List of Tables Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors 1. Introduction: Can the Media Serve Democracy? PART I: MEDIA SYSTEMS AND COMPARATIVE RESEARCH 2. The Idea of 'Systems' in Media Studies: Criticisms, Risks, Advantages; Paolo Mancini 3. The Fine Art of Comparing Media Systems: Opportunities, Pitfalls and Challenges; Kees Brants 4. Comparative Political Communication Research: The Undiminished Relevance of the Beginnings; Frank Esser 5. Mediatization of the Modern Publicity Process; Winfried Schulz PART II: JOURNALISM, DEMOCRACY AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST 6. Public Service Broadcasting: Markets and 'Vulnerable Values' in Broadcast and Print Journalism; Stephen Cushion and Bob Franklin 7. Political Communication Research in the Public Interest; Denis McQuail 8. Journalists, Journalism, and Research: What Do We Know and Why Should We Care?; David H. Weaver 9. Democratic Political Communication Systems and the Transformative Power of Scandals: Phone Hacking at the News of the World as a Critical Juncture in the Regulation of the British Press; James Stanyer 10. Morals and Methods: A Note on the Value of Survey Research; David E. Morrison PART III: PUBLIC CULTURE AND MEDIATED PUBLICS 11. The Dream Machine?: Television as Public Culture; John Corner 12. Audiences and Publics: Reflections on the Growing Importance of Mediated Participation; Sonia Livingstone 13. On Seeing Both Sides: Notes on the 2012 Presidential Debates; Elihu Katz and Menahem Blondheim PART IV: CHANGING MEDIA, NEW DEMOCRATIC OPPORTUNITIES 14. Media Systems and Social Change: Challenges for Theory and Research; W. Lance Bennett 15. The Internet's Gift to Democratic Governance: The Fifth Estate; William Dutton 16. Towards an Inclusive Digital Public Sphere; Gianpietro Mazzoleni 17. Beyond the Po-Faced Public Sphere; Stephen Coleman PART V: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION 18. Jay Blumler: A Founding Father of Media Research; James Curran 19. Values are Always at Stake': An Interview with Jay G. Blumler; Katy Parry and Giles Moss Notes References