Building on a survey of media institutions in eighteen West European and North American democracies, Hallin and Mancini identify the principal dimensions of variation in media systems and the political variables which have shaped their evolution. They go on to identify three major models of media system development (the Polarized Pluralist, Democratic Corporatist and Liberal models) to explain why the media have played a different role in politics in each of these systems, and to explore the forces of change that are currently transforming them. It provides a key theoretical statement about the relation between media and political systems, a key statement about the methodology of comparative analysis in political communication and a clear overview of the variety of media institutions that have developed in the West, understood within their political and historical context.
Daniel C. Hallin Reihenfolge der Bücher (Chronologisch)
Vietnam was America's most divisive and unsuccessful foreign war, notable for being the first televised conflict and fought without military censorship. The media's role in Vietnam remains controversial, from the Kennedy-Johnson escalation to the American withdrawal. This work provides a detailed account of what Americans read and watched about the war. Drawing on the complete New York Times coverage from 1961 to 1965, a sample of hundreds of television reports from 1965-73, and interviews with journalists, it critiques the conventional wisdom regarding media and Vietnam. Contrary to the belief that the media consistently opposed government policy, it reveals that the media were often aligned with official perspectives, though internal government divisions and public relations contradictions occasionally hampered effective news management. Television did not fully convey the "literal horror of war" nor was it primarily responsible for its collapse; instead, it initially presented an idealized view, shifting to a more critical stance only after public discontent and elite divisions became pronounced. This study is essential for understanding both the Vietnam War and the media's role in contemporary American politics.