"Writing News for Broadcast" is the Strunk and White of broadcast newswriting books. Long considered the gold standard of broadcast journalism textbooks, this guide for the student and the professional has inspired generations of newscasters through its eloquent examples and emphasis on the writer's responsibility, commitment, and integrity. It is written in a conversational style reflecting years of professional and teaching experience in radio and television newswriting.

This new edition is fully revised with examples throughout, drawn from fine writing by journalists at networks and local stations. It includes updated chapters covering use of the wire services and special formats that have become popular in recent years such as the newsmagazine. But the third edition retains the inspirational quality that has for years made this text so widely respected. In this process of providing clear, succinct instruction in the basics of the trade, it conveys to students and practicing newswriters a sense of the extraordinary tradition within which they work. The authors' emphasis on skill and creativity, responsibility to the listener, and appreciation of the profession's finest hours and finest writers make this book unique.

There's a war on against the BBC. It is under threat as never before. And if we lose it, we won't get it back. The BBC is our most important cultural institution, our best-value entertainment provider, and the global face of Britain. It's our most trusted news source in a world of divisive disinformation. But it is facing relentless attacks by powerful commercial and political enemies, including deep funding cuts - much deeper than most people realise - with imminent further cuts threatened. This book busts the myths about the BBC and shows us how we can save it, before it's too late.

Most broadcast television stations' viewing areas extend far beyond the borders of their city of license, and in many cases extend beyond state borders. Under existing FCC rules, which are intended to foster "localism," the licensee's explicit public interest obligation is limited to serving the needs and interests of viewers within the city of license. Yet, in many cases, the population residing in the city of license is only a small proportion of the total population receiving the station's signal. Hundreds of thousands of television households in New Jersey (outside New York City and Philadelphia), Delaware (outside Philadelphia), western Connecticut (outside New York City), New Hampshire (outside Boston), Kansas (outside Kansas City, Missouri), Indiana (outside Chicago), Illinois (outside St. Louis), and Kentucky (outside Cincinnati) have little or no access to broadcast television stations with city of license in their own state. The same holds true for several rural states ? including Idaho, Arkansas, and especially Wyoming, where 54.55% of television households are located in television markets outside the state. Although market forces often provide broadcasters the incentive to be responsive to their entire serving area, that is not always the case. This report provides, for each state, detailed county-by-county data on the percentage of television households located in television markets outside the state and whether there are any in-state stations serving those households. The Nielsen Designated Market Areas ("DMAs") also often extend beyond state borders. Local cable operators are required to carry the broadcast signals of television stations located in their DMA. If they are located in a DMA for which the primary city is in another state, and most or all of the television stations in that DMA have city of license in the other state, then the broadcast television signals they must carry will be primarily or entirely from out of state. In some cases, they may not be allowed to carry signals from within the state but outside the DMA to provide news or sports programming of special interest in their state because of network non-duplication, syndicated exclusivity, or sports programming blackout rules or because of private network affiliation contract agreements, or may be discouraged to do so because these signals do not qualify for the royalty-free permanent compulsory copyright license for local broadcast signals. The Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004 expanded the scope of in-state television signals that satellite operators are permitted (and in some cases required) to offer subscribers. In addition to the signals of those broadcast television stations with city of license within the DMA in which the subscriber is located ("local-into-local" service), satellite operators may offer (subject to certain restrictions) signals from outside the DMA if those signals are "significantly viewed" by those households in the subscriber's geographic area that only receive their broadcast signals over-the-air (not via cable or satellite). In addition, satellite operators may offer certain subscribers located in New Hampshire, Vermont, Mississippi, and Oregon certain in-state signals from outside the subscribers' DMA and must offer subscribers in Alaska and Hawaii certain in-state signals.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was created out of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (P.L. 90-129). The CPB was intended to provide a funding mechanism for individual public broadcasting stations, but not subject these stations to political influence or favouritism. Therefore, the CPB receives an annual appropriation, and then uses this money, in addition to foundation, corporate, individual memberships, and other funding sources, to provide grants to individual public television and radio broadcast entities. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Radio International (PRI) do not receive any direct appropriations from CPB; all of the appropriated money goes directly to member stations of these organisations. The number of radio and television public broadcasting stations supported by the CPB increased from 270 in 1969 to approximately 1,100 as of August 2003, of which 356 are television stations. Public broadcasting stations are mostly run by universities, non-profit community associations, and state government agencies. Public broadcasting is regarded as a public service. To serve most Americans, public television reaches approximately 99% of the population and public radio, 91%. With regard to programming, the public broadcasting system observes the principle of local autonomy. That is, public broadcasting stations make decisions independently of the CPB as to what programming will be available to their viewing or listening audience as well as on their programming schedule. The CPB serves as an umbrella organisation for public television and radio Broadcasting. The CPB's principal function is to receive and distribute government contributions (or federal appropriations) to fund national programs and to support qualified member radio and television stations based on legislatively mandated formulas. The bulk of these funds are to provide Community Service Grants (or CSGs) to member stations that have matching funds. By law, the CPB is authorised to exercise minimum control of "program content or other activities" of local member stations. The CPB is prohibited from owning or operating any of the primary facilities used in broadcasting. In addition, it may not produce, disseminate, or schedule programs. This new book presents the issues dealing with this 'hot' topic.

