Media, Markets & Public Spheres: European Media at the Crossroads

Using a sample of so-called popular and 'quality' European newspapers and their TV listings as a stepping stone, Media, Markets and Public Spheres presents an overview of changes in the European public spheres over the last fifty years as well as in-depth analyses of structural changes in press and broadcasting, changing relations between media, changes in media policies and media history as record of cultural change. With a rare comparative perspective, both across nation states and across decades of European history, this book explores how and why the media decisively influence most social areas, from the socialisation of children to the workings of the economy.

Jostein Gripsrud is professor at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway. He is an expert on the relations between media, culture and society and has published extensively on the history and social significance of literature, theatre, film, television, journalism-and related theoretical and political issues. Lennart Weibull is professor of Mass Media Research at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and co-director of the SOM-institute for survey research. He is the author of numerous books, articles and research reports. His research interests include media structure, audience development, the newspaper industry, journalism history and media ethics.