Media Politics

Iyengar (political science, Stanford U.) offers a comprehensive introduction to the relatively recent co-evolution of media and politics in the United States. He describes media strategies for winning elections and policy debates, documents the success and failure of different strategies, and, perhaps most importantly, underscores the liabilities of media-based politics and how to make news coverage of elections and governance itself more focused on substantial issues. He critiques the privatization of the media and the consequent abandonment of civic responsibility, comparing the American system with the more public ones of other developed countries. This second edition includes whole new chapters on political media campaigns, employing recent research, as well as the internet and the role of blogs and social media. It also includes substantial discussion of the 2008 and 2010 elections, including the use of race-based appeals, and the growing importance of alternative formats (like satire-news). The book makes extensive use of video-footage, available online, as well as tables, charts and other graphics. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)