The birth and development of commercial television in Cuba in the 1950s occurred alongside political and social turmoil. In this period of dramatic swings encompassing democracy, a coup, a dictatorship, and a revolution, television functioned as a beacon and promoter of Cuba's identity as a modern nation. In Broadcasting Modernity, television historian Yeidy M. Rivero shows how television owners, regulatory entities, critics, and the state produced Cuban modernity for television. The Cuban television industry enabled different institutions to convey the nation's progress, democracy, economic abundance, high culture, education, morality, and decency. After nationalizing Cuban television, the state used it to advance Fidel Castro's project of creating a modern socialist country. As Cuba changed, television changed with it. Rivero not only demonstrates television's importance to Cuban cultural identity formation, she explains how the medium functions in society during times of radical political and social transformation.

"Distribution Revolution" is a collection of interviews with leading film and TV professionals concerning the many ways that digital delivery systems are transforming the entertainment business. These interviews provide lively insider accounts from studio executives, distribution professionals, and creative talent of the tumultuous transformation of film and TV in the digital era. The first section features interviews with top executives at major Hollywood studios, providing a window into the big-picture concerns of media conglomerates with respect to changing business models, revenue streams, and audience behaviors. The second focuses on innovative enterprises that are providing path-breaking models for new modes of content creation, curation, and distribution--creatively meshing the strategies and practices of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. And the final section offers insights from creative talent whose professional practices, compensation, and everyday working conditions have been transformed over the past ten years. Taken together, these interviews demonstrate that virtually every aspect of the film and television businesses is being affected by the digital distribution revolution, a revolution that has likely just begun.
Interviewees include:
- Gary Newman, Chairman, 20th Century Fox Television
- Kelly Summers, Former Vice President, Global Business Development and New Media Strategy, Walt Disney Studios
- Thomas Gewecke, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Warner Bros. Entertainment
- Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix
- Felicia D. Henderson, Writer-Producer, "Soul Food," "Gossip Girl"
- Dick Wolf, Executive Producer and Creator, "Law & Order"

Broadcast News Writing, Reporting and Producing examines the skills, techniques, and challenges of writing and reporting for broadcast. Along with complete coverage of the fundamentals, the text presents up-to-date examples and issues through actual scripts and interviews with the people who bring us the news. Ten out of twenty five chapters focus on reporting topics, ranging from basic skills to specialty reporting to ethics. This new edition features such timely topics as the Jonesboro and Littleton shootings, the Clinton sex scandal, the CNN Tailwind story, the Elian Gonzales story, and other contemporary examples.
Broadcast News Writing Reporting and Producing emphasizes real-life situations; the problems that reporters, writers, assignment editors, and producers face every day are discussed in detail, as well as such topics as ethics, investigative reporting, the job market, legal issues, and interviewing techniques. Each chapter contains exercises for writing, review, and discussion so that students can learn and apply what they've read. This edition also includes new insights in civic journalism and computer-assisted reporting, and the impact of the Internet on news gathering.Broadcast
The text also contains writing samples from famous broadcast journalists like the late Edward R. Murrow, Charles Kuralt, Eric Sevareid, Paul Harvey, Charles Osgood, Susan Stamberg and Richard Threlkeld and others, all of whom not only offer examples of quality news writing, but also discuss how they write and report.
Features many examples of major recent news stories
New chapter with on computer-assisted reporting and the impact of the Internet on news gathering
Expanded chapterson producing and ethics in reporting

