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This unique volume offers an overview of the diversity of perspectives on communication: including analyses in terms of biology, sociality, economics, norms and human development. The scope of the contributions is global, and the volume is relevant to both the empirical and the philosophical traditions in social science. Designed as a stand-alone collection to engage undergraduates, postgraduates and academics, this is also an introduction to, the multi-volume Handbooks of Communication Science. Peter J. Schulz, University of Lugano, Italy;Paul Cobley, London Metropolitan University, UK.

AbstractIn the aftermath of the A/H1N1 pandemic, health authorities were criticized for failures in crisis communication efforts, and the media were accused of amplifying the pandemic. Considering these criticisms, A/H1N1 provides a suitable case for examining risk amplification processes that may occur in the transfer of information from press releases to print news media during a health crisis. We integrated the social amplification of risk framework with theories of news decisions (news values, framing) in an attempt to contribute to existing research both theoretically and empirically. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of press releases disseminated by health and governmental authorities, as well as the quality and tabloid press in 10 European countries between March 2009 and March 2011. Altogether 243 press releases, 1,243 quality press articles, and 834 tabloid press articles were coded. Consistent with research on news values and framing the results suggest that quality and tabloid papers alike amplified A/H1N1 risks by emphasizing conflict and damage, presenting information in a more dramatized way, and using risk‐amplifying frames to a greater extent and risk‐attenuating frames to a lesser extent than press releases. To some extent, the quality and tabloid press differed in how risk information was presented. While tabloid press articles seemed to follow the leading quality press with regards to content and framing of health crisis coverage, they exhibited a stronger emphasis on drama and emotion in the way they presented information.

This quantitative content analysis applies the theory of instrumental actualization to Swiss newspaper coverage of smoking bans in public places. The theory holds that journalists' opinions affect news selection; it is studied here for the weighting and evaluation of arguments in news stories. The editorial stance of newspapers was related to the weighting of argumentative fields and the frequency of contradiction of different standpoints. Therefore, elements of both a dialectical (papers of different stance explicitly contradicting one another) and a rhetorical (papers of different stance speaking of different matters) model of discourse were found.

This longitudinal study explores differences in Internet access and use among school-aged children in Italian-speaking Switzerland and whether and how these differences contribute to inequalities in academic performance. Applying multilevel structural equation modeling with two-wave original survey data from 843 students, their parents, as well as students' end-term school grades, we show that a family's socio-economic status indirectly affects children's school grades as lower parental income leads children to use the Internet more frequently for entertainment and online communication purposes. This form of Internet use also increases as children have more personal digital media devices. As children's increased use of the Internet for entertainment and online communication worsens their academic performance, our results suggest that social inequalities due to children's socio-economic status are reinforced by a second-order digital divide. We discuss potential reasons for our findings as well as their implications and recommendations for possible interventions.