ABSTRACT
The field of comparative media research has a history that stretches back over 50 years. It is a sporadic history, however. It is a history marked by a number of landmark books, of which Hallin and Mancini (2004) is simply the latest. This book has undoubtedly inspired a revival of interest in comparative media, which is very welcome and we hope is sustained over the coming years. As with all landmark books subsequent research tends to position itself in relation to it: for it, against it, for it and against it. The danger of this is that other approaches and other questions may be overlooked. The best way to sustain the development of comparative media as a field, we believe, is not to slavishly follow Hallin and Mancini’s work but think through theoretical and methodological problems associated with doing comparative media research (borrowing from comparative analysis in humanities and social sciences). We can judge if progress has been made because of the coherence of the concepts and methods and whether they help us to do empirical research.
