The Mediation of Power: A Critical Introduction »

The Mediation of Power investigates how those in positions of power use and are influenced by media in their everyday activities. Each chapter examines this theme through an exploration of some of the key topic areas and debates in the field. The topics covered are:

• theories of media and power
• media policy and the economics of information
• news production and journalistic practice
• public relations and media management
• culture and power
• political communication and mediated politics
• new and alternative media
• interest group communications
• media audiences and effects.

In addition, the book presents a series of critical dialogues with the traditional paradigms in the field. These are rethought, supplemented or discarded altogether. The discussions are illustrated with original research material from a range of communication environments and case study examples. These document stock market crashes, E-democracy, the subcultures of the London Stock Exchange and Westminster Parliament, the strategies of corporate and political spin doctors, mass media influences on politicians and the Make Poverty History campaign.

The debates are enlivened by first-hand accounts taken from over 200 high-profile interviews with politicians, journalists, public officials, spin doctors, campaigners and captains of industry. Tim Bell, David Blunkett, Iain Duncan Smith, Simon Heffer, David Hill, Simon Hughes, Trevor Kavanagh, Neil Kinnock, Peter Riddell, Polly Toynbee, Michael White and Ann Widdecombe are some of those cited.

List of illustrations     xi
Preface and acknowledgements     xiii
Introduction: critical engagements with mediated power     1
Media policy: communication and the economic inefficiencies of market liberalisation     17
Media production: discursive practices, news production and the mobilisation of bias in public discourse     36
Media management and public relations: public media, inter-elite conflict and power     55
Culture, discourse and power: the rediscovery of elite culture and power in media studies?     74
Mediated politics: the mediation of parliamentary politics     96
New and alternative media: the Internet and the parliamentary public sphere     113
Interest groups and mediated mobilisation: communication in the Make Poverty History campaign   Nick Sireau   Aeron Davis     131
Media audiences and effects: the question of the rational audience in the London Stock Exchange     151
Conclusion     170
A short note on research methods     178
List of interviewees     182
Notes     187
Bibliography     191
Index     215