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Radical Mass Media Criticism: A Cultural Genealogy
"In the beginning was the press, and then the world appeared." --Karl Kraus
Since the beginning of the media age, there have been thinkers who have reacted against the increasing power of the mass media and perceived its ever more pervasive role in historical development. This book examines those early mass media critics, and their controversial writings, and links them with their contemporaries to demonstrate the relevance of their legacy for today's debates on media power and media ethics.
Included in this book is a look at the work of Karl Kraus and his devastating critiques of the role of corrupt journalism in the First World War; at Ferdinand Tönnies' provocative analysis of the relationship between public opinion and propaganda; and at the 'Frankfurt School,' especially Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, in the shadow of the experience of Nazism.
The Glasgow Media Group unmasks ideological bias in apparently objective news and current affairs media coverage. The importance and influence of the much contested figure of Marshall McLuhan is analysed, as is the work of Robert McChesney and the United States' tradition from which his own writing and collaboration with fellow critical intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman emerged. From Jesús Martín-Barbero in Colombia, and Nestor Garcia Canclini in Mexico comes a perspective on globalizing mass communications practice.
The media-critical work of thinkers such as Harold Innis, Northrop Frye, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, and the black American feminist writer, bell hooks, make this book truly one of the first full historical surveys of radical mass media criticism.
Anthology contributors are a team of leading international experts in the field and Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana; Hanno Hardt, University of Iowa; Joost van Loon, Nottingham Trent University; Stuart Allen, University of West of England; Jason Barker, Independent Writer and Researcher; John Eldridge, University of Glasgow; Robert McChesney, University of Illinois; James Winter, University of Windsor; Cynthia Carter, Cardiff University
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes On Tile Contributors
Chapter One
Radical Mass Media An Introduction.
David Berry
Chapter Two
The Intellectual Tradition Of Radical Mass Media A Framework.
John Theeobald
Chapter Three
In Pursuit Of Socialised Ferdinand Tönnies's Critique Of The Press And Its Predecessors
Slavko Splichal
Chapter Four
Karl Kraus And Media Commodification Of Language
John Theobald
Chapter Five
The Frankfurt School And Aesthetic Critical Theory, Art, And The Critique Of (Mass) Communication
Hanno Hardt
Chapter Six
Mediating Jürgen Habermas And The Public Sphere
Jim McGuigan and Stuart Allan
Chapter Seven
The Work Of The Glasgow Media An Insider's Story
John Eldridge
Chapter Eight
Armand Historicism And Mass Media
Sanda Miller
Chapter Nine
Canadian Critical Communication
Robert E. Babe and James P. Winter
Chapter Ten
McLuhan And His Influences
Joost Van Loon
Chapter Eleven
A Century Of Radical Media Criticism In The USA
Ben Scott and Robert W McChesney
Chapter Twelve
Popular Culture And Mass Media In Latin Some Reflections On The Works Of Jesus Martin-Barbero And Nestor Garda Canclini
David Berry
Chapter Thirteen
The Transformative Power Of Cultural bell hooks's Raclical Media Analysis
Cynthia Carter
Chapter Fourteen
Dissident Intellectuals And Intellectual Some Concluding Thoughts About Thinking And Acting
John Theobald
Index
DAVID BERRY is Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Culture and Mass Communications and JOHN THEOBALD is Associate Professor in Modern Languages both at the Southampton Institute, UK.
272 pages, 6x9, bibliography, index
Since the beginning of the media age, there have been thinkers who have reacted against the increasing power of the mass media and perceived its ever more pervasive role in historical development. This book examines those early mass media critics, and their controversial writings, and links them with their contemporaries to demonstrate the relevance of their legacy for today's debates on media power and media ethics.
Included in this book is a look at the work of Karl Kraus and his devastating critiques of the role of corrupt journalism in the First World War; at Ferdinand Tönnies' provocative analysis of the relationship between public opinion and propaganda; and at the 'Frankfurt School,' especially Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, in the shadow of the experience of Nazism.
