ABSTRACT

Based on the work of media historian, James Curran, Narrating Media History explores British media history as a series of competing narratives.

This unique and timely collection brings together leading international media history scholars, not only to identify and contrast the various interrelationships between media histories, but also to encourage dialogue between different historical, political, and theoretical perspectives including:

liberalism, feminism, populism, nationalism, libertarianism, radicalism and technological determinism.

Essays by distinguished academics cover television, radio, newspaper press and advertising (among others) and illustrate the particularities, affinities, strengths and weaknesses within media history. Each section includes a brief introduction by the editor, with discussion topics and suggestions for further reading, making this an invaluable guide for students of media history.

part |26 pages

The liberal narrative

chapter |10 pages

Renewing the liberal tradition

The press and public discussion in twentieth-century Britain 1

part |31 pages

The feminist narrative

chapter |14 pages

The angel in the ether

Early radio and the constitution of the household

chapter |13 pages

‘Going to Spain with the boys'

Women correspondents and the Spanish Civil War

part |29 pages

The populist narrative

chapter |12 pages

‘A moment of triumph in the history of the free mind'?

British and American advertising agencies' responses to the introduction of commercial television in the United Kingdom

chapter |13 pages

The Pilkington Report

The triumph of paternalism?

part |30 pages

The libertarian narrative

chapter |13 pages

‘A stream of pollution through every part of the country?'

Morality, regulation and the modern popular press

chapter |13 pages

‘Outrageously bad taste'

The BBC and the controversy over This is Your Life in the 1950s

part |28 pages

The anthropological narrative

chapter |11 pages

‘Nation shall speak peace unto nation'

The BBC and the projection of a new Britain, 1967–82

part |30 pages

The radical narrative

chapter |13 pages

The birth of distance

Communications and changing conceptions of elsewhere

part |33 pages

The technological determinist narrative