Culture Wars
The Media and the British Left
James Curran author Julian Petley author Ivor Gaber author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:16th Jul '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£39.99(9781138223035)
Culture Wars investigates the relationship between the media and politics in Britain today. It focusses on how significant sections of the national press have represented and distorted the policies of the Labour Party, and particularly its left, from the Thatcher era up to and including Ed Miliband’s and Jeremy Corbyn’s leaderships.
Revised and updated, including five brand new chapters, this second edition shows how press hostility to the left, particularly newspaper coverage of its policies on race, gender and sexuality, has morphed into a more generalised campaign against ‘political correctness’, the ‘liberal elite’ and the so-called ‘enemies of the people’. Combining fine-grained case studies with authoritative overviews of recent British political and media history, Culture Wars demonstrates how much of the press have routinely attacked Labour and, in so doing, have abused their political power, distorted public debate, and negatively impacted the news agendas of public service broadcasters. The book also raises the intriguing question of whether the rise of social media, and the success of its initial exploitation by Corbyn supporters, followed by Labour as a whole in the 2017 General Election, represent a major shift in the balance of power between Labour and the media, and in particular the right-wing press.
Culture Wars will be of considerable interest to students and researchers in the fields of media, politics and contemporary British history, and will also attract those with a more general interest in current affairs in the UK.
‘I read this book with mounting enthusiasm as it documented and analysed the roller coaster journey of what in the 1980’s was ridiculed and repressed as the "Loony Left", with its roots in the counter -culture of the 1960’s, through the defeats of the Blair era to its "resurrection from the undead" in the leadership of Corbyn and McDonnell.
Careful and revealing in its empirical analysis, Culture Wars provides an original and convincing perspective from which to understand the media’s changing relation to Labour politics, including the new Labour leadership’s ability to establish its own rapport with a new generation of voters.’
Hilary Wainwright, Co-editor of Red Pepper
‘We may be living through a media revolution but this brilliantly forensic book shows that one constant factor still applies – the relentless anti-Labour bias in most newspapers and their continuing influence. Culture Wars is a must-read for all those seeking to make sense of UK politics. Indeed, it is impossible to make sense of what is happening and what has happened without reading it.’
Steve Richards, Political columnist and broadcaster
‘This outstanding new edition of the classic text Culture Wars revisits and analyses the complex relationships between the media, journalism and politics in the UK. The authors’ focus is on press (mis)representations of the Labour left in the context of radical changes in the Labour leadership, the diminished influence of print media and the growth of social media and fake news. They address provocative and significant questions concerning the shifting influence of politicians, citizens and media in public debates about gender, sexuality, race and environmental policy in an age of digital journalism and media.
James Curran, Ivor Gaber and Julian Petley’s eloquent, authoritative and forward-looking Culture Wars is essential reading for everyone interested in the significant role of news journalism in democracies.’
Bob Franklin, Foundation Chair in Journalism Studies at the University of Cardiff
"Every media student, every working journalist, everyone who believes facts are more important than fake news, should read this book. In forensic detail, it exposes the way in which Britain’s mainstream newspapers wilfully deny the truth to their readers by promulgating propaganda in the pursuit of their own political agendas".
Roy Greenslade, Emeritus Professor of Journalism, City, University of London
ISBN: 9781138223028
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 600g
288 pages
2nd edition