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with foreword by Michael X. Delli Carpini, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA

This book critiques U.S. public policy about communication and offers guidelines to improve public safety and create strong democratic communities. The lack of effective emergency communication, basic information about health care, education, jobs and the economy, and civic life is at a crisis state, creating problems for the whole community, not just a vulnerable few. The Communications Crisis in America is not because of changing markets or new technology, it is the failure of public policy. The authors include economists, sociologists, journalists, lawyers and a diverse group of media and communication scholars, all offering an urgent call to action and difficult, but achievable steps forward.

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.Forward Michael X, Delli Carpini.-

.Introduction Lewis A. Friedland and Mark Lloyd.-

.Section 1 New Approaches to Solving the Communications Challenge.-

.1 America´s critical community information needs Lewis Friedland.-

.2 Understanding our new communications economy: Implications for contemporary journalism Phillip Napoli.-

.3 Researching community information needs Katherine Ognyanova.-

.Section 2 Communication Challenges in a Changing America.-

.4 All Lives Matter: Critical communications and American diversity Jorge R. Schement and Jason Llorenz.-

.5 Feminist perspectives on critical information needs Carolyn Byerly and Alisa Valentin.-

.6 Ethnic media and the social incorporation of new Americans Matthew Matsuganis and Vikki Katz.-

.7 Do Spanish-language broadcast media serve a changing America? Federico Subervi.-

.8 The whole community communication infrastructure: The case of Los Angeles Minhee Son and Sandra Ball-Rokeach.-

.Section 3 Government Capture and Market Failure.-

.9 Confronting market failure: Past lessons toward public policy interventions Victor Pickard.-

.9 Tripartite regulation in the public´s interest: The overlapping roles of the DOJ, FCC, and FTC in consolidation of the communications industry Allen S. Hammond IV.-

.11 Same ole, same ole: Service agreements and local television news Danilo Yanich.-

.12 Bridging the content gap in low-income communities James Hamilton and Fiona Morgan.-

.13 The online participation divide Eszter Hargittai and Kaitlin Jennrich.-

.14 Media deserts: Monitoring the changing media ecosystem Michelle Ferrier, Gaurav Sinha, and Michael Outrich.-

.Section 4 Net neutrality is Not Enough.-

.15 The constitutional case for addressing critical information needs Mark Lloyd and Michael Park.-

.16 A provocation on behalf of the excluded Ernest J. Wilson III, Sasha Costanza-Chock, and Michelle Forelle.-

.17 "A public trust" unrealized: The unresolved constraints on U.S. public media Wick Rowland.-

.18 Addressing the information needs of crisis-affected communities: The interplay of legacy media and social media in a rural disaster Dharma Dailey and Kate Starbird.-

.Conclusion Lewis Friedland and Mark Lloyd.

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