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News as Entertainment

The Rise of Global Infotainment

Daya Thussu author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:SAGE Publications Inc

Published:9th Jan '08

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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News as Entertainment cover

"Thussu brings to this project the passion for news of a socially committed former journalist, the political economy of his international relations education and a formidable assembly of global detail, examining the recent explosion of ′infotainment′."
- John Downing, Southern Illinois University

"Thussu′s account of war as infotainment, the Bollywoodization of news and the emergence of a global infotainment sphere is as compelling as it is alarming. This is a significant and essential book for anyone interested in exploring the connections between news journalism, informed citizenship and democracy."
- Bob Franklin, The Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies

Richly detailed and empirically grounded, this first book-length study of infotainment and its globalization by a leading scholar of global communication, offers a comprehensive and critical analysis of this emerging phenomenon. Going beyond - both geographically and theoretically - the ′dumbing down′ discourse, largely confined to the Anglo-American media, the book argues that infotainment may have an important ideological role, a diversion in which ′soft news′ masks the hard realities of neo-liberal imperialism.

Chapters include a historical appraisal of infotainment; the infrastructure for its globalization as well as coverage of recent wars on television news as high-tech infotainment and the growing synergies between Hollywood and Bollywood-originated infotainment. A ′global infotainment sphere′ is emerging, the book argues, within which competing versions of news - from 24/7 news networks to bloggers - coexist. Accessible, engagingly written and robustly argued, the book combines analyses of theoretical debates on infotainment with extensive and up-to-date comparative data.

Thussu brings to this project the passion for news of a socially committed former journalist, the political economy of his international relations education and a formidable assembly of global detail, examining the recent explosion of ′infotainment′. -- John Downing
Thussu′s account of war as infotainment, the Bollywoodization of news and the emergence of a global infotainment sphere, is as compelling as it is alarming. This is a significant and essential book for anyone interested in exploring the connections between news journalism, informed citizenship and democracy. -- Bob Franklin

ISBN: 9780761968788

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 480g

224 pages