This exciting book goes to the heart of a creative commercial. and public service culture - it shows why ITV matters and how. it was made to work so well. A tremendous contribution.
. Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster

. This is a valuable addition to studies of ITV's history and. programming...
. Tom O'Malley, Professor of Media Studies, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, and Co-Editor of "Media History,." . . Since breaking the BBCs monopoly in 1955, ITV has been at the. centre of the British television landscape. To coincide with the. fiftieth anniversary of the first ITV broadcast, this accessible book. offers a range of perspectives on the complex and multifaceted history of. Britains first commercial broadcaster.

. The book explores key tensions and conflicts which have influenced the. ITV service. Chapters focus on particular institutions, including. London Weekend Television and ITN, and programme forms, including. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Upstairs Downstairs "and "Trisha,." The contributors show that ITV has had to tread an uneasy line between. public service and commercial imperatives, between a pluralistic regional. structure and a national network, and between popular appeal and. quality programming. A timeline of key events in the history of ITV is also. included.

. "ITV Cultures" provides a timely intervention in debates on broadcasting. and cultural history for academics and researchers, and a lively. introduction to the history of ITV for students and general readers.. . .

." Contributors: Rod Allen, City University; Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading; John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London; Jackie Harrison, Universityof Sheffield; Jamie Medhurst, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Matt Hills, Cardiff University; Steve Neale, University of Exeter; Helen Wheatley, University of Reading; Sherryl Wilson, Bournemouth University..

Are you fully up-to-speed on today's modern spectrum management tools? As regulators move away from traditional spectrum management methods, introduce spectrum trading and consider opening up more spectrum to commons, do you understand the implications of these developments for your own networks? This 2007 book was the first to describe and evaluate modern spectrum management tools. Expert authors offer insights into the technical, economic and management issues involved. Auctions, administrative pricing, trading, property rights and spectrum commons are all explained. A series of real-world case studies from around the world is used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches adopted by different regulators, and valuable lessons are drawn from these. This concise and authoritative resource is a must-have for telecom regulators, network planners, designers and technical managers at mobile and fixed operators and broadcasters, and academics involved in the technology and economics of radio spectrum.

'A clear-eyed and compelling account of a life, told with honesty.' - Luke Jennings 'A book brimming with surprises and insight.' - Nicholas Coleridge 'Calmly, bravely written... deployed with generosity and modesty.' - Adam Nicholson ------------------------------------------------------------------- Edward Stourton was born into a life of privilege. The son of expat parents in colonial Nigeria, Ed was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth, at the time when, it was latter revealed, the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases. He then went up to Cambridge, where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers, judges and newspaper editors. As a young journalist, he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones, witnessing the events making international headlines, from Haiti to Hong Kong, before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4's Today. During this time, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels, we have millions of voices on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. The world has changed, and so has Ed. Brought face to face with the author of his obituary and his own inevitable mortality, Ed is prompted to reflect on the life he has led and the events that have shaped him. In Confessions, he describes this remarkable journey with candour, humour and the insight that only forty years' experience of writing and reporting can provide. 'A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too.' John Humphries

This is the first title in a new series of volumes examining different dimensions of the media and culture in small nations. Whether at a local, national or international level, radio has played and continues to play a key role in nurturing or denying - even destroying - people's sense of 'belonging' to a particular community, whether it be defined in terms of place, ethnicity, language or patterns of consumption. Typically, the radio has been used for purposes of propaganda and as a means of forging national identity both at home and also further afield in the case of colonial exploits. Drawing on examples of four models of, the chapters in this volume will provide an historical and contemporary overview of radio in a number of small nations. The authors propose a stimulating discussion on the role radio has played in a variety of nation contexts worldwide.

