The Handbook of Comparative Communication Research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of comparative communication research. It fills an obvious gap in the literature and offers an extensive and interdisciplinary discussion of the general approach of comparative research, its prospect and problems as well as its applications in crucial sub-fields of communications. The first part of the volume charts the state of the art in the field; the second section introduces relevant areas of communication studies where the comparative approach has been successfully applied in recent years; the third part offers an analytical review of conceptual and methodological issues; and the last section proposes a roadmap for future research.

Thomas Hanitzsch is Professor of Communication at the Institute of Communication Studies and Media Research, University of Munich, Germany. A former journalist, his teaching and research focuses on global journalism cultures, war coverage, celebrity news and comparative methodology. He has authored and edited five books, and his work has been published in major communication journals and edited volumes. Thomas is currently Editor-in-Chief of Communication Theory, and serves as Vice-Chair of the Journalism Studies Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). He is currently leading the Worlds of Journalism Study, a massive multinational survey of journalists, and is involved in several other comparative projects.

Frank Esser (PhD 1997, University of Mainz) is Professor and Chair of International & Comparative Media Research in the Department of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. He was assistant professor of mass communication at the University of Mainz and the University of Missouri-Columbia, and visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on cross-national studies of news journalism and political communication. He has published five books including Comparing Political Communication: Theories, Cases, and Challenges (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and sixty book chapters and journal articles. Frank is on the editorial boards of Journalism and The International Journal of Press/Politics, and serves as Vice Chair of the Journalism Division of the International Communication Association (ICA). In Zurich he is co-director of the NCCR Democracy, a National Center of Competence in Research funded by the Swiss Science Foundation, to study the impact of globalization and mediatization on Western democracies.