The Circuit of Mass Communication
Media Strategies, Representation and Audience Reception in the AIDS Crisis

Examines mass media representations of AIDS from their inception through to their impact on public understandings. Rejecting approaches which focus on ownership, discourse or audience reception, this book also examines: promotional strategies; media production; representation and audience responses; and, impacts on policy, culture and society.

This book moves beyond the narrow focus of much of the work on media and cultural studies to examine the whole process of interaction between the media and the social world. Rejecting approaches which focus only on ownership or discourse or audience reception, this new book from the Glasgow Media Group, examines: promotional strategies; 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 as point of departure, The Circuit of Mass Communication reveals the power of the media to influence public opinion, and the complex interaction between media coverage, audience response 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.

Introduction - Jenny Kitzinger and David Miller The AIDS Public Education Campaign, 1986-90 - David Miller and Kevin Williams News Variations - Peter Beharrell AIDS and Television News - David Miller and Peter Beharrell AIDS on Television - David Miller

Form, Fact and Fiction Sourcing AIDS News - David Miller and Kevin Williams Producing AIDS News - Kevin Williams and David Miller Media Impact on Public Beliefs about AIDS - Jenny Kitzinger Resisting the Media - Jenny Kitzinger

The Extent and Limits of Media Influence AIDS, the Policy Process and Moral Panics - David Miller and Jenny Kitzinger Conclusion - Jenny Kitzinger and David Miller