THE UPLIFTING AND HEARTWARMING LOVE LETTER TO FAMILY AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS 'Cox is a natural storyteller... she brings that authentic voice to bear in her memoir. The tone is so intimate, chatty and friendly, so you feel as though she could be sitting next to you' Hannah Beckerman, Daily Express 'endearing, engaging and very funny' Mirror 'Coxy's memoir about growing up on a farm is as funny as you'd expect, genuinely touching and has some excellent 80s and 90s details. Her love of animals is infectious' Alexandra Heminsley, Grazia 'The book is like a big warm hug, full of local characters and misadventures' Sophie Heawood, Observer 'Made me laugh out loud...I loved it!' Lynda La Plante 'Glorious springtime, haystacks and a herd of cows can all be found in this' Sunday Times Bestseller 'Warm and witty' - Express A funny and heart-warming love letter to childhood, family and growing up. Till the Cows Come Home is DJ and TV presenter Sara Cox's wonderfully written, funny coming of age memoir of growing up in 1980s Lancashire. The youngest of five siblings, Sara grew up on her father's cattle farm surrounded by dogs, cows, horses, fields and lots of 'cack'. The lanky kid sister - half girl, half forehead - a nuisance to the older kids, the farm was her very own dangerous adventure playground, 'a Bolton version of Narnia'. Her writing conjures up a time of wagon rides and haymaking and agricultural shows, alongside chain smoking pensioners, cabaret nights at the Conservative club and benign parenting. Sara's love of family, of the animals and the people around them shines through on every page. Unforgettable characters are lovingly and expertly drawn bringing to life a time and place. Sara later divided her childhood days between the beloved farm and the pub she lived above with her mother, these early experiences of freedom and adventure came to be the perfect training ground for later life. This funny, big-hearted and often moving telling of Sara Cox's semi rural upbringing is not what you'd expect from the original ladette, and one of radio's most enduring and well loved presenters.

This collection examines law and justice on television in different countries around the world. It provides a benchmark for further study of the nature and extent of television coverage of justice in fictional, reality and documentary forms. It does this by drawing on empirical work from a range of scholars in different jurisdictions. Each chapter looks at the raw data of how much "justice" material viewers were able to access in the multi-channel world of 2014 looking at three phases: apprehension (police), adjudication (lawyers), and disposition (prison/punishment). All of the authors indicate how television developed in their countries. Some have extensive public service channels mixed with private media channels. Financing ranges from advertising to programme sponsorship to licensing arrangements. A few countries have mixtures of these. Each author also examines how "TV justice" has developed in their own particular jurisdiction. Readers will find interesting variations and thought-provoking similarities. There are a lot of television shows focussed on legal themes that are imported around the world. The authors analyse these as well. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in law, popular culture, TV, or justice and provides an important addition to the literature due to its grounding in empirical data.

The story of radio begins alongside that of the Soviet state: Russia's first long-range transmission of the human voice occurred in 1919, during the civil war. Sound broadcasting was a medium of exceptional promise for this revolutionary regime. It could bring the Bolsheviks' message to the furthest corners of their enormous country. It had unprecedented impact: the voice of Moscow could now be wired into the very workplaces and living spaces of a population that was still only weakly literate. The liveness and immediacy of broadcasting also created vivid new ways of communicating 'Sovietness' - whether through May Day parades and elections, the exploits of aviators and explorers, or show trials and public criticism. Yet, in the USSR as elsewhere, broadcasting was a medium in flux: technology, the broadcasting profession, and the listening audience were never static. Soviet radio was quickly earmarked as the mouthpiece of Soviet power, yet its history is also full of unintended consequences. The supreme irony of Soviet 'radiofication' was that its greatest triumph - the expansion of the wireless-listening public in the Cold War era - made possible its greatest failure, by turning a part of the Soviet audience into devotees of Western broadcasting. Based on substantial original research in Moscow, St Petersburg, and Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia in the Microphone Age is the first full history of Soviet radio in English. In addition to the institutional and technological dimensions of the subject, it explores the development of programme content and broadcasting genres. It also goes in search of the mysterious figure of the Soviet listener. The result is a pioneering treatment of broadcasting as an integral part of Soviet culture from its early days in the 1920s until the dawn of the television age.

In "Fireside Politics," Douglas B. Craig provides the first detailed and complete examination of radio's changing role in American political culture between 1920 and 1940--the medium's golden age, when it commanded huge national audiences without competition from television. Craig follows the evolution of radio into a commercialized, networked, and regulated industry, and ultimately into an essential tool for winning political campaigns and shaping American identity in the interwar period. Finally, he draws thoughtful comparisons of the American experience of radio broadcasting and political culture with those of Australia, Britain, and Canada.

