Mass Media and American Politics

by Johanna L. Dunaway, Doris A. Graber

This comprehensive, trusted core text on media′s impact on attitudes, behavior, elections, politics, and policymaking is known for its readable introduction to the literature and theory of the field.  Mass Media and American Politics,  Eleventh Edition  is thoroughly updated to reflect major structural changes that have shaken the world of political news, including the impact of the changing media landscape. It includes timely examples of the significance of these changes pulled from the 2020 election cycle, the press-president relations of Trump and Biden Administrations, and the effects of COVID-19 on the media world.  Written by the late  Doris A. Graber ―a scholar who has played an enormous role in establishing and shaping the field of mass media and American politics―and  Johanna Dunaway , this book sets the standard.

Genres: Politics, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Journalism, Read For School

728 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time, I taught a college course on Mass Media and Politics. Guess what? This was the text that I most commonly used to organize the course (I used a number of supplemental textbooks as well). Nicely written and comprehensive in its coverage. The author did a lot of good research herself, and this helped inform the text.

I was a big fan of this book while I taught that class.

[D.A. Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much food for thought and many of the chapters provide useful starting points for research on how the media influences American politics. Most usefuly today is how the proliferation of choice can create more entrenched and rigid views despite the opportunity that technology provides to do just the opposite. But the authors still make blanket observations that assume the Media, the Public and the Government are each huge monoliths, each with a predictable view point. Use it as a starting point to understanding the media but try to avoid such generalizations.

[Morgon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most influential books I have read, and also one that as the world gets smaller can apply to more then just America. While the book was written years ago (when I first read it), I feel it applies more so today then whe it first came out. Doris Graber has such lucid articulation of the theoretical roles of media in a democracy it's astounding. As I lecture now to schools all over the world it's always a book I bring along.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this textbook in several communication and political science courses at my college. Every time I read it, I see something new.

This is a book I will keep for my career in communications. Graber makes these high-level concepts about the role of journalism in America very accessible and easy to digest without being watered down.

[Indira Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

so I couldn't really have progress updates for this book cause we skipped around alot. This book...gods. it had a lot of information. so much. so dense. it was useful, well, some of it. but majority was just apain in my buns. but least it's over

[Evanhinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it for school, and probably one of the best textbooks I've ever had to pretend to, er, I mean read, yeah, read. . .

[William]

This is very much a text book with all of the boringness that that entails. Many of my students felt like the events of the 2016 election made this book obsolete, but I feel like only one or two chapters on technology and incivility/bias need major updates.

The authors do a good job covering things, but it is from a very "communications degree" perspective, which would occasionally irk me. TV always has a dumbing-down, brainwashing effect for the authors. Anything on TV that isn't hard-core news is "fluffy" and a distraction from what we should be really caring about, which is a vigorous understanding of the political issues of the day. Yuck.
Turns out life is more than that. Culture matters, even "fluffy" TV shows. Well, that's the way I feel. I'd like to see a text book on this topic made through the collaboration of a communications scholar and a humanities scholar. But until then, I'd use this text again if I got the chance to teach a course on this topic again.