Mediating Social Science Author:Dr Natalie Fenton, Professor Alan Bryman, David Deacon Social scientists have made a huge contribution to understanding the media. But what is the interface between social scientists and the media? How does social science come over in news and current affairs in print and broadcasting media? This book examines issues in reception and production studies to build a holistic approach to the study of me... more »dia representations. The authors aim to give an accessible and authoritative guide to all aspects of the mass communication process. To this end they examine media production, the nature of media texts. the role of news sources, the general social and political context of mass communication and the ways in which media outputs are assimilated by audiences. The authors develop their discussion by looking at a number of applied areas: the interaction between journalists and social scientists; the publicity seeking activities of universities, research institutes and government departments; the attempts of individual social scientists to get noticed; the social policy environment surrounding social scientific research and its dissemination; pressure from funders; and the public understanding of social science in the news.The result is an indispensable guide to understanding the interaction between social science and the media. Written in a fluent style, the book will be required reading for students of sociology, communication and media studies.« less