The American public has consistently declared itself less concerned with foreign affairs in the post-Cold War era, even after 9/11, than at any time since World War II. How can it be, then, that public attentiveness to U.S. foreign policy crises has increased? This book represents the first systematic attempt to explain this apparent paradox. Matthew Baum argues that the answer lies in changes to television's presentation of political information. In so doing he develops a compelling "byproduct" theory of information consumption. The information revolution has fundamentally changed the way the mass media, especially television, covers foreign policy. Traditional news has been repackaged into numerous entertainment-oriented news programs and talk shows. By transforming political issues involving scandal or violence (especially attacks against America) into entertainment, the "soft news" media have actually captured more viewers who will now follow news about foreign crises, due to its entertainment value, even if they remain uninterested in foreign policy.

Baum rigorously tests his theory through content analyses of traditional and soft news media coverage of various post-WWII U.S. foreign crises and statistical analyses of public opinion surveys. The results hold key implications for the future of American politics and foreign policy. For instance, watching soft news reinforces isolationism among many inattentive Americans. Scholars, political analysts, and even politicians have tended to ignore the soft news media and politically disengaged citizens. But, as this well-written book cogently demonstrates, soft news viewers represent a largely untapped reservoir of unusually persuadable voters.

The TV Brand Builders is the definitive account of how the biggest television networks, channels and programmes are created as brands, with rare privileged access to the marketing strategies and creative thinking behind culturally defining TV promos, digital and social media campaigns and design identities. Written by two leading practitioners responsible for work as famous as the BBC One hippos, the creation of a TV channel called Dave and the re-launch of Doctor Who, and featuring interviews with 50 leading industry experts from 8 countries, from HBO to ESPN, from DreamWorks to CANAL+, The TV Brand Builders combines practical advice and strategic insight with exclusive stories from the ratings front line. Online resources include a bonus chapter on TV channel design in a multi-screen world, plus a 'Student and Instructor's Manual' with chapter summaries.

In 1990, American television experienced a seismic shift when Twin Peaks premiered, eschewing formulaic plots and clear lines between heroes and villains. This game-changing series inspired a generation of show creators to experiment artistically, transforming the small screen in ways that endure to this day. Focusing on six shows (Twin Peaks, with a critical analysis of both the original series and the 2017 return; The Wire; Treme; The Sopranos; Mad Men; and Girls), Television Rewired explores what made these programs so extraordinary. As their writers and producers fought against canned plots and moral simplicity, they participated in the evolution of the exhilarating new auteur television while underscoring the fact that art and entertainment don't have to be mutually exclusive. Nochimson also makes provocative distinctions between true auteur television and shows that were inspired by the freedom of the auteur series but nonetheless remained entrenched within the parameters of formula. Providing opportunities for vigorous discussion, Television Rewired will stimulate debates about which of the new television series since 1990 constitute "art" and which are tweaked "business-driven storytelling."

From its earliest beginnings, television was destined to become one of the great new forces at work in the twentieth century. Written by a distinguished international team of specialists, the book describes the history of television from its technical conception in the nineteenth century right through to the bewildering multi-media developments of the present. Covering all genres of programme-making and examining the debates affecting television worldwide, this second edition includes new chapters on India and China, the Arab World, Latin America, Canada, and Northern Europe and Scandinavia.

This is the first part of a five-volume history of broadcasting in the UK. Together the volumes give an authoritative account of the rise of broadcasting in this country. Though naturally largely concerned with the BBC it does give a general history of broadcasting, not simply an institutional history of the BBC.
The Birth of Broadcasting covers early amateur experiments in wireless telephony in America and in England, the pioneer days at Writtle in Essex and elsewhere, and the coming of organized broadcasting and its rapid growth during the first four years of the BBC's existence as a private Company before it became a public Corporation in January 1927. Briggs describes how and why the Company was formed, the scope of its activities and the reasons which led to its conversion from a business enterprise into a national institution.
The issues raised between 1923 and 1927 remain pertinent today. The hard bargaining between the Post Office, private wireless interests, and the emergent British Broadcsting Company is discussed in illuminating details, together with the remarkable opposition with which the Company had to contend in its early days. Many sections of the opposition, including a powerful section of the press, seemed able to conceive of broadcasting only as competing with their own interests, never as complementing or enlarging them. One of the main themes of this volume is that of the gradual forging of the instruments of public control, and particular attention is paid to the Crawford Report (1926) from which the Corporation arose. During this period all the characteristics of the Corporation first appeared - particularly its reputation for publc service and impartiality.
Briggs also examines the background of wireless as an invention and considers its impact on society. He has much to say about personalities and programmes as well as policies.

