Engaging the Public: How Government and the Media Can Reinvigorate American Democracy - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847688909 ISBN 13: 9780847688906

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1998

Synopsis

In the1996 presidential election, voters stayed away from the polls in record numbers. This volume of original essays by leading political scientists and media scholars examines the nature of political disengagement among the public and offers concrete solutions for how the government and media can stimulate public engagement in the political process. Among recommendations are more public deliberation, media responsibility, and campaign finance reform. Candidates with integrity, issues that matter, and information that is both reliable and meaningful will motivate the disaffected more surely than special-interest appeals to minorities, lower-income voters, students, and others. Further recommendations include using the Internet, structural change in registration and voting, and 'reverse socialization'.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas J. Johnson is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Carol E. Hays is a research coordinator at the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois. Scott P. Hays is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and data analyst at the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois.

Review

This well-rounded study goes beyond handwringing about the sad state of civic engagement in the United States. It presents important research that sheds new light on the problem and makes thoughtful, workable recommendations about solutions. Engaging the Public is worth reading, worth pondering, and worth implementing. (Doris A. Graber, University of Illinois at Chicago)

This is an ambitious collection of seventeen essays that . . . provide new insights that can enrich the public dialogue and inspire new research. (James L. Aucoin, University of South Alabama Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly)

Engaging the Public makes a valuable contribution to the scholarship on political communication, and constitutes a needed link between political science and the health of the American body politic. Not only should this volume provoke further initiatives to engage the public, but it should engage other scholars in research that expands upon the findings and recommendations herein. (Bartholemew H. Sparrow, University of Texas at Austin Rhetoric & Public Affairs)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0847688909
• ISBN 13: 9780847688906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 281
• Editor: Thomas J. Johnson, Carol E. Hays, Scott P. Hays