Alexander and Ronald N. Jacobs 3. Political Ritual on Television: Episodes in the history of Shame, Degradation and Excommunication James W. Carey 4. Televisions Disaster Marathons: A Danger for Democratic Processes? Tamar Liebes Section 2: Media and Identity 5. Minorities, Majorities and the Media Larry Gross 6. Particularistic Media and Diasporic Communications Daniel Dayan 7. The Dialogic Community: Soul Talks Among Early Israeli Pioneering Groups Tamar Katriel 8. The Dialectics of Life, Story and Afterlife Yoram Bilu 9. Broadcasting in the Third World: From National Development to Civil Society Danial C. Hallin 10. Public Sphere or Public Sphericules? Todd Gitlin 11. Crisis of Public Communication: A Reappraisal James Curran 12. Public Journalism and the Search for Democratic Ideals Theodore L. Glasser and Stephanie Craft 13. Promoting Peace Through the News Media: Some Initial Lessons from the Oslo Peace Process Gadi Wolfsfeld Section 4: Audience Research: Past and Future 14. Relationships between Media and Audiences: Prospects for Audience Reception Studies Sonia Livingstone

'If one is looking for a good syntheses of some of the major debates in media studies, this will be a rewarding and interesting book.' - Robert A. White, Media Development'This is a collection which earns its place on the media research bookshelf.' - John Corner, European Journal of Cultural Studies'An unusually good anthology.' - European Journal of Communication'Excellent book from which to teach a graduate seminar.' - European Journal of Communication