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This book explores how the Internet presents radical ways of organising and producing media that offer political and cultural alternatives, both to ways of doing business and to how we understand the world and our place in it. It is characterised by in-depth case studies. Topics include the media of new social movements and other radical political organisations (including the far right); websites produced by fans of popular culture; and media dedicated to developing a critical, ‘public’ journalism. The book locates these studies in appropriate theoretical and historical contexts, while remaining accessible to a student audience. Major themes include: the use of the Internet by political groups such as the anti-capitalist and environmental movements, as well as the far right; radical forms of creativity and distribution — the anti-copyright and sampling/file-sharing movements, and their role as cultural critics in a corporate world; the development and maintenance of a global, ‘digital public sphere’ of protest through such practices as ‘hacktivism’; the use of new media technologies to transform existing media forms and practices, such as news media and Internet radio.

Hollywood has a growing fascination with America's past. This is evidenced in the release of a rash of films of this genre in the past twenty-five years. This book offers an analysis of how and why contemporary Hollywood films have sought to mediate American history. It explores, comprehensively, the post-Cold War period of filmmaking, and considers whether or how far contemporary films have begun to unravel the unifying myths of earlier films and periods. The book also considers why such films are becoming increasingly integral to the ambitions of a globally focused American film industry. The relationship between film and history — the way in which film mediates history and vice versa — is a complex one. This book works from two main assumptions. First, that films revise events to challenge or, perhaps more typically, to reaffirm traditional historical interpretations. Second, that this process can only be understood in the context of contemporary debates about identity politics, America's role in world affairs, and the globalisation of the American film business.

The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) was reported by some of the most eminent journalists of the twentieth century and was the subject of reportage that still endures in public memory. However, this represents just a small fraction of the total news coverage of the war, raising the possibility that it provides a partial, even atypical, view of the international media's engagement with, and performance in, the conflict. This book provides the most extensive and detailed analysis of the reporting of the conflict ever undertaken, examining the personalities, routines, pressures, and structures that shaped news coverage of the war in Britain as it unfolded. The book combines a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on the role of the news media in the conflict, with a vast amount of new evidence, gleaned from the author's detailed investigations in a range of official and media archives.

This is a study of the British state's generation, suppression and manipulation of news to further foreign policy goals during the early Cold War. Bribing editors, blackballing ‘unreliable’ journalists, creating instant media experts through provision of carefully edited ‘inside information’ and exploiting the global media system to plant propaganda – disguised as news – around the world: these were all methods used by the British to try to convince the international public of Soviet deceit and criminality and thus gain support for anti-Soviet policies at home and abroad. Britain's shaky international position heightened the importance of propaganda. The Soviets and Americans were investing heavily in propaganda to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the world and substitute for increasingly unthinkable nuclear war. The British exploited and enhanced their media power and propaganda expertise to keep up with the superpowers, and to preserve their own global influence at a time when British economic, political and military power was sharply declining. This activity directly influenced domestic media relations, as officials used British media to launder foreign-bound propaganda and to create the desired images of British ‘public opinion’ for foreign audiences. By the early 1950s, censorship had waned, but covert propaganda had become addictive. The endless tension of the Cold War normalised what had previously been abnormal state involvement in the media, and led it to use similar tools against Egyptian nationalists, Irish republicans and British leftists. Much more recently, official manipulation of news about Iraq indicates that a behind-the-scenes examination of state propaganda's earlier days is highly relevant. The author draws heavily on recently declassified archival material for this book, especially files of the Foreign Office's anti-Communist Information Research Department propaganda agency and the papers of key media organisations, journalists, politicians and officials. Readers will therefore gain a greater understanding of the depth of the state's power with the media at a time when concerns about propaganda and media manipulation are once again at the fore.

This book examines the issue of British propaganda to France during the Second World War and aims to show the value of the propaganda campaign to the British war effort. It surveys the organisation, operation and nature of the British propaganda effort towards the French people, including both white propaganda (BBC broadcasts and leaflets dropped by the RAF) and black propaganda (secret broadcasting stations, documents purporting to come from the Germans in France or distributed in France using clandestine methods, and rumours). Finally, the book examines the contemporary British understanding of the French and German reception of and reaction to this propaganda material, to show whether the campaign was an effective and well-directed use of resources. Almost all examinations of British foreign propaganda during the Second World War have focused on propaganda directed towards Germany. British propaganda to France, which in terms of quantity of output was actually the most important area of British propaganda, has never been examined in depth until now. The book adds a further chapter to our knowledge of propaganda in the Second World War, especially in the conduct of psychological warfare. It also touches on better-known areas such as RAF Bomber Command and its Operational Training Units, which handled aerial dissemination of British white propaganda leaflets over France, and the Special Operations Executive in France, which worked closely with the Political Warfare Executive in delivering much black propaganda.

