[eccr] New Book: Ethnic Minorities: Electronic Media & the Public Sphere

Please find below an announcement of a new
book that may be of interest to some of your list members.

 

 

Donald R. Browne, University of Minnesota,  Ethnic Minorities, Electronic Media and the Public Sphere: A Comparative Study. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2005. ISBN (paperback): 1-57273-605-4. US$24.95.

 

       Over the past 20 years, there has been a marked increase in the numbers and types of electronic media outlets through which ethnic minorities can express themselves. That phenomenon raises the possibility of increased ethnic minority participation in the public sphere. My study examines the nature of that participation in several European nations, as well as North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and, to a lesser extent, selected nations in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The fundamental research questions on which the study rests are "What is the nature and effect of governmental, economic, administrative and societal structures and factors where ethnic and linguistic minority self-presentation through minority-operated radio, television and internet services are concerned?  And to what extent does that self-presentation constitute participation in the public sphere?" 

 

       Presentation of the structures and factors themselves draws upon my direct observation of such services in more than 20 nations, interviews of service staff and regulatory agency personnel, and various research reports, texts, dissertations and other literature concerning such services. It features numerous specific examples and several case studies of several pages each. Comparisons of experiences are frequent, and serve to indicate both positive and negative experiences and outcomes.

 

       My intent in writing this book is to reach three quite different sets of readers:  College and university instructors/researchers; college and university students (seniors and graduate students in particular); and practitioners, which include those who are active in program production, management, financing,  regulation and promotion of ethnic minority electronic media. Because my approach to the subject is comparative, I trust that the book will appeal to an international readership.