Mediated Political Realities

by Dan D. Nimmo, James E. Combs (Other Contributor)

This argues that most people learn about politics from information imparted by mass media and that our opinions are shaped by the sources of that information. The authors also contend that political reality is transformed, or mediated, into fantasy, and reality disappears. The authors examine television, radio, newspapers and magazines, film and sports and discuss the group phenomena of pack journalism, group think among decision-makers, religiously based political fantasies, and conspiracy theories of politics. This edition has been revised and updated to reflect current research.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Dan Nimmo was considered one of the most productive and influential scholars in the field of political communication. He taught political science and journalism as a professor in the College of Communications at the University of Tennessee. Over the last 50 years he produced, with several co-authors and coeditors, more than 35 volumes, as well as countless book chapters and convention papers on political communication. A distinctive mark of his work was the enormously wide range of concepts and interpretive tools he was able to draw on to show new facets of political communication. These ranged from the psychological foundations of political images, to the rising importance of political commentary and punditry in the media, to the many forms of political communication outside of campaigns such as news coverage of scandals, disasters and even popular films. He died in 2004 at the age of 71.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another one of those books that really hit me and started to make me think differently about the world.