Archive for publications, November 2012

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[ecrea] New Book: Stephen Cushion The Democratic Value of News

Tue Nov 20 12:42:03 GMT 2012




Please find below some information on Stephen Cushion's book /The Democratic Value of News: Why Public Service Media Matter/ which is hot off the press from Palgrave.

Just how important are public service media to democratic culture? Stephen Cushion puts forward the convincing argument that, for all the commercial choice and competition in contemporary news culture, public service media do not only remain distinctive from market-driven media, they contribute to raising the editorial standards of journalism more widely as well.

http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=380584

At a time when public service media are under increasing pressure to justify their licence fees, Cushion undertakes a comprehensive review of studies examining the 'quality' of journalism produced by public and market-driven media around the world. In doing so, some important and timely questions are raised: Do public service media supply editorially distinctive news to market-driven media? Should citizens continue to subsidize news when so much commercial competition and choice is available? Reviewing also the impact news has on people's knowledge, civic participation and levels of trust towards competing media systems, he finds that the democratic value of news is more likely to be enhanced when it is produced by public rather than market-driven media.

/The Democratic Value of News/ provides a useful hybrid of theory and practice and helpfully introduces the concept and history of public service broadcasting. It aims to develop and encourage scholarship asking whether public service media are distinctive from market-driven systems, in addition to serving as an invaluable textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Media, Journalism and Communication studies.

*Advanced Reviews*

'Stephen Cushion's /The Democratic Value of News: Why Public Service Media Matter/ is a work of singular importance. As the Internet and digital communication remakes our media and revamps journalism before our eyes, Cushion makes a powerful case for the continued significance and necessity of public service media. This will be required reading for scholars, students and concerned citizens.' - Robert W. McChesney, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

'This is a superb book by a rising star of journalism studies.' - James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

'Stephen Cushion deals in this book with a supremely important topic: whether, and if so how, to what extent and in what main subject areas the journalism of public funded media differs from that of commercially funded ones. His distinctive approach - assembling and interpreting an extensive range of content analyses of news supply in many different countries and situations - yields findings deserving of academic and policy attention.' - Jay G. Blumler, Emeritus Professor of Public Communication, University of Leeds, UK

'This accessible and stimulating book combines breadth and depth of scholarship in a study which is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of public service media in a rapidly changing environment.' - Professor Tom O'Malley, Aberystwyth University, UK


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