The Circuit of Mass Communication

Media Strategies, Representation and Audience Reception in the AIDS Crisis

The Circuit of Mass Communication moves beyond the narrow focus of recent work in media and cultural studies to examine the whole process of interaction between the media and the social world. Rejecting approaches that focus only on production, discourse, or audience reception, this new volume examines promotional strategies, government advertising, media production, representation, and audience responses as well as broader impacts on policy, culture, and society. Using a detailed analysis of the struggle over representation during the AIDS crisis, the authors reveal the power of media to influence public opinion and the complex interaction between media coverage audience responses, and contemporary power relations. Based on extensive empirical research, this book offers a range of challenging insights on media power, active audiences, and moral panics that will be of value to media students, sociologists, and social policy and health specialists.