Abstract
Reviewing current theories of media effects a few years ago, Elihu Katz deplored ‘the way in which the study of mass communication has been disconnected from the study of public opinion.’1 Latterly, a cross-disciplinary movement has been emerging, however, with Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann at its fore, which aims to forge fresh links between our understandings of mass media roles, processes of public opinion formation, and the workings of democratic institutions. Not least among the many tasks falling to scholars excited by this new spirit is a project of normative clarification. Focusing on certain deep-seated problems that have arisen in Britain and elsewhere over the place of television in politics, I outline below a twofold thesis: We lack, and urgently need to develop, what might be termed a political philosophy of mass communication. And we should seek its guiding principles in a considered view of political democracy and of what public communication should be doing for it.
Revised version of an Inaugural Lecture delivered by Professor Blumler on December 1, 1980, on assumption of a Personal Chair in the Social and Political Aspects of Broadcasting at the University of Leeds. First published in University of Leeds Review 1981.
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Notes
Blumler, Jay G., “Mass Communication Research in Europe: Some Origins and Prospects”, Media, Culture and Society, Vol. II, 1980, pp. 367–376.
Curran, Charles, A Seamless Robe: Broadcasting Philosophy and Practice, Collins, London, 1979, p. 319.
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The expression, “mass media workways”, is borrowed from an extremely insightful essay by Nelson W. Polsby on ‘The News Media as an Alternative to Party in the Presidential Selection Process’, which appears in Goldwin, Robert A. (Ed.), Political Parties in the Eighties, American Enterprise Institute and Kenyon College, Washington, D.C. and Gambier, Ohio, 1980.
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Berelson, Bernard R., Lazarsfeld, Paul F., and McPhee, William N., Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London,1954, p. 308.
Thoveron, Gabriel, “Information, Culture: La Pauvreté Dans L’Abondance”, Cahiers de Clio, No. 60, 1979, pp. 24–31.
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Cited in Hanna, Edward, Hicks, Henry and Keppel, Ted (compilers), The Wit and Wisdom of Adlai Stevenson, Hawthorn Books, New York and London, 1965.
Hartmann, Paul and Husband, Charles, Racism and the Mass Media, Davis-Poynter, London, 1974.
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Golding, Peter and Middleton, Sue, “Making Claims: News Media and the Welfare State”, Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 1, 1979, pp. 5–21.
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Katz, Elihu, “Platforms and Windows: Broadcasting’s Role in Election Campaigns”, Journalism Quarterly Vol. 48, 1971, pp. 304–314.
Blumler, Jay G. and Gurevitch, Michael, “The Reform of Election Broadcasting: A Reply to Nicholas Garnham”, Media, Culture and Society, Vol. I, 1979, pp. 211–219.
Blumler, Jay G. and McLeod, Jack M., “Communication and Voter Turnout in Britain”, in Leggatt, Timothy (Ed.), Sociological Theory and Survey Research, Sage, London and Beverly Hills, 1974.
Blumler, Jay G., Gurevitch, Michael and Ives, Julian, The Challenge of Election Broadcasting, Leeds University Press, Leeds, 1978, p. 47.
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Blumler, J.G. (1981). Political Communication: Democratic Theory and Broadcast Practice. In: Baier, H., Kepplinger, H.M., Reumann, K. (eds) Öffentliche Meinung und sozialer Wandel / Public Opinion and Social Change. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87749-9_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87749-9_23
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