The Glasgow Media Group unmasks ideological bias in apparently objective news and current affairs media coverage. The importance and influence of the much contested figure of Marshall McLuhan is analysed, as is the work of Robert McChesney and the United States' tradition from which his own writing and collaboration with fellow critical intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman emerged. From Jesús Martín-Barbero in Colombia, and Nestor Garcia Canclini in Mexico comes a perspective on globalizing mass communications practice.
The media-critical work of thinkers such as Harold Innis, Northrop Frye, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, and the black American feminist writer, bell hooks, make this book truly one of the first full historical surveys of radical mass media criticism.
Anthology contributors are a team of leading international experts in the field and Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana; Hanno Hardt, University of Iowa; Joost van Loon, Nottingham Trent University; Stuart Allen, University of West of England; Jason Barker, Independent Writer and Researcher; John Eldridge, University of Glasgow; Robert McChesney, University of Illinois; James Winter, University of Windsor; Cynthia Carter, Cardiff University
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes On Tile Contributors
Chapter One
Radical Mass Media An Introduction.
David Berry
Chapter Two
The Intellectual Tradition Of Radical Mass Media A Framework.
John Theeobald
Chapter Three
In Pursuit Of Socialised Ferdinand Tönnies's Critique Of The Press And Its Predecessors
Slavko Splichal
Chapter Four
Karl Kraus And Media Commodification Of Language
John Theobald
Chapter Five
The Frankfurt School And Aesthetic Critical Theory, Art, And The Critique Of (Mass) Communication
Hanno Hardt
Chapter Six
Mediating Jürgen Habermas And The Public Sphere
Jim McGuigan and Stuart Allan
Chapter Seven
The Work Of The Glasgow Media An Insider's Story
John Eldridge
Chapter Eight
Armand Historicism And Mass Media
Sanda Miller
Chapter Nine
Canadian Critical Communication
Robert E. Babe and James P. Winter
Chapter Ten
McLuhan And His Influences
Joost Van Loon
Chapter Eleven
A Century Of Radical Media Criticism In The USA
Ben Scott and Robert W McChesney
Chapter Twelve
Popular Culture And Mass Media In Latin Some Reflections On The Works Of Jesus Martin-Barbero And Nestor Garda Canclini
David Berry
Chapter Thirteen
The Transformative Power Of Cultural bell hooks's Raclical Media Analysis
Cynthia Carter
Chapter Fourteen
Dissident Intellectuals And Intellectual Some Concluding Thoughts About Thinking And Acting
John Theobald
Index
DAVID BERRY is Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Culture and Mass Communications and JOHN THEOBALD is Associate Professor in Modern Languages both at the Southampton Institute, UK.
272 pages, 6x9, bibliography, index
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 30, 2008
An amazing anthology of critical media thinkers dating back before the Frankfurt school. Very interesting stuff. Almost done!!
10/9/08:
2 chapters left. There was a chapter in this book that got me thinking about space and time and how technical ability of communication has sped up beyond the physical reality of earthly processes. This theorist was Harold Innis, a Canadian political economist who came up with a theory of media bias rooted in a materialist analysis. He talks about time-bound and space-bound societies. Time-bound societies are "viewed organically or cyclically," and generally have media that are durable and not very mobile whereas space-bound societies are "riveted on 'the ceaseless flow of mechanical time'" while still having some contact with nature and natural cycles. Their media tend to be disposable, easy to carry, and have lots of storage capacity.
This got me thinking about land and space usage and other sorts of things which led to the connection of that with a reading i did in Tipping the Sacred Cow: The Best of LiP: Informed revolt, 1996-2007. That essay, Common Uprisings: From the great Mexican land grab to the reclamation of everything, talked about the commons and their enclosure by capitalism and how after the Mexican revolution where Zapata and Villa representing many, had demands that lead to a constitutional amendment leading to free land and resources to indigenous peoples. This land was legally outside the marketplace and the state and could not be bought or sold. It was, in a sense, beyond capital. That was the case until NAFTA.
