The Mediation of Power: A Critical Introduction

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Routledge, 2007 M08 7 - 232 pages

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 topics and debates in the field, including:

  • 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.

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.

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Contents

List of illustrations xi
communication and the economic inefficiencies
discursive practices news production and
public media interelite
the rediscovery of elite culture
the mediation of parliamentary politics 96
the Internet and the parliamentary
the question of the rational audience
Conclusions 170
Appendix A short note on research methods 178
Appendix List of interviewees 182

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About the author (2007)

Aeron Davis is a Senior Lecturer in Political Communication in the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths College, London. He has published in the areas of political communication, media sociology, promotional culture and financial markets, and is the author of Public Relations Democracy (2002).

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