Dr. Gwenetha Pusta’s MediaMorphosis: The Dynamics of Communication and Socio-Cultural Change addresses the multifaceted, plural, diverse and emergent landscapes of the intersection between communication and change in its various dimensions: political, economic, social and cultural. “Change” is the operative word in understanding transformations in society both in its physical sense and in its imaginary sense. At the juncture of this transition is communication and media, which allows for bringing the idea of public into its 21st century sense and in affecting lives through media-induced social transformations and imaginative constructions.

Pusta’s book trains its focus on the political, economic, social and cultural aspects in which communication operates to impact lives both on a national and global scale. The first chapter is built around Pusta’s interdisciplinary approach to exploring the role of media in strengthening democratic institutions; combining both political economy and discourse analysis in her searing analyses of specific texts and examples. She speaks of new media from disparate perspectives such as the Cultivation Model and Critical Theory and yet arrives at a better, more inspired synthesis.

Foreword by Dr. Joyce Arriola