Media Performance Mass Communication and the Public Interest [Paperback]

This major text by the author of Mass Communication Theory offers a comprehensive analysis of the growing field of assessment and evaluation of the performance of mass media. Across different societies, with varying media systems, there is evidence of increasing concern with the nature and quality of media output as well as about the independence and diversity of media systems. In this broad-ranging overview, Denis McQuail outlines the varying means of media performance assessment which have been attempted. He analyzes the central questions of what the `public interest' means in this context, which criteria are relevant for assessing media performance, how such values are established and how they can be reconciled with the economic,This major text by the author of Mass Communication Theory offers a comprehensive analysis of the growing field of assessment and evaluation of the performance of mass media. Across different societies, with varying media systems, there is evidence of increasing concern with the nature and quality of media output as well as about the independence and diversity of media systems. In this broad-ranging overview, Denis McQuail outlines the varying means of media performance assessment which have been attempted. He analyzes the central questions of what the `public interest' means in this context, which criteria are relevant for assessing media performance, how such values are established and how they can be reconciled with the economic,`McQuail's book offers a review of the field of the assessment and evaluation of media performance...the author discusses the issue of `public interest' and attempts to relate it to the measurement of media performance. The relationship between these is the main contribution of this book. Many studies focused on these concepts but McQuail provides a first thorough attempt to relate them within a framework of communication theory and research' - l3t