Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World

by Nick Couldry (Editor), James Curran (Editor)

Overview

Contesting Media Power is the most ambitious international collection to date on the worldwide growth of alternative media that are challenging the power concentration in large media corporations. Media scholars and political scientists develop a broad comparative framework for analyzing alternative media in Australia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Topics include independent media centers, gay online networks and alternative web discussion forums, feminist film, political journalism and social networks, indigenous communication, and church-sponsored media. This important book will help shape debates on the media's role in current global struggles, such as the anti-globalization movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742575202
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/22/2003
Series:	Critical Media Studies: Institutions, Politics, and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Nick Couldry is senior lecturer in media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. James Curran is professor of communications at Goldsmiths College, London.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter I: Introduction and Theoretical Perspectives
Chapter 2 1 The Paradox of Media Power
Chapter 3 2 New Media Power: The Internet and Global Activism
Chapter 4 3 Beyond the Hall of Mirrors? Some Theoretical Reflections on the Global Contestation of Media Power
Chapter 5
Chapter II: In the Shadow of the State
Chapter 6 4 Infoshops in the Shadow of the State
Chapter 7 5 Framing the Future: Indigenous Communication in Australia
Chapter 8 6 The Press Subsidy System in Sweden: A Critical Approach
Chapter 9
Chapter III: In the Shadow of the Market
Chapter 10 7 Commercialism and Critique: California's Alternative Weeklies
Chapter 11 8 Has Feminism Caused a Wrinkle on the Face of Hollywood Cinema? A Tentative Appraisal of the '90s
Chapter 12 9 Empire and Communications: Centrifugal and Centripetal Media in Contemporary Russia
Chapter 13
Chapter IV: In the Shadow of Civil Society and Religion
Chapter 14 10 Liberalization without Full Democracy: Guerilla Media and Political Movements in Taiwan
Chapter 15 11 The Bishop and His Star: Citizens' Communication in Southern Chile
Chapter 16 12 New Nation: Anachronistic Catholicism and Liberation Theology
Chapter 17 13 Falun Gong, Identity and the Struggle Over Meaning Inside and Outside China
Chapter 18
Chapter V: New Media Spaces
Chapter 19 14 Global Journalism: A Case Study of the Internet
Chapter 20 15 The Independent Media Center Movement and the Anarchist Socialist Tradition
Chapter 21 16 The Gay Global Village in Cyberspace
Chapter 22 17 The Internet, Social Networks and Reform in Indonesia
Chapter 23 18 The Alternative Media in Malaysia: Their Potential and Limitations

Editorial Reviews

Edited collections that bring together examples of alternative media are far from new but this one is substantially different and merits praise on several grounds. Of particular importance is the attempt to provide a comparative look at how media power is challenged in different places under different political and social conditions. I liked this book—it lifts the spirits while retaining a sense of political realism and critical evaluation. May there be more like it.

European Journal Of Communication - Natalie Fenton

This collection helps move the discussion of alternative media away from abstract puffery toward concrete appraisals. Many of the essays are especially useful for bringing political assumptions to the surface—and for exploring new media that originate in less developed parts of the world. All in all, a vigorous step forward.

Todd Gitlin

While mainstream corporate and state media are growing in power and reach, they are increasingly contested by a wide range of alternative media. Contesting Media Power contains a series of studies of alternative media and their funding, practices, and often contradictory effects. Covering a broad array of media and locations, the collection attests to growing anti-corporate globalization movements and a promising proliferation of alternative forms, strategies, practices, and movements. Written by scholars and activists from around the world, this book provides state-of-the-art reports on media activism and alternative media.

Douglas Kellner

While mainstream corporate and state media are growing in power and reach, they are increasingly contested by a wide range of alternative media. Contesting Media Power contains a series of studies of alternative media and their funding, practices, and often contradictory effects. Covering a broad array of media and locations, the collection attests to growing anti-corporate globalization movements and a promising proliferation of alternative forms, strategies, practices, and movements. Written by scholars and activists from around the world, this book provides state-of-the-art reports on media activism and alternative media.--Douglas Kellner, UCLA; author of Media Culture and Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy

This collection helps move the discussion of alternative media away from abstract puffery toward concrete appraisals. Many of the essays are especially useful for bringing political assumptions to the surface--and for exploring new media that originate in less developed parts of the world. All in all, a vigorous step forward.--Todd Gitlin, Professor of culture, journalism and sociology, New York University

Edited collections that bring together examples of alternative media are far from new but this one is substantially different and merits praise on several grounds. Of particular importance is the attempt to provide a comparative look at how media power is challenged in different places under different political and social conditions. I liked this book--it lifts the spirits while retaining a sense of political realism and critical evaluation. May there be more like it.--Natalie Fenton, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths University of London "European Journal Of Communication "

From the Publisher

Edited collections that bring together examples of alternative media are far from new but this one is substantially different and merits praise on several grounds. Of particular importance is the attempt to provide a comparative look at how media power is challenged in different places under different political and social conditions. I liked this book—it lifts the spirits while retaining a sense of political realism and critical evaluation. May there be more like it.
— Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths College

European Journal Of Communication