This book examines the media's role in shaping civic engagement and enhancing political engagement.

Peter Dahlgren is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Lund University, Sweden. He has also taught at Stockholm University, as well as Queens College and Fordham University in New York City, and has been a visiting scholar at several other universities. He is the author of many articles and author or editor of several books, including Television and the Public Sphere (1995) and Young Citizens and New Media: Learning for Democratic Participation (2007).

1. Democracy in difficult times; 2. Media alternatives; 3. Citizens and agency; 4. Engagement, deliberation, and performance; 5. Civic cultures: an analytic frame; 6. Television and popular public spheres; 7. Internet and civic potential; 8. Online practices and civic cultures.