In Communication Yearbook 11 major contributions from leading scholars in a variety of communication fields are presented and then critiqued by other authorities (often representing complementary or competing schools of thought). Topics addressed and commented on include the mass media audience, the theory of mediation, effective policy for health care communication and feminist criticism of television.

Section 1: Discourse and Relationships 1. Structures of Discourse and Structures of Power Teun A. Van Dijk Commentaries: Power, Discourse, and Ideology: The Micropractices of Common Sense Leonard C. Hawes The Irrationality of Power Ruth Wodak 2. Coherence: A Meaningful Adhesive for Discourse Kathy Kellermann and Carra Sleight Commentaries: On Coherence Judgements and Their Multiple Causes: A View from the Message-Variable Paradigm James J. Bradac About Coherence Sally Jackson and Scott Jacobs 3. A Dialectical Analysis of the Tensions, Functions and Strategic Challenges of Communication in Young Adult Friendships William K. Rawlins Commentaries: Further Dialectics: Strangers, Friends, and Historical Transformations David R. Maines What is Friendship? A Hermeneutical Quibble Allen Scult 4. Second-Guessing Theory: Review and Extension Dean E. Hewes and Maudie L. Graham Commentaries: On Second-Guessing the Theory of Second-Guessing: A Comment Michael E. Roloff Second-Guessing Second-Guessing: Yet Another Comment Gerald R. Miller Section 2: Intercultural Relationships and Cultural Identity 5. Intercultural Communication Revisited: Conceptualisation, Paradigm Building, and Methodological Approaches Fred L. Casmir and Nobleza C. Asuncion-Lande Commentary: Ceterius Paribus in the Global Village: A Research Agenda for Intercultural Communication Theory Building William J. Starosta 6. Culture and the Development of Interpersonal Relationships William B. Gudykunst Commentaries: Uncertainty in Interpersonal Relationships: A Predicted Outcome Value Interpretation of Gudykunst's Research Program Michael Sunnafrank Culture and Interpersonal Relationship Development: Some Conceptual Issues Stella Ting-Toomey 7. Cultural Identity and Modes of Communication Jan Servaes Commentaries: The Relationship Between Cultural Identity and Modes of Communication Cees J. Hamelink Poststructuralist Concepts in Culture and Communication Syed A. Rahim Section 3: Technology and Communication Systems 8. Issues and Concepts in Research on Computer-Mediated Communication Systems Ronald E. Rice Commentaries: Classifying Mediated Communication Systems Carrie Heeter Commentary on Issues and Concepts in Research on Computer-Mediated Communication Systems Jerome Johnston 9. Designing Communication Systems for Human Systems: Values and Assumptions of Socially Open Architecture Stephen R. Acker Commentaries: Interactions Communication Systems, Values, and the Requirement of Self-Reflection Eric S. Fredin Toward an Open Architecture and User-Centered Approach to Media Design Diana Gagnon Section 4: Media Cultural Studies 10. The Return of the Critical and the Challenge of Radical Dissent: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, and American Mass Communication Research Hanno Hardt Commentaries: Cultural Studies: From Old World to New World Farrell Corcoran Critical Theory and Empirical Critique in Mass Communication Research: Some Methodological Considerations Slavko Splichal Section 5: Organizations and Gifts 11. One-Way Communication Transfers in Loosely Coupled Systems Larry Davis Bronwing and Sheila C. Henderson Commentaries: Social Indicators of One-Way Transfers in Organizations Kenneth E. Boulding One-Way Transfers and Organizational Cohesion Karl E. Weick and J. Douglas Orton