Product Description: "John Talbott's call to revitalize American democracy also contains a powerful message for the rest of the world: namely, that democratic governance and the rule of law constitute the key to economic development. It's a compelling message that deserves the widest possible hearing...read more

Product Description: Firmly rooting its argument in democratic and economic theory, the book argues that a more democratic distribution of communicative power within the public sphere and a structure that provides safeguards against abuse of media power provide two of three primary arguments for ownership dispersal...read more

Product Description: What purpose does the news media serve in contemporary North American society? In this collection of essays, experts from both the United States and Canada investigate this question, exploring the effects of media concentration in democratic systems...read more

This study focuses on thirteen Hollywood films that, from the 1970s to the 1990s, assumed to represent the working practices of U.S. corporate broadcast media. The book argues that since such corporations position themselves as individuals before the law, so their film and news texts are carefully authored rhetorical manoeuvres. The structured genre analysis is also enriched by contextual histories which consider relevant legal, institutional and political interventions in the early development of the U.S. public media. This interdisciplinary approach is relevant in a study of film texts which themselves address vital contemporary concerns in media ownership, gender representation, mergers, free speech, new technologies, and the powers of market journalism itself. This book is designed, therefore, to serve the related interests of media educationalists, specialists in film, and students of U.S. media law and broadcast news histories.

(view table of contents)

Product Description: MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND DEMOCRACY IN THE DIGITAL INFORMATION AGE combines a detailed review of First Amendment jurisprudence with rigorous economic analysis to demonstrate the continuing need for structural limits on media ownership to promote democratic discourse...read more

This thorough update to Benjamin Compaine's original 1979 benchmark and 1982 revisit of media ownership tackles the question of media ownership, providing a detailed examination of the current state of the media industry. Retaining the wealth of data of the earlier volumes, Compaine and his co-author Douglas Gomery chronicle the myriad changes in the media industry and the factors contributing to these changes. They also examine how the media industry is being reshaped by technological forces in all segments, as well as by social and cultural reactions to these forces. This third edition of Who Owns the Media? has been reorganized and expanded, reflecting the evolution of the media industry structure. Looking beyond conventional wisdom and expectations, Compaine and Gomery examine the characteristics of competition in the media marketplace, present alternative positions on the meanings of concentration, and ultimately urge readers to draw their own conclusions on an issue that is neither black nor white. Appropriate for media practitioners and sociologists, historians, and economists studying mass media, this volume can also be used for advanced courses in broadcasting, journalism, mass communication, telecommunications, and media education. As a new benchmark for the current state of media ownership, it is invaluable to anyone needing to understand who controls the media and thus the information and entertainment messages received by media consumers.

What are the effects of increasing conglomerate ownership on the creation & dissemination of news & culture? These nine essays by leading media critics take probing looks at the dramatic changes of recent years. Includes: A fascinating overview of radio & TV history by Eric Barnouw; Richard Cohen & Gene Roberts write candidly on the decline of journalistic integrity & the effects of increasing profit expectations in the newsroom; Mark Crispin Miller, David Lieberman, & Pat Aufderheide discuss the dumbing-down of the publishing industry, the transformation of Hollywood, the increasing importance of merchandising & foreign rights in all media; & Thomas Frank examines advertising & the possibility of resistance to conglomerate control of the media.

Product Description: This book is a startling expose of the increasing threat to free speech a democratic government. Mazzocco describes the ways that an ever-expanding U.S.-based multinational media cartel velis the machinations of the corporate state by dominating worldwide markets for TV, radio, newspapers, books, movies, cable, recordings, and videos...read more

Product Description: Book by