Julie Firmstone – författare

This book provides readers with the understanding required to analyse the range of key factors that shape the production of news, and to assess their implications for the role of news and journalism in democracy. It brings existing research together under the umbrella of a central organising framework to explore how news and its production is shaped by a multiplicity of factors including the norms, values, role perceptions and ethics associated with journalism as a profession, the role of news sources, the changing character and significance of news audiences, the aims and objectives of news organisations, and the political, economic and social contexts within which news is produced. Exploring these factors in depth, using examples, and considering the changing conditions of news production, the chapters chart significant changes, challenges, and responses to provide the essential background for understanding the consequences of current transformations for the democratic qualities of news. 

This book addresses key challenges facing global political communication at a time in which transformations in political practice, media ecology and cultural expectations both threaten traditional democratic norms and point to potential new ways of enacting political democracy. Drawing upon the outstanding theoretical insights of Jay Blumler to our understanding of the norms and practices of political communication, but also critically interrogating and updating them where appropriate, the volume asks timely questions about what publicness and democracy mean in the 2020s.

Many people are talking and writing about the crisis of political democracy, fewer are talking about the role of the media in relation to that crisis. While many scholars have responded in an ad hoc way to the various crises of populism, polarisation, mis and disinformation, this book shows how Jay Blumler’s scholarship provides us with the tools and framework to research and understand the changing communication environment systemically and rigorously. The book demonstrates the applicability and relevance of Blumler’s work in explicating the current crisis of communication and the need for fresh and radical thinking in tackling it. The book''s breadth and depth of chapters from a broad range of scholars from the East and West, ranging from long-standing contributors to the field to those in the early stages of their career, combine to produce a thoughtful and provocative invitation to reflect upon the concept of a ‘crisis of public communication’. We expect this book to become a major source for political communication students and scholars.