Media, Crisis and Democracy: Mass Communication and the Disruption of Social Order [Paperback]

They examine the relationship between communication and civil society through a number of actual cases of media responses to `crises', ranging from the Gulf War of 1991 to recent events in Eastern Europe. Individual examples of mediated crises emphasize the complexities of understanding the role of the media in struggles of identity around nationality, ethnicity and gender.The contributors to this book explore the way in which crises highlight the problematic issues of media performance in democratic states.

They examine the relationship between communication and civil society through a number of actual cases of media responses to `crises', ranging from the Gulf War of 1991 to recent events in Eastern Europe. Individual examples of mediated crises emphasize the complexities of understanding the role of the media in struggles of identity around nationality, ethnicity and gender.`[A] very useful collection of essays.... More thematically coherent than many such volumes.... The book is quite topical and readable, considering its depth; most of the authors avoid turgid jargon or intellectual dandyism.... Not just required reading for academic specialists - it is also accessible to motivated journalists and senior undergraduates. It definitely has a place as a supplementary text in courses on media/ideology, socio-political conflict, and social movements' - Canadian Journal of Communication

`Required reading for anyone with an eye on the future of government... the volume breathes new life into the debate emerging in the wake of events in France in May 1968' - Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management