Critical Media Studies

Place and Polysemy in media: How media geography and audience habitus have implications for meaning

by Ken Roth

This is a work-in-progress for eventual publication

The concept of place and its potential to confer meaning to a media text is of interest. Can authenticity or... more The concept of place and its potential to confer meaning to a media text is of interest. Can authenticity or believability or significance of a text be interpreted, reinforced, altered or opposed by where the story is physically situated when told?
To explore this question, 30 college students studying media production were shown two 15-minute video excerpts from longer programs about a social issue. The programs presented the same issue, teenage pregnancy, in geographically different settings (rural vs. urban), and media spaces (genre and locus). In a preliminary textual analysis of questionnaires completed by students, it was obvious that they reacted to these differences in both their descriptions and critiques of the programs.

Re-constructing digital democracy: An outline of four ‘positions'

by Lincoln Dahlberg

2011, New Media & Society 13(6): 855-872.

Cyber-libertarianism 2.0: A discourse theory/critical political economy examination

by Lincoln Dahlberg

2010, Cultural Politics 6(3): 331-356

Model Construction, Various Other Epistemological Concerns: A Reply to John Corner’s Commentary on the Propaganda Model

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘Model Construction, Various Other Epistemological Concerns: A Reply to John Corner’s Commentary on the Propaganda Model,’ European Journal of Communication, 2003, Vol. 18(3): 377-383.

Corporate Hegemony: a critical assessment of the Globe and Mail’s news coverage of near-genocide in occupied East Timor 1975–80

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘Corporate Hegemony and the Marginalization of Dissent: A Critical Assessment and Review of the Globe and Mail’s News Coverage of Near-Genocide in Occupied East Timor, 1975-1980,’ International Communication Gazette, 2002, Vol. 64(4): 301-321. Reprinted in Filtering the News: Essays on Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model (Montreal: Black Rose, 2005), 138-163.

Abstract / The study asks whether the news coverage accorded the near-genocide in East Timor by the Globe and Mail... more Abstract / The study asks whether the news coverage accorded the near-genocide in East Timor by the Globe and Mail (G&M) followed the predictions of the ‘propaganda model’ (PM) of media operations laid out and applied by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. The research asks whether the G&M’s news coverage of the near-genocide in East Timor and of Canada’s ‘aiding and abetting’ of ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ in occupied East Timor was hegemonic or ideologically serviceable given Canada’s (geo)political-economic interests in Indonesia throughout the invasion and occupation periods. Did the news coverage provide a political and historical benchmark by which to inform the Canadian public (or not) and influence (or not) Canadian government policy on Indonesia and East Timor?

Keywords / Canadian foreign policy / democracy / East Timor / media / power and hegemony / propaganda model

Discourse Theory as Critical Media Politics? Five Questions

by Lincoln Dahlberg

Chapter 2 of Discouse Theory and Critical Media Politics, edited by Dahlberg, L and Phelan, S (2011), Palgrave.

Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics: An Introduction

by Lincoln Dahlberg

introduction to Dahlberg, L & Phelan, S 2011. Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics. Palgrave

GenerAsians: transgressive sexuality and transformations of identity

by Wei Ming Dariotis

”När hemmet förvandlas till en krigszon": Föräldraideal, nanny-tv och viljan att coacha

by Magnus Dahlstedt

published 2012 in: Petersson, Kenneth, Dahlstedt, Magnus & Plymoth, Birgitta (eds) Fostran av framtidens medborgare: Normer och praktiker bortom välfärdsstaten, Lund: Sekel förlag

The focus of this article is the formation of “good parenthood” in the Swedish TV series SOS family. Proceeding from... more The focus of this article is the formation of “good parenthood” in the Swedish TV series SOS family. Proceeding from the theorising of governmentality that has been developed in the wake of the work of Michel Foucault, the author analyses the parenting ideals conveyed in the series, as an example of the way parents are constituted as subjects. The ideal parent appearing in the series is a subject who, guided by the coach, is constantly endeavouring to achieve a makeover. The objective of this endeavour towards makeover, however, is self-control, whereby the parents will in the end become their own coaches.

