Television news is frequently disparaged by thoughtful commentators for its preoccupation with drama and spectacle at the expense of serious, in-depth engagement with the critical issues it covers. While insisting these charges possess more than a small dose of truth, Rob Stones aruges for more emphasis to be placed on strengthening the capacities of audiences. Drawing from major traditions in social thought, and on academic media analysis, Stones provides the conceptual tools for audiences to bring greater sophistication to their interpretations, developing their capacity to think across items and genres. A detailed account of an episode of the Danish political drama, Borgen, reveals the extent to which viewers already deploy similar concepts and skills to follow its storylines. Stones shows how audiences can refine these skills further and demonstrates their value with respect to texts on a wide range of current affairs, including Israeli settlers on the West Bank, the Rwandan genocide, the Egyptian 'revolution', the Obama administration's immigration reform bill, the bases of Germany's economic success, the conflict between 'red shirts' and 'yellow shirts' in Thailand, China's diplomatic relations with Burma and scandals of mistreatment within the UK and Swedish healthcare systems. -- from back cover