Media Performance

Denis McQuail (1935-2017) was Emeritus Professor at the School of Communication Research (ASCOR) University of Amsterdam and Visiting Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Southampton. He studied history and sociology at the University of Oxford and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. He is an Honorary Doctor of the University of Gent. He has published widely in the field of media and communication, with particular reference to audience research, media policy and performance, and political communication. His most recent book publication is McQuail′s Media and Mass Communication Theory, 7th edition., SAGE, 2020, co-authored by Mark Deuze.

`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′ - International Journal of Public Opinion Research`Denis McQuail′s latest book, Media Performance, provides an important and much needed addition to the communications literature. This comprehensive and critically astute text details how print and electronic media policy and performance impact on individuals, groups and the very structure of democratic societies′ - Majorie Ferguson, University of Maryland at College Park`This far-reaching and important study from a long-time critical observer of the media scene takes in developments in many countries and suggests new frameworks for assessing media in the 1990s.... Important and recommended for good communications collections - this will be widely used and widely cited′ - Choice`When a short list of the most important books on communication media in the last half of the twentieth century is drawn up at some future date, I would not be surprised to see Denis McQuail′s Media Performance at the top. While others use bloated language and fanciful impressions to talk about `media performance′, McQuail, one of the world′s leading media sociologists and all-around scholars, provides a powerful and integrative analysis. There is something orchestral about Media Performance in the way that it draws the best soundings from our literature, presents a cohesive and coherent theory, and offers a rich agenda for research.... the most intellectually satisfying book about the media in decades.′ - Everette E Dennis, Columbia University

• PART ONE: MASS COMMUNICATION AND SOCIETYPublic Communication and Public InterestContested TerritoryMedia PerformanceTraditions of EnquiryThe `Public Interest′ in CommunicationPART TWO: MEDIA PERFORMANCE NORMSPerformance Norms in Media Policy DiscourseThe Newspaper PressPerformance Norms in Media Policy DiscourseBroadcastingA Framework of Principle for Media AssessmentPART THREE: RESEARCH MODELS AND METHODSMedia Organizational PerformanceModels and Research OptionsPART FOUR: MEDIA FREEDOMConcepts and Models of Media FreedomMedia FreedomFrom Structure to PerformanceMedia FreedomThe Organizational EnvironmentPART FIVE: DIVERSITYVarieties and Processes of DiversityTaking the Measure of DiversityMedia ReflectionMedia Access and Audience ChoicePART SIX: OBJECTIVITYConcepts of ObjectivityA Framework for Objectivity ResearchMeasuring ObjectivityNews as InformationMeasuring ObjectivityThe Evaluative Dimension of NewsPART SEVEN: MASS MEDIA, ORDER AND SOCIAL CONTROLMedia and the Maintenance of Public OrderPolicing the Symbolic EnvironmentSolidarity and Social IdentityPART EIGHT: MEDIA AND CULTUREQuestions of Culture and Mass CommunicationCultural Identity and AutonomyWhose Media Culture?PART NINE: IN CONCLUSIONChanging Media, Changing MoresImplications for Assessment