No generation eludes definition as much as Generation X. Rob Owens opens with a history of network and cable television since the birth of Generation X, but goes on to explore the symbiotic relationship between television and this largely misunderstood age group. From the first megahit The Brady Bunch to today's Friends, Owen unflinchingly describes the boob tube as the ubiquitous babysitter for millions of young people. Television, Owen maintains, consumes innocence as viewers encounter countless episodes of society's woes, from political strife and environmental decimation to everyday violence and crime.

Made Possible By... is an engrossing history of public broadcasting, from its initial idealist attempt to reshape the vast wasteland of television, to its current lamentable state-safe, consistently mediocre, and as dependent on corporate financing as its commercial counterparts.

Television has radically reshaped the contours of knowledge and of pleasure in modern society and become a regular subject of scrutiny and argument. This important book, fully accesible to students yet a contribution to international debate, is the first to offer a systematic review of the ideas which have been most influential across a full range of television criticism and research from the first pioneering studies to the most recent theory and analysis. In the course of exploring key ideas, John Corner develops a clear and close engagement with television itself and the way it is changing. After an Introduction which provides a concise overview of how television has been studied and why, ten chapters take key features of the medium in order to raise questions and and assess arguments. With its focused summaries and its scope of reference, Critical Ideas in Television Studies will help the teaching and study of television to enter a new phase of improved clarity and self-awareness.

Global Television and Film is the first non-specialist introduction to the economics of the contemporary film and television business. It explains how these global media markets operate taking into account the unique nature of cultural products and the consequences for public policy and business strategy.

Public broadcasting is the single most important social, cultural, and journalistic institution of the twentieth century. In the past fifteen years it has been assaulted politically, ideologically, technologically, and is everywhere in retreat. This book considers the idea of public service broadcasting and examines in detail the assault made upon it with specific emphasis on global developments and events in the United Kingdom, Japan, Europe, and the United States. Michael Tracey argues that public service broadcasting has been a vital and democratically significant institution now experiencing a terminal decline brought about by changes in political, economic, and technological circumstances. Based on years of research and extensive contact with leading public broadcasters around the world the author examines the idea of public service broadcasting and how for the most part it has vainly (and often ineffectually) struggled to survive in recent years . The author concludes that public broadcasting is, as was once said of Weimar, a corpse on leave. Its likely disappearance constitutes an indication of a real and deep-seated crisis within liberal democracy.

New Patterns in Global Television focuses upon the development of television industries in some of the countries outside the traditionally dominant centres. It challenges the view that `cultural imperialism' from powerful metropolitan centres dictates the supply of television programmes and services in the world. Specialist researchers provide the first comprehensive overview of TV production in dynamic `peripheral' regions such as Latin America, India, the Middle East, Greater China, and, in the English-speaking world, Canada and Australia.

What is meant by an 'independent' television and press, and what affirmative role should any government have in the regulation of television? How do competing interest groups use media regulation to their advantage? What impact does television have on democratic values and the process of democracy itself? Television, the Public Sphere, and the National Identity focuses on these and other questions in a broad reinterpretation of television's role and influence on democratic societies in a time of increased globalization of the media. Monroe E. Price's lively and wide-ranging study is unique in developing a theory which covers media developments in both the United States and Europe, including the states of the post-Soviet transition (Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union). Examining the relationship between television and these societies, Price asks how the globalization of television affects the medium's impact on these nations and, indeed, on the survival of the nation state itself. The book also looks at the justifications and abuses that have arisen in television's regulation, and predicts the future role of TV in society.

This book examines a critical point in US broadcasting in the late 1920s and early 1930s - the only period in which a strong opposition emerged to network-dominated, advertising-supported media such as radio. Although the opposition failed to secure airwaves for non-profit broadcasters, its critique of the formation and structure of early broadcasting anticipated much of today's most compelling media criticism.

Like its companion volume, Telecommunications in Europe, this book deals with the evolution of powerful monopoly institutions in the communications field--the public broadcasters--and the dramatic changes that took place in the late 1980s throughout Europe, and transformed the media landscape. It provides a comprehensive view of European broadcasting systems, using the perspective of economics and policy analysis. The introductory part offers a framework for understanding media and the forces of change affecting them. The main section is a unique series of chapters covering the broadcast and cable television systems of almost thirty European countries.

Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s the U.S. television industry transformed from a heavily regulated business to a highly competitive one, with new networks, technologies, and markets. Video Economics addresses the major issues affecting competitive advantage in the industry, including sequential program release strategies known as windowing, competition among program producers, the economics of networking, cable television, scheduling strategies, and high definition television (HDTV). The authors present the economic tools required to analyze the industry as they take up each new topic. This book will be of particular interest to students of the mass media, communication policy officials, communication lawyers and consultants, and media and advertising executives.

This is an important study of the crucial issue of alternatives in commercial and public support of broadcasting in the U.S. and Europe. The Peacock Committee on Financing the BBC, a committee sponsored by the British government, commissioned Jay Blumler and Tom Nossiter to investigate the impact of alternate ways of financing the BBC on the range and quality of broadcasting. They then commissioned papers on broadcasting financing in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to answer the question: "Should the BBC allow some commercial support in financing?" This is an essential collection for broadcast policy-makers and researchers.

'...the book is recommended and should be read by every member of the IRTC. Those working in radio will also find it rewarding.' - Playback

In the early days of radio, there were opportunities for women as singers, musicians, actors, and hosts of women's interest shows, but few chances to do much more. Vaughan deLeith, the Original Radio Girl, was one of the first women to break into radio and pave the way for others to follow. From 1920 to 1936, deLeith received three million pieces of fan mail, published more than 200 songs, made more than 300 phonograph records and Edison cylinders, and sang 15,000 songs on the air. The women who worked in and on radio from the 20s through the 50s are given their due in this comprehensive work. Readers will find Kate Smith, the Andrews Sisters, the Carter Sisters, Wilma Lee Cooper, Kitty Wells, Gracie Allen, and Minnie Pearl, among many, many others. There are nine extended entries: the pioneers, Mary Garden and Chicago radio, singers, country musicians, comediennes, husband-and-wife talk shows, women in daytime serials (soap operas), family values, and gender discrimination.

This book traces the history of television journalism in Britain from its austere roots in the BBC's post-war monopoly to the present-day plethora of 24 hour channels and celebrity presenters. It asks why a medium whose thirst for pictures, personalities and drama make it, some believe, intrinsically unsuitable for serious journalism should remain in the internet age the most influential purveyor of news.

Barnett compares the two very different trajectories of television journalism in Britain and the US arguing that from the outset a rigorous statutory and regulatory framework rooted in a belief about the democratic value of the medium created and sustained a culture of serious, responsible, accurate and interrogative journalism in British television. The book's overarching thesis is that, despite a very different set of historical, regulatory and institutional practices, there is a very real danger that Britain is now heading down the same road as America. As a result, Britsh public life will be diminished.

During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcast uncensored news and commentary to people living in communist nations. As critical elements of the CIA's early covert activities against communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the Munich-based stations drew a large audience despite efforts to jam the broadcasts and ban citizens from listening to them. This history of the stations in the Cold War era reveals the perils their staff faced from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania and other communist states. It recounts in detail the murder of writer Georgi Markov, the 1981 bombing of the stations by "Carlos the Jackal," infiltration by KGB agent Oleg Tumanov and other events. Appendices include security reports, letters between Carlos the Jackal and German terrorist Johannes Weinrich and other documents, many of which have never been published.

"This book analyses issues of the internet and mass media in a rapidly changing environment. It covers a wide range of fundamentals which will be in effect for a longer time, and reflects the benefits of international and interdisciplinary collaboration." - Heinz-Werner Nienstedt, President, European Media Management Education Association "This excellent book will be of great use to researchers, teachers and students interested in the relationship between the Internet and the mass media and it offers an invaluable contribution to the literature. The overall picture that emerges from this book is one that is very balanced, stressing both the radical potential of the internet and the ways in which the various media sectors have experienced the impact differently." - Colin Sparks, University of Westminster What impact has the Internet really had on the media industries? What new regulatory policies and business models are driven by the Internet? And what are the effects of the Internet on how we produce, access and consume music, film, television and other media content? After an initial flurry of analysis and prediction of the future of the dot com boom, this is the first book to review the developments of the first Internet era and investigate its actual outcomes. Bringing together sophisticated analyses from leading scholars in the field, The Internet and the Mass Media explores the far-reaching implications of the Internet from economic, regulatory, strategic and organizational perspectives. This cross-disciplinary, international view is essential for a rich, nuanced understanding of the many technological, economic, and social changes the Internet has brought to the way we live and work.

Precisely how and why radio developed as it did is a fascinating story, told with authority in this book. Of interest to both the specialist and the general reader, this history concentrates on the years between 1920 and 1930 in the United States when radio was rapidly growing and changing. It covers all important areas in the development of the radio industry: business, programming, regulation, finance, the manufacturing of radio sets and equipment, the development of technology, the rise of networks, and the flowering of radio as a medium of entertainment and news.

