Brian McNair

Original publication and copyright date: 2002.

Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire

Striptease Culture

An Introduction to Political Communication explores the relationship between politics, the media and democracy in the United Kingdom, the United States and other contemporary societies. In this textbook Brian McNair examines how politicians, trade unions, pressure groups, non-governmental organisations and terrorist organisations make use of the media. Separate chapters look at political media and their effects, the work of political advertising, marketing and public relations, and the communication practices of organisations at all levels, from grassroots campaigning through to governments and international bodies. Recent developments covered in the new edition includes: - the re-election of New Labour in 2001 - the changes in government information and communication policy introduced by the Blair administration since 1997 - the 2000 election of George W. Bush in the United States - the NATO interventions in Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia - the implications for international political communication of September 11 - the emergence of Al-Quaida and the war on terror

An Introduction to Political Communication

The public sphere is said to be in crisis. Dumbing down, tabloidisation, infotainment and spin are alleged to contaminate it, adversely affecting the quality of political journalism and of democracy itself. There is a pervasive pessimism about the relationship between the media and democracy, and widespread concern for the future of the political process. Journalism and Democracy challenges this orthodoxy, arguing instead for an alternative, more optimistic evaluation of the contemporary public sphere and its contribution to the political process. Brian McNair argues not only that the quantity of political information in mass circulation has expanded hugely in the late twentieth century, but that political journalism has become steadily more rigorous and effective in its criticism of elites, more accessible to the public, and more thorough in its coverage of the political process. Journalism and Democracy combines textual analysis and extensive in-depth interviews with political journalists, editors, presenters and documentary makers. In separate chapters devoted to the political news agenda, the political interview, punditry, public access media and spin doctoring, McNair considers whether dumbing down is a genuinely new trend in political journalism, or a kind of moral panic, provoked by suspicion of mass involvement in culture.

An Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere

Journalism and Democracy

From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores the 'sexualization' of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society. Striptease Culture is divided in to three sections: * Part one - traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with 'porno-chic' * Part two - considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media, moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women, to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television * Part three - looks at the use of sexuality in contemporary art, examinging the artistic 'striptease' of Jeff Koons, and others who have used their own naked bodies in their work. Also considering how feminist and gay artists have employed sexuality in the critique and transformation of patriarchy, the high profile of sexuality as a key contributor to public health education in the era of HIV and AIDS, and the implications of the rise of striptease culture for the future of sexual poltics, Brian McNair has produced an excellent book in the study of gender, sexuality and contemporary culture.

Axel Bruns

Aljosha Karim Schapals

What are the key challenges facing our increasingly digitized democracy, and how might we as citizens contribute to resolving them? This book explores these questions, adopting a multi-disciplinary approach that combines work from media studies, journalism studies, and political science scholars, and draws on trends in countries including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and Indonesia. The book is divided into four main themes: (1) the impact of digital communication on politics and government; (2) the future of news and journalism in the network society; (3) the potential of digital media to enhance civic engagement and social inclusion; and (4) visions for the future of digital democracy.

Digitizing Democracy

An Introduction to Political Communication introduces students to the complex relationship between politics, the media and democracy in the United Kingdom, United States and other contemporary societies. Brian McNair examines how politicians, trade unions, pressure groups, NGOs and terrorist organisations make use of the media. Individual chapters look at political media and their effects, the work of political advertising, marketing and public relations, and the communicative practices of organizations at all levels, from grass-root campaigning through to governments and international bodies. This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include: the 2008 US presidential election, and the early years of Barack Obama’s term the MPs’ expenses scandal in Britain, and the 2010 UK election campaign the growing role of bloggers and online pundits such as Guido Fawkes in the political agenda setting process the emergence of social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and their destabiising impact on the management of political crises all over the world, including the Iranian pro-reform protests of July 2009 and the Israeli atack on the anti-blockade flotilla of May 2010 the growing power of Wikileaks and other online information sources to challenge state control of classified information

Journalism is a privileged cultural form. It is the main source of our knowledge about the world and our place in it, and the point at which the individual and the social worlds meet. Referring to cases from both the US and UK, including the White House sex scandals and the death of Diana, this book examines the various factors involved in the making of contemporary journalism, including economic and political pressures, changes in the technology of news gathering and production, and the growing role of sources and "source strategies." The text analyzes how such factors come to exert influence on the form, content, and style of journalism, and reviews current approaches to the sociological impact of journalism on individuals, groups, and organizations.

The Sociology of Journalism

Fake News: Falsehood, fabrication and fantasy in journalism examines the causes and consequences of the ‘fake news’ phenomenon now sweeping the world’s media and political debates. Drawing on three decades of research and writing on journalism and news media, leading scholar Brian McNair engages with the fake news phenomenon in accessible, insightful language designed to bring clarity and context to a complex and fast-moving debate. McNair presents fake news not as a cultural issue in isolation but rather as arising from, and contributing to, significant political and social trends in twenty-first century societies. Chapters identify the factors which have laid the groundwork for fake news’ explosive appearance at this moment in our globalised public sphere. These include the rise of relativism and the crisis of objectivity, the role of digital media platforms in the production and consumption of news, and the growing drive to produce online content which attracts users and generates revenue. The book also considers the decline of trust in journalism, and the how the traditional left critique of ‘dominant ideology’ and ‘ruling elites’ in media has been appropriated by the alt-right, nationalists and populists all over the world. This book rejects the left-right division in discussion of what is and is not ‘fake news’. Rather, it aims to provide students, teachers, journalists and general readers with the tools necessary to navigate the digital journalism landscape in the era of President Donald Trump, and to filter out the ‘fact’ from the ‘fake’ in their news.

Falsehood, Fabrication and Fantasy in Journalism

Fake News

With examples drawn from media coverage of the War on Terror, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the London underground bombings, Cultural Chaos explores the changing relationship between journalism and power in an increasingly globalised news culture. In this new text, Brian McNair examines the processes of cultural, geographic and political dissolution in the post-Cold War era and the rapid evolution of information and communication technologies. He investigates the impact of these trends on domestic and international journalism and on political processes in democratic and authoritarian societies across the world. Written in a lively and accessible style, Cultural Chaos provides students with an overview of the evolution of the sociology of journalism, a critical review of current thinking within media studies and an argument for a revision and renewal of the paradigms that have dominated the field since the early twentieth century. Separate chapters are devoted to new developments such as the rise of the blogosphere and satellite television news and their impact on journalism more generally. Cultural Chaos will be essential reading for all those interested in the emerging globalised news culture of the twenty-first century.

Journalism and Power in a Globalised World

Cultural Chaos

Porno? Chic! examines the relationship between the proliferation of pornography and sexualised culture in the West and social and cultural trends which have advanced the rights of women and homosexuals. Brian McNair addresses this relationship with an analysis of trends in sexualised culture since 2002 linked to a transnational analysis of change in sexual politics and sex/gender relations in a range of societies, from the sexually liberalised societies of advanced capitalism to those in which women and homosexuals remain tightly controlled by authoritarian, patriarchal regimes. In this accessible, jargon-free book, Brian McNair examines why those societies in which sexualised culture is the most liberalised and pervasive are also those in which the socio-economic and political rights of women and homosexuals have advanced the most.

how pornography changed the world and made it a better place

Porno? Chic!

The reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev have brought tumultuous change to political, social and economic life in the Soviet Union. But how have these changes affected Soviet press and television reporting? Glasnost, Perestroika and the Soviet Media examines the changing role of Soviet journalism from its theoretical origins in the writings of Marx and Lenin to the new freedoms of the Gorbachev era. The book includes detailed analysis of contemporary Soviet media output, as well as interviews with Soviet journalists.

Glasnost, Perestroika and the Soviet Media

Feona Attwood

Clarissa Smith

The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality is a vibrant and authoritative exploration of the ways in which sex and sexualities are mediated in modern media and everyday life. The 40 chapters in this volume offer a snapshot of the remarkable diversification of approaches and research within the field, bringing together a wide range of scholars and researchers from around the world and from different disciplinary backgrounds including cultural studies, education, history, media studies, sexuality studies and sociology. The volume presents a broad array of global and transnational issues and intersectional perspectives, as authors address a series of important questions that have consequences for current and future thinking in the field. Topics explored include post-feminism, masculinities, media industries, queer identities, video games, media activism, music videos, sexualisation, celebrities, sport, sex-advice books, pornography and erotica, and social and mobile media. The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality is an essential guide to the central ideas, concepts and debates currently shaping research in mediated sexualities and the connections between conceptions of sexual identity, bodies and media technologies.

The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality

An Introduction to Political Communication explores the relationship between politics, the media and democracy in the UK, the USA and other contemporary societies. Brian McNair examines how politicians, trade unions, pressure groups, non-governmental organizations and terrorist organizations make use of the media. Separate chapters look at political media and their effects, the work of political advertising, marketing and public relations and the communication practices of organizations at all levels, from grassroots campaigning through to governments and international bodies. Recent developments covered in the new edition include: * the re-election of New Labour in 2001 * the changes in government information and communication policy introduced by the Blair administration since 1997 * the 2000 election of George W. Bush in the United States * the NATO interventions in Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia * the implications for international political communication of September 11 * the emergence of Al-Quaida and the war on terror.

A study of the representation of journalists on film and what this tells us about society's relationship with journalism and news media.

Journalists in Film

Foreword -- #Fakenews -- Faking it in journalism: not really new, not exactly news -- The decline of trust in journalism: post-truth, post-factuality and the digisphere -- Fakers, makers, sharers -- Fake news and democratic political culture: the challenges, and how to address them -- Afterword

Brian McNair

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