Television in the Post-Network Era

by Michael Johnson Jr.

This is not for you? Reading and Remediating "House of Leaves" as an Alternate Reality Game

by Lauren Burr

Master's Research Essay, Carleton University, 2011

The Propaganda Model and Sociology: Understanding the Media and Society

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘The Propaganda Model and Sociology: Understanding the Media and Society,’ Synaesthesia: Communication Across Cultures, 2010, Vol. 1(1): 10-23. Co-authored with Andrew Mullen.

This article unpacks reasons why the Propaganda Model represents a critical sociological approach to understanding... more This article unpacks reasons why the Propaganda Model represents a critical sociological approach to understanding media and society, explores the model’s potential within the sociological field, and considers the trajectory of its reputational reception to date. The article also introduces the three central hypotheses and five operative principles of the Propaganda Model and suggests that the model complements other (competing) approaches that explore the relationship between ideological and institutional power and discursive phenomena.

Book Review: James Winter's Lies the Media Tell Us

by Jeffery Klaehn

Review of James Winter's Lies the Media Tell Us, Canadian Journal of Communication, 2009, 34(3), pp. 538-539.

The Propaganda Model: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘The Propaganda Model: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations,’ Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 2009, Vol. 6(2): 43-58.

This article provides an overview of the Propaganda Model and rehearses central theoretical considerations concerning... more This article provides an overview of the Propaganda Model and rehearses central theoretical considerations concerning the model’s overall understanding of media behaviour. The article then advances a contemporary state-of-the-art discourse on the methodological techniques that may be utilized in applying the model, highlights potentially complementary approaches to the critical study of mass media behaviour and explores criticisms of the model.

‘Simulating events as they happen: media spectacle, ideology, and readymade boogeymen’

by Christian Garland

Text of a talk given at 'Hot Analysis - The streets of London’ Theme 3: Language and the media; presentation for discussion, ‘Simulating events as they happen: media spectacle, ideology, and readymade boogeymen’, UCL, London, 16 August 2011

'Noam Chomsky'

by Christian Garland

'Noam Chomsky' p.738 International Encyclopaedia of Revolution and
Protest: 1500-the present ed. Ness, I. (Oxford & New York: Blackwell Publishing) http://www.revolutionprotestencyclopedia.com/public/

Review of Michael J. Shapiro's "The Time of the City: Politics, philosophy and genre"

by John A. Sweeney

http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-City-philosophy-Interventions/dp/0415780535

Reposisi Tren ICT dalam Bidang Teknologi Pendidikan

by edi subkhan

Abstract: Educational technology facing lots of problems of misunderstanding, over expectation and reductionism in... more Abstract: Educational technology facing lots of problems of misunderstanding, over expectation and reductionism in Indonesia today. It is caused by the less paradigmatic comprehension of the educational technology scholar, so they are insists to build the educational technology as a discipline, not only as a field of studies. Secondly, the problems come from the reductionism of the educational technology into information and communication technology (ICT), it had been influenced by the ICT trend in education realm today. Thereby most of the people conceived that educational technology is the ICT itself. Based on those facts, educational technology needs to reorient itself by repositioning the ICT as a part of educational technology, not on the contrary. Then, it is important to reconfirm that educational technology shouldn’t follow the ICT market pragmatism, but to facilitate the learning processes for the social transformative actions.

Corporations, Globalization and the Media: An Interview with Linda McQuaig

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘Corporations, Globalization and the Media: An Interview with Linda McQuaig’ in Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), Bound by Power: Intended Consequences (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2006), pp. 46-51.

'Media, Power and the Origins of the Propaganda Model: An Interview with Edward S. Herman'

by Jeffery Klaehn

Fifth Estate Online: International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism, 2008.