From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interview George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now, in BETWEEN BREATHS, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety-which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam-and how she dealt with this anxiety as she came of age, to her eventually turning to alcohol for relief. She tells of how she found herself living in denial, about the extent of her addiction and keeping her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who had never found the right balance. Honest and hopeful, BETWEEN BREATHS is an inspiring read.

An interdisciplinary approach to the complexities of media law This critical study of intellectual property in the new media environment highlights the ways in which issues of intellectual property are driving the contemporary media economy, from disputes over downloading music from the Internet to negotiations over David Beckham's image rights. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides the media student with a clear understanding of how intellectual property laws shape and are shaped by the needs of the media industry. As Richard Haynes demonstrates, the media industry exploits copyright and trademarks in new and seemingly boundless ways whether it's the blockbuster movie Harry Potter or successful children's television programme Bob the Builder. Through case studies, chapter-by-chapter exercises, further reading and selected Internet links Media Rights and Intellectual Property fills the need for a clear and concise guide for the media student not versed in the finer details of media law. rights to the media industry The impact of digitalisation on the protection of copyright The response of the music industry to digital distribution and copyright piracy The strategic decisions of broadcasters to acquire sports rights The importance of tertiary rights and their role in the television marketplace The emergence of celebrity image rights Issues of copyright and the Internet.

"Are radio pirates plundering and hijacking the airwaves from their rightful state".

The first book to document and emphasize the myriad voices of the free radio movement, from Black Liberation Radio in Springfield, Illinois, to Free Radio Berkeley in Berkeley, California. The first section includes contributions from Robert McChesney on the political economy of radio in North America and a history and analysis of the burgeoning pirate radio movement. The second section includes interviews with and commentary by some of the key grass roots participants in micropower broadcasting worldwide -- from Canada, Holland, Haiti and Mexico, as well as America. The final section of the book consists of a comprehensive technical guide and how-to manual for going on the air, complete with schematics and "sound" advice.

In print for more than seven decades as Broadcasting Yearbook and more recently, Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook, this directory has been the go-to source for station data and industry contacts in the US and Canadian television, radio and cable marketplace.

In the late 1960s, the cinema was pronounced dead. Television, like a Biblical Cain had slain his brother Abel, bewitching the mass audience and provoking an exodus - from the cinemas to the living room. Some 30 years later, a remarkable reversal: rarely has the cinema been more popular, as inner-city multiplexes record rising attendances. And yet, rarely has the cinema's future seemed more uncertain. 70-80 per cent of all films shown on commercial screens come from Hollywood, launched with publicity campaigns costing more than the total budget of most European films. Television, the independent cinema's chief financier for the past decades, cannot match these investments, not can it compete, even if it wanted to, with the barrage of special effects. The New Media, virtual images, the relentless digitization of reality, it is argued, are responsible for the global concentration of production, which in turn leads to the global uniformity of the products. Just as Cain and Abel are about to bury their differences, then along comes Cable to resolve them both into mere myriads of pixels. Beyond the hyperbole and the metaphors, "Cinema Futures: Cain, Abel or Cable?" presents an argument about predictions that tend to be made when new technologies appear. Television did not swallow radio, just as it did not replace the cinema. Yet each new technological medium has certainly changed the place of the others in society and affected their function. What do these precedents tell us about the future of the cinema in the digital age, or rather for the future of the "experience cinema", as it redefines itself in the home and in public? The authors of this book are realistic in their estimate of the future of cinema's distinctive identity, and optimistic that the different social needs audiences bring to the media will ensure their distinctiveness. The book also contains case studies, and should be useful to anyone interested in a better understanding of the changes facing the worlds of sound and vision.

A collection of essays by leading media professionals and academics, which debates the past, present and future of British television drama. Writers, producers and television executives reflect on the changing face of TV drama, and academics present case studies on critical approaches, general topics and specific programmes.

This text surveys the field of modern electronic media and beyond. Beyond, more than a word in the title, refers to the new technologies, regulations, programming, and competition that affect our world and the broadcasting industry. The authors of Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and Beyond have three main goals for every edition: 1) to convey the excitement of the industry, 2) to provide a survey of the industry, and 3) presenting a readable text that makes even the most difficult information understandable. With new information and innovations added to an already strong foundation, this edition achieves each of these goals, again.