Denne oversikten er en mental reise gjennom ca. 25 år der gamle og nyere teorier besøkes. Fire posisjoner til kommunikasjonsbegrepet omtales særskilt Begrepet anvendes deretter til å karakterisere massekommunikasjonen i autoritære og demokratiske omgivelsen Avslutningsvis vurderes medievitenskapen utfra bruken av et mer omfattende kommunikasjonsperspektiv.
Four positions regarding the concept and ideas of 'communication' that have dominated the field of media studies for the last 25 years are reviewed: The linear model used in studies of audience effects and behaviour, the studies of hegemonic domination of the cultural industries in Marxist political economy, the manifold cultural studies of meaning and content in mass communication, and most recently the discursive and rhetorical studies of media practice. All approaches seem to lack a systemic theory of communication and mass communication that focuses on interactions, interdependent generative sequences of message and feedbacks between the elements of communication. The idea of the kind of feedback that emanates between participants in mass communication is then analysed within autocratic and democratic political systems.