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Power Beyond Scrutiny uncovers the forces which distort and limit public debate in the media. From the misuse of politician's expenses to recent phone hacking scandals, establishment corruption has never been more in the headlines. Yet amidst the din of scandal, there have been seismic silences. Justin Schlosberg interrogates these silences - why did a plea bargain which allowed Britain's biggest arms company to escape bribery prosecution, go almost entirely unchallenged in television news? Why did journalists routinely endorse the official explanation of how intelligence analyst David Kelly died, while all but ignoring mounting evidence which undermined it? Why, in 2010, did broadcasters offer an unchallenged platform to critics of Wikileaks but not its supporters? These are some of the questions and imbalances that Schlosberg seeks to address as he explains the nature of public debate in the digital age. In doing so he uncovers a range of news blockages that are more than just accidents of a fragmented, chaotic mediascape. They are ultimately ideological forces which ensure that contestability and dissent remain within definable limits.
Our media systems are in crisis. Run by unaccountable corporations and dominated by agendas and algorithms that are shrouded in mystery, these formerly trusted sources of information and entertainment have lost their way. As consumers, we have plenty of choice, but as citizens we have an abundance of misinformation and misrepresentation. In this incisive manifesto, four prominent media scholars and activists put forth a roadmap for radical reform of concentrated media power. They argue that we should put media justice, economic democracy and social equality at the heart of our scholarship and our campaigning. The Media Manifesto delivers a sharp analysis of our communications crisis and a passionate call for urgent change. It provides resources of hope for media reform movements across the globe.
Media Ownership and Agenda Control offers a detailed examination of media ownership amidst the complexities of the information age, from the resurgence of press barons to the new influence wielded by internet giants. Much of the discussion pivots around recent revelations and controversies in the media industry, such as the findings published in 2012 from the Leveson Inquiry, the US Federal Communications Commission’s ruling on net neutrality in 2015, Edward Snowden’s decision to leak National Security Agency (NSA) documents in 2013 and the legal battles over ancillary copyrights waged in Germany and elsewhere. Justin Schlosberg traces the obscure and often unnoticed ways in which agenda...
Across the globe, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft have accumulated power in ways that existing regulatory and intellectual frameworks struggle to comprehend. A consensus is emerging that the power of these new digital monopolies is unprecedented, and that it has important implications for journalism, politics, and society. It is increasingly clear that democratic societies require new legal and conceptual tools if they are to adequately understand, and if necessary check the economic might of these companies. Equally, that we need to better comprehend the ability of such firms to control personal data and to shape the flow of news, information, and public opinion. In this volum...
The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial Hackgate is the biggest scandal to engulf the mainstream press in decades. What started as a small bush fire News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and his private detective friend Glenn 'Trigger' Mulcaire being detained at Her Majesty's pleasure in 2007 for hacking illegally into the phones of the royal family and others - has become a forest fire destroying countless reputations (and the NoW itself) in its wake. The few hacked by NI in 2007 became nearly 6,000 in late 2011. Hackgate has also thrown the spotlight on the somewhat excessively close ties between the press, police and political elite - and raised countless questions about med...
A clear-headed and empirically grounded analysis of the perceived antisemitism crisis within the Labour Party.
For years, intellectuals have argued that, with the triumph of capitalist, liberal democracy, the Western World has reached “the end of history.” Recently, however, there has been a rise of authoritarian politics in many countries. Concepts of post-democracy, anti-politics, and the like are gaining currency in theoretical and political debate. Now that capitalist democracies are facing seismic and systemic challenges, it becomes increasingly important to investigate not only the inherent antagonism between liberalism and the democratic process, but also socialism. Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Could socialism develop, expand, even enhance democracy? While this volume seeks a reappraisal of existing liberal democracy today, its main goal is to help lay the foundation for new visions and practices in developing a real socialist democracy. Amid the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism today, the responsibility to sort out the relationship between socialism and democracy has never been greater. No revival of socialist politics in the twenty-first century can occur without founding new democratic institutions and practices.
At a time of radical shifts in power across the globe, the sixth edition of An Introduction to Political Communication examines the role of the media in the political process. Brian McNair reflects on the role of communication in key events such as the referendum vote for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the rise of nationalist populism in Europe, and the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. He explores the use of communication as a weapon by Islamic State and other insurgent organisations, and by Putin’s Russia in its dealings with the West, including the hacking of Democratic Party emails in 2016. McNair argues that an expanding globalised public sp...
Such a book is long overdue.There are about eleven hundred local newspapers in the United Kingdom but, with a few excellent exceptions, little has been written about them and little attention has been paid to them - until now! SIR RAY TINDLE Like the autumn leaves, local papers are falling off the media trees in the USA and now in the UK. Circulations are plummeting, along with revenues and staff numbers. But is all doom and gloom? Will the Internet be the saviour of local journalism - through hyperlocal blogs and digital distribution tools - rather than its executioner? In this unique 'hackademic' volume, journalists and media academics examine this pressing issue from all angles at a cruci...
British politics is in an extraordinary place. Grace Blakeley introduces an indispensable collection of analysis and comment. In Futures of Socialism, Sam Gindin and James Meadway reassess socialist strategy after the coronavirus; Dalia Gebrial and Sin Errington debate austerity and precarity; Joshua Virasami and Simukai Chigudu explore anti-racism and the legacy of Empire; and Leo Panitch and Momentum co-founder James Schneider probe the limits of parliamentary socialism. Chris Saltmarsh assesses the prospects for an eco-socialist Green New Deal and Cat Hobbs argues for the ongoing centrality of public ownership to socialist policy. Futures of Socialism takes an in-depth look at the reasons...