Resisting The News

"Resisting the News brings together unique insights from activists and alternative-media users to offer a distinctive perspective on the problems of journalism today-and how to fix them. Using critical-cultural theory and, in particular, the conceptual frameworks of ritual communication and interpretive communities, this book examines how audiences filter their interpretations of mainstream news through the prisms of their identities and experiences with alternative media and political protest. Rauch gives voice to alternative media audiences and illuminates the cultural resources, values, assumptions, critical skills, and discursive strategies through which they make sense of their news environments. Drawing on a fifteen-year research project, Rauch employs a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and quasi-ethnographic methods-including focus groups, media-use diaries, close-ended surveys, and open-ended questions-to paint a layered portrait of liberal and conservative critiques of journalism. Shedding new light on popular theories about "how news works" and about "mass" audiences, this book will be useful to students, scholars, and teachers of political communication, journalism studies, media studies, and critical-cultural studies"--

Resisting the News brings together unique insights from activists and alternative-media users to offer a distinctive perspective on the problems of journalism today—and how to fix them. Using critical-cultural theory and, in particular, the conceptual frameworks of ritual communication and interpretive communities, this book examines how audiences filter their interpretations of mainstream news through the prisms of their identities and experiences with alternative media and political protest. Jennifer Rauch gives voice to alternative-media audiences and illuminates the cultural resources, values, assumptions, critical skills, and discursive strategies through which they make sense of their news environments. Drawing on a 15-year research project, Rauch employs a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and quasi-ethnographic methods, including focus groups, media-use diaries, close-ended surveys, and open-ended questions, to paint a layered portrait of liberal and conservative critiques of journalism. Shedding new light on popular theories about "how news works" and about "mass" audiences, this book will be useful to students, scholars, and teachers of political communication, journalism studies, media studies, and critical-cultural studies.

Today we recognize that we have a different relationship to media technology--and to information more broadly--than we had even five years ago. We are connected to the news media, to our jobs, and to each other, 24 hours a day. But many people have found their mediated lives to be too fast, too digital, too disposable, and too distracted. This group--which includes many technologists and young people--believes that current practices of digital media production and consumption are unsustainable, and works to promote alternate ways of living. Until recently, sustainable media practices have been mostly overlooked, or thought of as a counterculture. But, as Jennifer Rauch argues in this book, the concept of sustainable media has taken hold and continues to gain momentum. Slow media is not merely a lifestyle choice, she argues, but has potentially great implications for our communities and for the natural world. In eight chapters, Rauch offers a model of sustainable media that is slow, green, and mindful. She examines the principles of the Slow Food movement--humanism, localism, simplicity, self-reliance, and fairness--and applies them to the use and production of media. Challenging the perception that digital media is necessarily eco-friendly, she examines green media, which offers an alternative to a current commodities system that produces electronic waste and promotes consumption of nonrenewable resources. Lastly, she draws attention to mindfulness in media practice-- "mindful emailing" or "contemplative computing>," for example--arguing that media has significant impacts on human health and psychological wellbeing. Slow Media will ultimately help readers understand the complex and surprising relationships between everyday media choices, human well-being, and the natural world. It has the potential to transform the way we produce and use media by nurturing a media ecosystem that is more satisfying for people, and more sustainable for the planet.

'This extraordinary book is the roadmap for a new kind of effective activism' - Brian Eno 'This book is for people who are angry with the ways things are and want to do something about it; for people who are frustrated with the system, or worried about the direction the country is going. Maybe they've been on a march, posted their opinions on social media, or shouted angrily at something they've seen on the news but don't feel like it's making any difference. It is for people who want to make a change but they're not sure how.' - Matthew Bolton

Resisting Eviction centres tenant organizing in its investigation of gentrification, eviction and the financialization of rental housing. Andrew Crosby argues that racial discrimination, property relations and settler colonialism inform contemporary urban (re)development efforts and impacts affordable housing loss. How can the City of Ottawa aspire to become “North America’s most liveable mid-sized city” while large-scale, demolition-driven evictions displace hundreds of people and destroy a community? Troubling discourses of urban liveability, revitalization and improvement, Crosby examines the deliberate destruction of home—domicide—and tenant resistance in the Heron Gate neighbourhood in Ottawa, on unceded Algonquin land. Heron Gate is a large rental neighbourhood owned by one multi-billion-dollar real estate investment firm. Around 800 people—predominantly lower-income, racialized households—have been demovicted and displaced from the neighbourhood since 2016, leading to the emergence of the Herongate Tenant Coalition to fight the evictions and confront the landlord-developer. This case study is meticulously documented through political activist ethnography, making this book a brilliant example of ethical engagement and methodological integrity.

From 1948 to 1966, the United Nations worked to create a common legal standard for human rights protection around the globe. Resisting Rights analyzes the Canadian government’s changing policy toward this endeavour from the 1940s to the 1970s, exploring how developments in international relations and evolving cultural attitudes within Canadian society created pressure on the federal government to overcome its initial reluctance to be bound by international human rights law. This timely study situates current policies within their historical context and debunks the myth that Canada has been at the forefront of international human rights policy since its inception.

The pace of modern life is accelerating. To keep up, we must keep on moving and adapting – constantly striving for greater happiness and success. Or so we are told. But the demands of life in the fast lane come at a price: stress, fatigue and depression are at an all-time high, while our social interactions have become increasingly self-serving and opportunistic. How can we resist today's obsession with introspection and self-improvement? In this witty and bestselling book, Danish philosopher and psychologist Svend Brinkmann argues that we must not be afraid to reject the self-help mantra and 'stand firm'. The secret to a happier life lies not in finding your inner self but in coming to terms with yourself in order to coexist peacefully with others. By encouraging us to stand firm and get a foothold in life, this vibrant anti-self-help guide offers a compelling alternative to life coaching, positive thinking and the need always to say 'yes!'