Politics and the Mass Media

This superlative introduction to the political role of the mass media provides a detailed consideration of the political and philosophical implications of the changing communications landscape, fuelled by the impact of the new technologies. We are entering into a brave new world in which technological changes carry with them either the seeds to promote or retard citizen empowerment. The problem remains how to effectively employ this new set of information highways for societal benefit. These changes throw into relief some of the questions related to the exercising of citizenship through mass communication. Will the digital revolution increase citizen participation, decentralize conglomerate control and reinvent civil society? Can interactivity increase democratic participation through a constant series of referenda? Is it the case, as critics of ‘electronic democracy’ argue, that democracy is more than a device for registering preference and that cultural rights comprise information, knowledge, representation and communication? Students and teachers alike will respond not only to the text’s comprehensive coverage of the field but to the currency of these hotly debated issues.

List of Tables. Aknowledgements. 1. The Traditional Paradigms: Political Theories of the Mass Media. 2. The Development of the British Press. 3. The Contemporary British Press. 4. The British Public Service Broadcasting System. 5. Whither Public Service Broadcasting System. 6. Whither Public Service Broadcasting?. 8. Democracy and the Information Superhighways. 9. Conclusion. Select Bibliography. Index.

The author is Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Modern History, London Guildhall University.