Communication and Citizenship addresses a question which is increasingly at the centre of academic and journalistic debate: to what extent are the media in modern societies able to help citizens learn about the world, debate their responses to it and reach informed decisions about what courses of action to adopt? Can the media play a role in the formation of a public sphere' at a time when public service broadcasting is under attack, and the popular press plays to the market with an output of celebrity gossip and sensationalized reporting? The contributors each concentrate on one aspect of the role and future of the public sphere in the United States and Europe, both East and West. Topics under discussion include American politics and television news, feminist perspectives on the public sphere, the Polish media after Stalinism and the popular press and television in the United Kingdom
