Delli Carpini, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA

This book critiques U.S. public policy about communication and offers guidelines to improve public safety and create strong democratic communities.

Forward Michael X, Delli Carpini.-.Introduction Lewis A. Friedland and Mark Lloyd.-.Section 1 New Approaches to Solving the Communications Challenge.-.1 America’s critical community information needs Lewis Friedland.-.2 Understanding our new communications economy: Implications for contemporary journalism Phillip Napoli.-.3 Researching community information needs Katherine Ognyanova.-.Section 2 Communication Challenges in a Changing America.-.4 All Lives Matter: Critical communications and American diversity Jorge R. Schement and Jason Llorenz.-.5 Feminist perspectives on critical information needs Carolyn Byerly and Alisa Valentin.-.6 Ethnic media and the social incorporation of new Americans Matthew Matsuganis and Vikki Katz.-.7 Do Spanish-language broadcast media serve a changing America? Federico Subervi.-.8 The whole community communication infrastructure: The case of Los Angeles Minhee Son and Sandra Ball-Rokeach.-.Section 3 Government Capture and Market Failure.- 9 Confronting market failure: Past lessons toward public policy interventions Victor Pickard.-.9 Tripartite regulation in the public’s interest: The overlapping roles of the DOJ, FCC, and FTC in consolidation of the communications industry Allen S. Hammond IV.-.11 Same ole, same ole: Service agreements and local television news Danilo Yanich.-.12 Bridging the content gap in low-income communities James Hamilton and Fiona Morgan.- 13 The online participation divide Eszter Hargittai and Kaitlin Jennrich.-.14 Media deserts: Monitoring the changing media ecosystem Michelle Ferrier, Gaurav Sinha, and Michael Outrich.- Section 4 Net neutrality is Not Enough.- 15 The constitutional case for addressing critical information needs Mark Lloyd and Michael Park.-.16 A provocation on behalf of the excluded Ernest J. Wilson III, Sasha Costanza-Chock, and Michelle Forelle.-.17 “A public trust” unrealized: The unresolved constraints on U.S. public media Wick Rowland.-.18 Addressing the information needs of crisis-affected communities: The interplay of legacy media and social media in a rural disaster Dharma Dailey and Kate Starbird.-.Conclusion Lewis Friedland and Mark Lloyd.

This book critiques U.S. public policy about communication and offers guidelines to improve public safety and create strong democratic communities. The lack of effective emergency communication, basic information about health care, education, jobs and the economy, and civic life is at a crisis state, creating problems for the whole community, not just a vulnerable few. The Communications Crisis in America is not because of changing markets or new technology, it is the failure of public policy. The authors include economists, sociologists, journalists, lawyers and a diverse group of media and communication scholars, all offering an urgent call to action and difficult, but achievable steps forward.  

“As these powerful essays attest, there is indeed a crisis in the role of our communications systems’ ability to fulfill our crucial information needs, whether it’s about the positions of political candidates or warning about the devastation of hurricanes and tornados. The Communication Crisis in America, And How to Fix It brings together some of the best scholars in this area to analyze journalism’s ongoing role in the American democratic process, and to rethink how legacy media and digital media do and can interact to better inform our citizens. An important, urgent call for correcting how ‘old ways of thinking’ are undermining our media to do so much better in serving the American public.” (Susan J. Douglas, Catherine Neafie Kellogg and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, USA)

“This important book reveals the growing information gaps in local communities and offers policy solutions to restore the communication systems on which democracy depend. This is a timely and compelling work by the top thinkers in the field.” (Lance Bennett, Professor of Political Science and Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, USA)

"As these powerful essays attest, there is indeed a crisis in the role of our communications systems' ability to fulfill our crucial information needs, whether it's about the positions of political candidates or warning about the devastation of hurricanes and tornados. The Communication Crisis in America, And How to Fix It brings together some of the best scholars in this area to analyze journalism's ongoing role in the American democratic process, and to rethink how legacy media and digital media do and can interact to better inform our citizens. An important, urgent call for correcting how 'old ways of thinking' are undermining our media to do so much better in serving the American public." (Susan J. Douglas, Catherine Neafie Kellogg and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, USA) "This important book reveals the growing information gaps in local communities and offers policy solutions to restore the communication systems on which democracy depend. This is a timely and compelling work by the top thinkers in the field." (Lance Bennett, Professor of Political Science and Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, USA)

Addresses the specific communication needs of the poor, racial/ethnic, women, immigrant communities, the disabled and other marginalized communities Discusses a new policy framework for incorporating social issues into the national communication debate Draws together the analysis of critical information needs and the policy and legal challenges in an ecological framework

GPSR Compliance The European Union's (EU) General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a set of rules that requires consumer products to be safe and our obligations to ensure this. If you have any concerns about our products you can contact us on ProductSafety@springernature.com. In case Publisher is established outside the EU, the EU authorized representative is: Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH Europaplatz 3 69115 Heidelberg, Germany ProductSafety@springernature.com