This book investigates the questions arising from recent dramatic changes in democratic political communication.

1. Mediated politics: an introduction W. Lance Bennett and Robert M. Entman; Part I. Democracy and the Public Sphere: 2. The public sphere and the net: structure, space, and communication Peter Dahlgren; 3. Promoting political engagement William A. Gamson; 4. The internet and the global public sphere Colin Sparks; Part II. Citizens, Consumers, and Media in Transition: 5. Reporting and the push for market-oriented journalism: media organizations as businesses Doug Underwood; 6. Political discourse and the politics of need: discourses on the good life in cyberspace Don Slater; 7. Dividing practices: segmentation and targeting in the emerging public sphere Oscar Gandy; 8. Let us infotain you: politics in the new media environment Michael X. Delli Carpini and Bruce A. Williams; 9. The future of the institutional media Timothy E. Cook; Part III. Mediated Political Information and Public Opinion: 10. Reframing public opinion as we have known it Robert M. Entman and Susan Herbst; 11. Political waves and democratic discourse: terrorism waves during the Oslo peace process Gadi Wolfsfeld; 12. Monica Lewinsky and the mainsprings of American politics John Zaller; 13. The big spin: strategic communication and the transformation of pluralist democracy W. Lance Bennett and Jarol B. Manheim; 14. The impact of the new media W. Russell Neuman; Part IV. Mediated Campaigns: 15. Issue advocacy in a changing discourse environment Kathleen Hall Jamieson; 16. Implications of rival visions of electoral campaigns C. Edwin Baker; 17. Mediated electoral democracy: campaigns, incentives, and reform Bruce Buchanan; 18. 'Americanization' reconsidered: UK-US campaign communication comparisons across time Jay G. Blumler and Michael Gurevitch; Part V. Citizens: Present and Future: 19. Citizen discourse and political participation: a survey Roderick P. Hart; 20. Adapting political news to twenty-first century Americans Doris A. Graber; 21. National identities and the future of democracy Wendy M. Rahn and Thomas J. Rudolph; 22. Communication in the future of democracy: a conclusion.