The author goes on to talk about how in U.S.-America, this has never been the case. There are homeless people, but not landless peasants. There is public and private land, but not land outside the jurisdiction of the state or the marketplace. And this lead to questions about "reclaim the streets" parties, and demonstrations, and the like, but no sustained effort to effectively re-claim and hold onto land and turning it over to the betterment and stewardship of the community.
For instance, in Argentina, there are occupied factories there that are worker-run because the capitalists were shutting them down because they were so in debt. When the workers got the plants working and out of the debt the capitalists wanted them back. The people, whole communities, came out and supported workers and using stones and barricades et cetra, drove away police and the capitalists. Eventually, the state gave the workers the legal right to have the plants... or at least a lot of them. And it's a constant struggle. Anyway, between LiP and this book, I've been doing a lot of "connect-the-dots" ;)
Can't wait to finish it.
I finished this a week ago or so and it was really awesome. This book, in conjunction with some others, has got me writing an article which is really exciting.
I suppose my only gripe, aside from a few of the essays not being that interesting for me, is somewhere in the closing article, Theobald makes some claim that I've heard elsewhere: If only they would read this information and understand it, then we could have [media] revolution tomorrow! It's not to say people shouldn't be looking at and reading media critically, but that there is a myth that goes if only they read what I'm saying then then doors of truth will be blown off their hinges and revolution will be in the streets. I'm blowing this out of proportion, but I've heard it a lot, and it stuck.
Anyway, lots of interesting stuff to wrap your mind around and a ton of good writing and critical analysis. I highly recommend this book.
10/9/08:
2 chapters left. There was a chapter in this book that got me thinking about space and time and how technical ability of communication has sped up beyond the physical reality of earthly processes. This theorist was Harold Innis, a Canadian political economist who came up with a theory of media bias rooted in a materialist analysis. He talks about time-bound and space-bound societies. Time-bound societies are "viewed organically or cyclically," and generally have media that are durable and not very mobile whereas space-bound societies are "riveted on 'the ceaseless flow of mechanical time'" while still having some contact with nature and natural cycles. Their media tend to be disposable, easy to carry, and have lots of storage capacity.
This got me thinking about land and space usage and other sorts of things which led to the connection of that with a reading i did in Tipping the Sacred Cow: The Best of LiP: Informed revolt, 1996-2007. That essay, Common Uprisings: From the great Mexican land grab to the reclamation of everything, talked about the commons and their enclosure by capitalism and how after the Mexican revolution where Zapata and Villa representing many, had demands that lead to a constitutional amendment leading to free land and resources to indigenous peoples. This land was legally outside the marketplace and the state and could not be bought or sold. It was, in a sense, beyond capital. That was the case until NAFTA.
The author goes on to talk about how in U.S.-America, this has never been the case. There are homeless people, but not landless peasants. There is public and private land, but not land outside the jurisdiction of the state or the marketplace. And this lead to questions about "reclaim the streets" parties, and demonstrations, and the like, but no sustained effort to effectively re-claim and hold onto land and turning it over to the betterment and stewardship of the community.
For instance, in Argentina, there are occupied factories there that are worker-run because the capitalists were shutting them down because they were so in debt. When the workers got the plants working and out of the debt the capitalists wanted them back. The people, whole communities, came out and supported workers and using stones and barricades et cetra, drove away police and the capitalists. Eventually, the state gave the workers the legal right to have the plants... or at least a lot of them. And it's a constant struggle. Anyway, between LiP and this book, I've been doing a lot of "connect-the-dots" ;)
Can't wait to finish it.
I finished this a week ago or so and it was really awesome. This book, in conjunction with some others, has got me writing an article which is really exciting.
I suppose my only gripe, aside from a few of the essays not being that interesting for me, is somewhere in the closing article, Theobald makes some claim that I've heard elsewhere: If only they would read this information and understand it, then we could have [media] revolution tomorrow! It's not to say people shouldn't be looking at and reading media critically, but that there is a myth that goes if only they read what I'm saying then then doors of truth will be blown off their hinges and revolution will be in the streets. I'm blowing this out of proportion, but I've heard it a lot, and it stuck.
Anyway, lots of interesting stuff to wrap your mind around and a ton of good writing and critical analysis. I highly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review