[Commlist] New book: Critique of the Political Economy of the Media

Manfred Knoche. 2025. Critique of the Political Economy of the Media. 
London: University of Westminster Press. 308 pages. 978-1-915445-48-3 
(paperback) 978-1-915445-50-6 (open access). Critical, Digital and 
Social Media Studies book series (edited by Christian Fuchs)
Open access:
https://doi.org/10.16997/book79 <https://doi.org/10.16997/book79>

Manfred Knoche's "Critique of the Political Economy of the Media" is an 
approach to the critical analysis of the media’s role in contemporary 
society.

Critique of the Political Economy of the Media is an approach to the 
critical analysis of the media’s role in contemporary society. It is 
based on Karl Marx’s theory of capitalism, using a combination of 
critical social theory and empirical social research for studying what 
role the media has in capitalism.
It introduces a theoretical framework that engages with important themes 
including the crisis-ridden structural transformation of the media 
industry, media economics in the age of digital communications, media 
concentration, science communication and open access publishing, media 
technologies, the role of advertising in capitalism, and the 
contradictions of alternative media in capitalism.

Manfred Knoche is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies with a 
focus on Media Economics at the University of Salzburg, Austria. His 
work has especially focused on the critique of the political economy of 
media concentration and the media industry’s structural transformations.

“Borrowing from the famous subtitle of Capital, the book combines 
theoretical depth with analytical rigour to throw new light on core 
issues of technological change, media concentration, private ownership, 
advertising finance and the commodification of media products, and to 
grapple with the problems of creating non-commercial alternatives. […] 
This book is a treasure trove of insights and provocations that belongs 
on the bookshelf and reading list of anyone seriously interested in 
developing a critical political economy of communication.”
--Professor Graham Murdock, Loughborough University.

"Manfred Knoche’s work shows how important it is to take Marx seriously 
today in order to understand how capitalism shapes, distorts, and 
damages our everyday life and everyday communication. His work on the 
Critique of the Political Economy of Communication and the Media is of 
great importance today for a critical analysis of the dynamics and 
antagonisms of digital capitalism“
-- Prof. Christian Fuchs, Paderborn University

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 Foundations of the Critique of the Political Economy of the Media
1. Capitalisation of the Media Industry 13
2. The Crisis-Ridden Capitalist Mode of Production as Driving Force for 
Restructurations and Transformations in and of the Media Industry 36
3. The Media Industry’s Structural Transformation in Capitalism and the 
Role of the State: Media Economics in the Age of Digital Communications 63
4. Media, Journalism, and the Public Sphere in the Private Family 
Ownership of Capitalist Media Companies 103

Part 2 Applications of the Critique of the Political Economy of the Media
5. Media Concentration 125
6. Development of Media Technologies as “New Media” 149
7. Advertising – a Necessary “Elixir of Life” for Capitalism 174
8. Alternative Media: Free from State, Market, and Capital(ism)? On the 
Antagonisms of Alternative Media and the Alternative Economy 196
9. Towards the Liberation from Capitalist Business Models: The 
De-capitalisation of Journalism and Communication Studies 217
10. Science Communication and Open Access: The Critique of the Political 
Economy of Capitalist Academic Publishers as Ideology Critique 242

Part 3 Postface
11. On the Critique of the Political Economy of Digital Capitalism: The 
Importance of Manfred Knoche’s Contributions to the Critique of the 
Political Economy of the Media Today 279
By Christian Fuchs

Index 298


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