In the third edition of this title, the author offers a broad critical preface to the relationship between politics, the media and democracy in the UK and other contemporary societies.

A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

How the media are organised and funded is central to understanding their role in society. Critical Political Economy of the Media provides a clear, comprehensive and insightful introduction to the political economic analysis of contemporary media. Jonathan Hardy undertakes a critical survey of political economy scholarship encompassing worldwide literature, issues and debates, and relationships with other academic approaches. He assesses different ways of making sense of media convergence and digitalisation, media power and influence, and transformations across communication markets. Many of the problems of the media that prompted critical political economy research remain salient, he argues, but the approach must continue to adapt to new conditions and challenges. Hardy advances the case for a revitalised critical media studies for the 21st century. Topics covered include: media ownership and financing news and entertainment convergence and the Internet media globalisation advertising and media alternative media media policy and regulation Introducing key concepts and research, this book explains how political economy can assist students, researchers and citizens to investigate and address vital questions about the media today.

′...a lively introduction to media and politics, with timely chapters on the media, war and terrorism and the internet. If you want to know why media matters in politics this is a great place to start′ - Dr Margaret Scammell, London School of Economics and Political Science ′This book has the truly international perspective that helps to put politics and media in the context of current world events...a unique and valuable text′ - Professor Lynda Lee Kaid, University of Florida ′...a new and promising perspective to the study of media and politics in a comparative dimension′ - Professor Paolo Mancini, Università di Perugia Introduction to Media and Politics draws together evidence from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia and beyond to provide students with an understanding of the relationship between the media and the political sphere. This highly accessible text: - balances theory with case studies on elections, war, terrorism, and the emerging role of the Internet, enabling the reader to think critically about how the media should work in the service of democracy. - places the study of media and politics in a comparative perspective, allowing the reader to consider how the same media institutions - including commercial and public service broadcasting, paid political advertising, and war coverage - function in different countries. This text is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of media and politics.

This concise text will help readers understand the ongoing fascination with do-it-yourself media around the world. Ellie Rennie explains how community media has, since its beginning, challenged the mainstream. A clear and useful guide for students, Community Media lays out the terrain in which community media theory and advocacy have located themselves, including the ideals of participation, community, and social change.

From the opening decades of the republic when political parties sponsored newspapers to current governmental practices that actively subsidize the collection and dissemination of the news, the press and the government have been far from independent. Unlike those earlier days, however, the news is no longer produced by a diverse range of individual outlets but is instead the result of a collective institution that exercises collective power. In explaining how the news media of today operate as an intermediary political institution, akin to the party system and interest group system, Cook demonstrates how the differing media strategies used by governmental agencies and branches respond to the constitutional and structural weaknesses inherent in a separation-of-powers system. Cook examines the news media's capacity to perform the political tasks that they have inherited and points the way to a debate on policy solutions in order to hold the news media accountable without treading upon the freedom of the press.

Bringing together the work of leading academics in media and cultural studies, this book questions the ways in which emerging forms of political style relate not only to new conventions of celebrity and publicity but to ideas about representation, citizenship and the democratic process.

Social media are now widely used for political protests, campaigns, and communication in developed and developing nations, but available research has not yet paid sufficient attention to experiences beyond the US and UK. This collection tackles this imbalance head-on, compiling cutting-edge research across six continents to provide a comprehensive, global, up-to-date review of recent political uses of social media. Drawing together empirical analyses of the use of social media by political movements and in national and regional elections and referenda, The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics presents studies ranging from Anonymous and the Arab Spring to the Greek Aganaktismenoi, and from South Korean presidential elections to the Scottish independence referendum. The book is framed by a selection of keystone theoretical contributions, evaluating and updating existing frameworks for the social media age.

Maria Repnikova offers an innovative analysis of the media oversight role in China by examining how a volatile partnership is sustained between critical journalists and the state.

Journalists and presidents, hacks and spin doctors, media moguls and prime ministers: in New Zealand and around the world, politics and the media are deeply intertwined. Politics and the Media is the second edition of New Zealand’s leading introduction to the subject. The book introduces students to the rich literature on media and politics internationally, covering history, political economy and contemporary trends, and then analyses the particular shape of the media in New Zealand and its political role. This second edition features extensive coverage of the 2014 ‘Dirty Politics’ campaign, the increasing importance of online media, and updated material in all chapters.