Aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of comparative political communication, this volume analyzes the media systems of Europe and America. It considers whether election campaigns around the world have become "Americanized," how international news journalists understand their jobs and produce different forms of television news programs, and how governmental media relations and news management efforts evolve in different political systems. The book analyzes transnational similarities and dissimilarities in the context of their potential effects on society and democracy.

1. Introduction Barbara Pfetsch and Frank Esser; Part I. Theories and Methods: 2. Americanization, globalization, and secularization: understanding the convergence of media systems and political communication Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini; 3. Transnational trends in political communication: conventional views and new realities David L. Swanson; 4. Comparing mass communication systems: media formats, media contents, and media processes Hans J. Kleinsteuber; 5. Designs and methods of comparative political communication research Werner Wirth and Steffen Kolb; Part II. Cases: 6. Global political communication: good governance, human development and mass communication Pippa Norris; 7. Local political communication: media and local publics in the age of globalization Sabine Lang; 8. Strategic political communication: mobilizing public opinion in 'audience democracies' Hanspeter Kriesi; 9. Political campaign communication: conditional convergence of modern media elections Christina Holtz-Bacha; 10. Political communication and electronic democracy: American exceptionalism or global trend? Thomas Zittel; 11. Political news journalists: partisanship, professionalism, and political roles in five countries Wolfgang Donsbach and Thomas Patterson; 12. Political communication messages: pictures of our world on international television news Patrick Rössler; 13. Political communication effects: the impact of mass media and interpersonal conversations on voting Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck; Part III. Perspectives and Challenges: 14. State of the art in comparative political communication research: poised for maturity? Michael Gurevitch and Jay G. Blumler; 15. From political culture to political communications culture: a theoretical approach to comparative analysis Barbara Pfetsch; 16. Problems of comparative political communication research: culture as a key variable Robert L. Stevenson; 17. Meeting the challenges of global communication and political integration: the significance of comparative research in a changing world Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch.