An introduction to political communication /

McNair's clear, concise textbook introduces the relationship between politics and the media in the UK. Media are basically limited to news and public affairs in newspapers and on television. The political focus rests mainly on party activities in elections with their advertising (broadly defined to include party political broadcasts) and public relations, and on the activities of interest groups. Also discussed are governmental efforts to manage journalistic coverage of military conflicts (e.g., the Falklands War). Relatively little attention is given to day-to-day media-government interaction and the efforts (or lack of effort) by government officials to influence coverage of government institutions in the media. There is no discussion of the repercussions of the broadcasting of debates in Parliament. The format results in some repetition and incomplete coverage of the relevant literature (e.g., The Formation of Campaign Agendas, by Holli A. Semetko et al., CH, Jul'91), but undergraduates interested in the subject will find the book worthwhile and a useful complement to Ralph Negrine's Politics and the Mass Media in Britain (2nd ed., 1994). D. L. Paletz Duke University