Now available in five volumes, Asa Briggs' History of British Broadcasting in the UK provides an exhaustive chronicle of the BBC's activities, achievements, and personnel - from the early days of wireless broadcasting and the Corporation's foundation, through its establishement as a part of home life and role in the Second World War, to the end of its monopoly and attempts to reflect the needs of a changing society.
Competition, the latest volume in Asa Briggs' monumental history, covers a period of 20 years, from the end of the BBC's monopoly in 1955 to the mid 1970s and the volumes it looks at the history of the BBC in an age of competition, so inevitably contains much fascinating material on the independent' radio and television companies as well as the BBC. There are chapters on the reporting of the Suez Crisis, the Pilkington Committee, the governorship of Hugh Greene (the man Mary Whitehouse said was responsible for the collapse which characterized the sixties and seventies'), Radio Piracy, the introduction of new technologies, and the BBC Jubilee.

This is the second part of a projected four-volume history of broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
This volume covers the period from the beginning of 1927, when the BBC ceased to be a private company and became a public corporation, up to the outbreak of war in 1939. The acceptance of wireless as a part of the homely background of life and the acceptance of the BBC as the natural' institution for controlling it distinguish this period from that covered in the earlier volume. From 1927 to 1939 the system of public control which had evolved from the early struggles was never seriously in jeopardy and the one big official inquiry, the Ullswater Report, favoured no major constitutional changes. The main theme of the second volume, therefore, may be called the extension and the enrichment of the activity of broadcasting. Different chapters deal with the programmes and programme-makers; the listeners and the ways in which their needs were (or were not) met as the system expanded; public attitudes to the BBC and the increasing complexity of its control and organization; the coming of television and the early experiments of Baird and others; and the retirement of Sir John Reith - not only the end of a regime but the end of an era. The volume ends with preparations for war.

Joan Bakewell has led a varied, sometimes breathless life: she has been a teacher, copywriter, studio manager, broadcaster, journalist, the government's Voice of Older People and chair of the theatre company Shared Experience. She has written four radio plays, two novels and an autobiography - The Centre of The Bed. Now in her 80s, she is still broadcasting. Though it may look as though she is now part of the establishment - a Dame, President of Birkbeck College, a Member of the House of Lords as Baroness Bakewell of Stockport - she's anything but and remains outspoken and courageous. In Stop the Clocks, she muses on all she has lived through, how the world has changed and considers the things and values she will be leaving behind. Stop the Clocks is a book of musings, a look back at what she was given by her family, at the times in which she grew up - ranging from the minutiae of life such as the knowledge of how to darn and how to make a bed properly with hospital corners, to the bigger lessons of politics, of lovers, of betrayal. She talks of the present, of her family, of friends and literature - and talks too of what she will leave behind. This is a thoughtful, moving and spirited book as only could be expected from this extraordinary woman.

The ten years following the end of the Second World War were critical years in the history of British broadcasting. They witnessed the rise of television and the end of the BBC's monopoly. This fourth volume of Asa Briggs's detailed study is based on a mass of hitherto unexplored documentary evidence, much, but not all of it, from the BBC's own voluminous archives. It examines in detail how and why some of the key decisions affecting broadcasting policy - domestic and external - were reached and what were their effects.
Yet it is more than an institutional history. One long chapter deals with the changing arts and techniques of broadcasting news and views, politics, drama, features and variety, music, religion, education and sport. It describes a pattern of broadcasting - and a society and culture - already remote from our own. At every point the main contours of society and culture are explored. It ends with the first night of competitive television and with contemporary assessments of the likely impact of television on sound broadcasting and other media.
It is profusely illustrated and can be read either as complete in itself or as one fascinating phase in the unfolding history of British broadcasting.