The Political Economy Of Media And Power

The Political Economy of Media and Power is a highly interdisciplinary and innovative edited collection, bringing together a diverse range of chapters that address some of the most important issues of our times. Contributors cut through media spectacle and make visible the intersections between mass media and the politics of power in the contemporary social world. The book is intended to foster critical pedagogy; chapters explore ways in which media connect with a broad range of topics and issues, including globalization; war and terrorism; foreign affairs; democracy; governmental relations; the cultural politics of militarization; gender inequality and the sexist saturation of the public sphere; media representations of women; media spin and public relations within the broader context of corporate and ideological power. The volume features notable contributors, including a preface by Cees Hamelink, an introduction by David Miller and William Dinan, and chapters from Justin Lewis, Robin Andersen, Henry Giroux, James Winter, Robert Jensen, Stuart Allan, Richard Keeble, Yasmin Jiwani, David Berry, Gerald Sussman, and Andrew Mullen.

How the media are organised and funded is central to understanding their role in society. Critical Political Economy of the Media provides a clear, comprehensive and insightful introduction to the political economic analysis of contemporary media. Jonathan Hardy undertakes a critical survey of political economy scholarship encompassing worldwide literature, issues and debates, and relationships with other academic approaches. He assesses different ways of making sense of media convergence and digitalisation, media power and influence, and transformations across communication markets. Many of the problems of the media that prompted critical political economy research remain salient, he argues, but the approach must continue to adapt to new conditions and challenges. Hardy advances the case for a revitalised critical media studies for the 21st century. Topics covered include: media ownership and financing news and entertainment convergence and the Internet media globalisation advertising and media alternative media media policy and regulation Introducing key concepts and research, this book explains how political economy can assist students, researchers and citizens to investigate and address vital questions about the media today.

This book provides a critical political economic examination of the impact of increasingly concentrated global media industries. It addresses different media and communication industries from around the globe, including film, television, music, journalism, telecommunication, and information industries. The authors use case studies to examine how changing methods of production and distribution are impacting a variety of issues including globalization, environmental devastation, and the shifting role of the State. This collection finds communication at a historical moment in which capitalist control of media and communication is the default status and, so, because of the increasing levels of concentration globally allows those in control to define the default ideological status. In turn, these concentrated media forces are deployed under the guise of entertainment but with a mind towards further concentration and control of the media apparatuses many times in convergence with others

One of the foremost media critics provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic and political powers that are being mobilized to consolidate private control of media with increasing profit--all at the expense of democracy.

Golding and Murdock (sociology, Loughborough University, UK) have compiled 61 official documents, otherwise inaccessible articles, and selected extracts published between 1910 and 1994 by seminal thinkers such as Nicholas Garnham, Herbert I. Schiller, Dallas W. Smythe, Francis Williams, Harold Evans, Ben H. Bagdikian, Upton Sinclair, Jurgen Habermas, Edward S. Herman and Peter Jay. The collection includes discussion on the political economy approach to communications, the capitalist enterprise and creation of communications, ideology, and protecting the common good in the management and regulation of communications and the media. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"A masterpiece... the one single indispensable book that all media students and scholars need to read to understand this vital and growing area of research." - Robert W. McChesney, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "A contemporary classic of media studies. Vincent Mosco, among the leading media scholars of our or any time, brings his searing insights and crystal prose to bear on the latest issues and debates of the field... An indispensable resource for researchers, activists, and students everywhere." - Toby Miller, University of California, Riverside Since publication of its first edition, The Political Economy of Communication has established itself as a true classic and one of the most important contributions to the field. This second edition has been thoroughly restructured, updated and expanded to make it an indispensable text for students and scholars alike. Putting the student at the centre of its updates, this book: Maps the definitions and foundations of political economy Adds 3 new chapters to explore current trends, from feminism and labour to new media, forms of resistance, media reform and democracy Illustrates throughout how power operates across the 21st century media landscape Explores key issues in how media power intersects with globalization, social class, race, gender and surveillance Shows media students why it is essential to understand political economy and its application to media and communication. Combining penetrating theoretical analysis with passionate commitment, Vincent Mosco once again gives readers an indispensable introduction to the field.

What is political economy and how can it be applied to the study of media communication? The Political Economy of Communication is the definitive critical overview of the discipline for students of the social sciences. It explains in detail the analytic tools that political economy can apply to today's increasingly global and technological information society. Mosco presents an historical overview of the discipline and defines political economy by its focus on the relation between the production, distribution and consumption of communication in historical and cultural context. This comprehensive analysis of the 'commodity form' is communication includes an examination of print, broadcast and new electronic media, the role and function of the audience, and the problem of social control. It concludes by addressing the relationship of political economy to the increasingly important fields of policy studies and cultural studies.

The stakes for control over the means of communication in China have never been so high as the country struggles with breathtaking social change. This authoritative book analyzes the key dimensions of the transformation in China's communication system since the early 1990s and examines the highly fluid and potentially explosive dynamics of communication, power, and social contestation during China's rapid rise as a global power. Yuezhi Zhao begins with an analysis of the party-state's reconfiguration of political, economic, and ideological power in the Chinese communication system. She then explores the processes and social implications of domestic and foreign capital formation in the communication industry. Drawing on media and Internet debates on fundamental political, economic, and social issues in contemporary China, the book concludes with a nuanced depiction of the pitched and uneven battles for access and control among different social forces. Locating developments in Chinese communication within the nexus of state, market, and society, the author analyzes how the legacies of socialism continue to cast a long shadow. The book not only provides a multifaceted and interdisciplinary portrait of contemporary Chinese communication, but also explores profound questions regarding the nature of the state, the dynamics of class formation, and the trajectory of China's epochal social transformation.