ABSTRACT

Power Without Responsibility is a classic introduction to the history, sociology, theory and politics of the media in Britain.

Hailed by the Times Higher as the 'seminal media text', and translated into Arabic, Chinese and other foreign languages, it is an essential guide for media students and critical media consumers alike.

The new edition has been substantially revised to bring it right up-to-date with developments in the media industry, new media technologies and changes in the political and academic debates surrounding the media. In this new edition, the authors consider:

  •  the impact of the internet
  •  the failure of interactive TV
  •  media and Britishness
  •  new media and global understanding
  •  journalism in crisis
  •  BBC and broadcasting at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Assessing the media at a time of profound change, the authors set out the democratic choices for media reform.

part |2 pages

Part I Press history

chapter 1|3 pages

Whig press history as political mythology

chapter 2|11 pages

The struggle for a free press

chapter 3|6 pages

The ugly face of reform

chapter 4|14 pages

The industrialization of the press

chapter 5|17 pages

The era of the press barons

chapter 6|12 pages

The press under public regulation

chapter 7|35 pages

Fable of market democracy

part |2 pages

Part II Broadcasting history

chapter 8|17 pages

Reith and the denial of politics

chapter 9|23 pages

Broadcasting and the blitz

chapter 10|9 pages

Social revolution?

chapter 11|12 pages

The BBC under threat

chapter 12|7 pages

Class, taste and profit

chapter 13|18 pages

How the audience is made

chapter 14|10 pages

The first new media

chapter 15|34 pages

Broadcasting roller-coaster

part |2 pages

Part III Rise of new media

chapter 16|17 pages

New media in Britain

chapter 17|23 pages

History of the internet

chapter 18|16 pages

Sociology of the internet

part |2 pages

Part IV Theories of the media

chapter 19|18 pages

Metabolising Britishness

chapter 20|15 pages

Global understanding

chapter 21|15 pages

The liberal theory of press freedom

part |2 pages

Part V Politics of the media