This book presents a detailed study of the three dominant Arab media channels — Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia — and their role post-9/11. The Arab world is currently undergoing a radical media revolution, with the launch of numerous satellite and cable channels. The era of state-controlled media is coming to an end as privately owned channels emerge. The book provides a critical overview of the development of Arab media; examines the aims and impact of Al-Jazeera, Al-Hurra and Al-Arabia, and compares their broadcasting strategies, programmes and use of language; and includes comparative case studies of the coverage of the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and US foreign policy.

This book is a comprehensive collection of extracts of Jean Baudrillard’s myriad published writings. The extracts extend, in order of original publication in French, from the 1960s right up to the mid-2000s, shortly before Baudrillard died from cancer in 2007. The book has a critical introduction on the importance of the whole of Baudrillard’s ouevre and a further reading guide to Jean Baudrillard the person, and his entire life and work. Each of the extracts is preceded by a short, snappy editorial introduction setting the scene. The book is aimed at readers new to Baudrillard as well as experts in the field.

How do we rely on media for remembering? In exploring the complex ways that media converge to support our desire to capture, store and retrieve memories, this textbook offers analyses of representations of memorable events, media tools for remembering and forgetting, media technologies for archiving and the role of media producers in making memories. Theories of memory and media are covered alongside an accessible range of case studies focusing on memory in relation to radio, television, pop music, celebrity, digital media and mobile phones. Ethnographic and production culture research, including interviews with members of the public and industry professionals, is also included. Offering a comprehensive introduction to the connections and disconnections in the study of media and memory, this is the perfect textbook for media studies students. Key Features • Presents a thorough and detailed overview of key writers, theories and debates • Case studies enrich the text, offering innovative approaches and insights on methodology • Covers a range of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media including radio, television, film, photography, digital media, mobile phones and popular music • Explores discourses, forms and practices of media and memory with active learning exercises that engage readers

An engaging and original study of current research on television audiences and the concept of emotion, this book offers a unique approach to key issues within television studies. Topics discussed include: television branding; emotional qualities in television texts; audience reception models; fan cultures; 'quality' television; television aesthetics; reality television; individualism and its links to television consumption. The book is divided into two sections: the first covers theoretical work on the audience, fan cultures, global television, theorising emotion and affect in feminist theory and film and television studies. The second half offers a series of case studies on television programmes in order to explore how emotion is fashioned, constructed and valued in televisual texts. The final chapter features original material from interviews with industry professionals in the UK and Irish Soap industries along with advice for students on how to conduct their own small-scale ethnographic projects.

This is the first comprehensive survey of the media in Scotland. The contributors are drawn from six universities and other areas of Scottish life, and together they offer the reader succinct historical accounts and analyses of contemporary trends. The book celebrates achievements in the Scottish media but it also asks searching questions about what the future might hold and about the vexed relationship between London and Scotland. Among the topics covered are film, television drama, soap opera, radio and popular music and broadcast comedy. The relationship between politics and the media is explored, as are the representations of gender and of ethnicity. The use of the Scots language and the development of Gaelic media are discussed. The contemporary communications environment post-devolution is examined, as is the relationship among sport, the media and new technology. The book also contains separate chapters on the historical development of the press, cinema and broadcasting north of the border, while an introductory essay explores the complexities involved in the representation of Scotland within and furth of the country. The book is designed to stimulate academic and public debate at a time when both the media and the constitutional situation are in a state of considerable flux.

