Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication, and Democracy
Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication, and Democracy
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媒体和政治参与：公民、沟通和民主
DOI：
10.5860/choice.47-1695
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发表时间：
2010
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Anthony Moretti
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Anthony Moretti
* 媒体与政治参与：公民、沟通与民主。彼得·达尔格伦。纽约：剑桥大学出版社，2009年。246页。24.99美元这本书更适合研究生课程或研讨会，但内容与任何关心媒体，政府，政治组织和公众之间联系的讲师或学生都相关。在这位审稿人看来，这是必读的阅读。Peter Dahlgren正确地指出，“没有公民最低程度的参与，民主就失去了合法性，并可能停止以合法的方式运作。当然，标记公民利益并不是民主衰落的唯一因素; Dahlgren补充说，媒体必须传播对任何民主国家健康发展重要的信息。当他们为了“信息娱乐”或其他二流的政治节目而回避这一责任时，他们选择了放弃自己的承诺。瑞典隆德大学的媒体研究教授达尔格伦说：“我们被媒体淹没了，其中大部分显然不是公开的公民导向。”“但达尔格伦也提醒我们，社会不应该指望媒体成为了解政府和政治机构信息的唯一机制。公众需要参与正式和非正式组织，从而增加对政治的关注和了解。有一点需要注意-意见领袖通常通过从媒体获得的信息为知情的公众进行必要的对话，在某些情况下创造了一个回音室，对公众话语的推进作用很小。达尔格伦在第二章“媒体变革”中对企业媒体的兴起以及政府对它的漠不关心--特别是在美国--如何让媒体组织把公益节目推到一边进行了复杂而彻底的回顾。这种向流行文化内容转变的影响之一是，政客们现在利用媒体来推进他们的政策立场，但也“推销他们的个性”。“具有讽刺意味的是，传统媒体正在失宠，因为公民使用许多交付平台收集信息。(Of当然，有了互联网，他们也能够发布自己的信息，无论这些信息多么不准确、固执己见或具有煽动性。）与此同时，他们关注那些肯定他们以前所持信仰的媒体。公众也可以不理会，达尔格伦警告说，这是脱离政治进程最有害的形式。这本书的一个元素，教师可以花相当多的时间与学生讨论是达尔格伦的公民参与和政治参与的定义。他没有充分地将这些术语与媒体联系起来，这种不完整的评估为课堂对话提供了另一个领域。…
* Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication, and Democracy. Peter Dahlgren. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 246 pp. $24.99 pbk. This book is more appropriate for graduate courses or seminars, but the content is relevant to any instructor or student who cares about the connections among the media, governments, political organizations, and the public. In the opinion of this reviewer, it is required reading. Peter Dahlgren correctly asserts that "[w]ithout a minimal level of involvement from its citizens, democracy loses legitimacy and may cease to function in a legitimate way." Flagging citizen interest is not the sole factor in charting democracy's decline, of course; Dahlgren adds that media must disseminate information important to the health of any democratic nation. When they skirt that responsibility in favor of "infotainment" or other second-rate presentations of political programming, they opt out of their commitment. "We are awash in media," observes Dahlgren, a media studies professor at Lund University in Sweden, "and most of it is obviously not overtly civicoriented." But Dahlgren also reminds us that society shouldn't expect the media to be the only mechanism for information about government and political agencies. The public needs to be engaged in formal and informal organizations that lead to increased attention to and knowledge of politics. There is one note of caution - opinion leaders typically generate the conversations necessary for an informed public through information they acquire from the media, creating in some cases an echo chamber that advances public discourse little. In his chapter 2, titled "Media Alterations," Dahlgren provides a complex, thorough review of the rise of corporate media and how governmental indifference to it - especially in the United States - allowed media organizations to push aside public-interest programming. One of the effects of this transformation to pop-culture content is that politicians now use the media to advance their policy stances but also to "market their personalities." Ironically, traditional media are falling out of favor as citizens use many delivery platforms for gathering information. (Of course, with the Internet, they also are able to distribute their own information, however inaccurate, opinionated, or inflammatory it might be.) At the same time, they attend to media that offer affirmation of their previously held beliefs. The public also can tune out, and Dahlgren warns this is the most toxic form of disengagement from the political process. One element of this book that instructors could spend considerable time discussing with students is Dahlgren's definitions of civic engagement and political engagement. He doesn't adequately connect these terms to the media, and this incomplete assessment provides another area for classroom conversation. …