Advancing Communication Science: Merging Mass and Interpersonal Processes

The Annual Reviews of Communication Research consolidate and integrate current knowledge in an area of communication, summarizing, explaining and drawing connections in past research and in new ideas and research. Bringing together some of the foremost scholars in mass and interpersonal communication, the current volume illustrates the inadequacies of evidence on which mass and interpersonal communication comparisons are based and makes suggestions for improving comparability. Ten chapters discuss ways in which interpersonal and electronic mass communication affect each other, regarding emotional communication and need as determinants in media selection. The authors emphasize the need for special communication skills in the interpretation and use of television, and the role of interpersonal communication in shaping the contours of broadcast news output. The final chapter is a dialogue on the history and evolution of communication leading to a better understanding of where the field is today and to a broader perspective of the future.