Regulation of the media has traditionally been premised upon claims of ‘the public interest’, yet the term itself remains contested and generally ill defined. In the context of technological development and convergence, as well as corporate conglomeration, traditional ‘public service’ values in British broadcasting are challenged by market values. With such ongoing trends continuing apace, regulators must increasingly justify their interventions. The communication industries' commercialisation and privatisation pose a fundamental threat to democratic values. This book argues that regulators will only successfully protect such values if claims associated with ‘citizenship’ are recognised as the rationale and objective for the regulatory endeavour. While such themes are central to the book, this second edition has been substantially revised and updated to take account of matters such as European Directives, the UK's Communications Act 2003, the process of reviewing the BBC's Charter and relevant aspects of the reform of general competition law.

This critical study of intellectual property in the new media environment highlights the ways in which issues of intellectual property are driving the contemporary media economy, from disputes over downloading music from the Internet to negotiations over David Beckham's image rights. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides the reader with an understanding of how intellectual property laws shape and are shaped by the needs of the media industry. As the book demonstrates, the media industry exploits copyright and trademarks in new and seemingly boundless ways, whether it is the blockbuster movie Harry Potter or successful children's television programme Bob the Builder. The book focuses on: the underlying importance of intellectual property rights to the media industry, the impact of digitalisation on the protection of copyright, the response of the music industry to digital distribution and copyright piracy, the strategic decisions of broadcasters to acquire sports rights, the importance of tertiary rights and their role in the television marketplace, the emergence of celebrity image rights, and issues of copyright and the Internet.

The book offers a new outlook in studying Arab news media. It compares Arab and Anglo-American journalistic practices and reviews journalism education in Arab universities. The book opens up a new research agenda and challenges the concepts taken for granted in Arab media scholarship such as the impact of globalisation, role of Arab media in the public sphere as well as reviews Arab scholars’ work.

How can we engage critically with music video and its role in popular culture? What do contemporary music videos have to tell us about patterns of cultural identity today? Based around an eclectic series of case studies, this examination is an analysis of the forms, pleasures and politics that music videos offer. In rethinking some classic approaches from film studies and popular music studies and connecting them with new debates about the current ‘state’ of feminism and feminist theory, this book shows why and how we should be studying music videos in the twenty-first century.

This book is part of a series which aims to explore the area of ‘screen music’. Volume topics include multimedia music, music and television, Hollywood film music, and the music of Bollywood cinema. Music and other sound effects were central to a whole host of media forms throughout the twentieth century, either as background, accompaniment, or main driving force. Such interactions will continue to mutate in new directions with the widespread growth of digital technologies. Despite the expansion of research into the use of music and sound in film, the investigation of sonic interactions with other media forms has been a largely under-researched area. This book provides a study of how music and other sounds play a central part in our understandings and uses of a variety of communications media. It focuses on four areas of sound and music within broader multimedia forms — music videos, video game music, performance and presentation, and production and consumption — and addresses the centrality of such aural concerns within our everyday experiences.

The fully revised and updated version of this classic text examines the link between three key obsessions of the 21st century: the media, sport and popular culture. Gathering new material from around the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the Beijing Olympics and the rise of new sports stars such as boxing's Amir Khan and cycling's Victoria Pendleton, the authors explore a wide range of sports, as well as issues including nationalism, gender, race, political economy and the changing patterns of media sport consumption. For those interested in media and sport the second edition combines new and original material with an overview of the developing field of media sport, and examines the way in which the media has increasingly come to dominate how sport is played, organized and thought about in society.It traces the historical evolution of the relationship between sport and the media and examines the complex business relationships that have grown up around television, sponsors and sport. Covers the following topics: the history of media in sport; television, sport and sponsorship; why sport matters to television; sports stars; sports journalism; fans and the audience; sport in the digital media economy.

Allied propaganda and Eire censorship were a vital part of the conflict over Irish neutrality in the Second World War. Based upon original research in archives in Ireland, Great Britain, the United States and Canada, this study opens a new page in the history of wartime propaganda and censorship. It examines the channels of propaganda employed in Eire and the agencies that operated them, including the press and other print media, broadcasting and film; and the structure and operations of the Eire censorship bureau which sought to repress them. The book also looks at the role played by Irish Americans in the conflict, some of whom supported, while others opposed, Irish neutrality. Which side could win this ‘war of words’? Could British and American propaganda overcome Eire neutrality, or would Eire censorship guarantee that it could not? In this detailed and wide-ranging examination of the ‘war of words’ over Eire neutrality, the author addresses such subjects as public opinion, government policies, propaganda planning, objectives, content and channels of dissemination, and the purpose and tactics of censorship.