DOCSLIB.ORG

Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies This Page Intentionally Left Blank Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies 8Th Edition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies This Page Intentionally Left Blank Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies 8Th Edition Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies This page intentionally left blank Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies 8th edition James Watson and Anne Hill Eighth edition published in 2012 by: Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP, UK and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Copyright © James Watson and Anne Hill 2012 First edition published in Great Britain in 1984 Second edition 1989 Th ird edition 1993 Fourth edition 1997 Fifth edition 2000 Sixth edition 2003 Seventh edition published by Hodder Education in 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author. CIP records for this book are available from the British Library and the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-1-84966-528-5 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-84966-562-9 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-84966-563-6 (ebook PDF) Th is book is produced using paper that is made from wood grown in managed, sustainable forests. It is natural, renewable and recyclable. Th e logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, Bodmin, Cornwall. Cover images: Shutterstock www.bloomsburyacademic.com Preface to the 8th edition If there is one word which defi nes the evolution of media since the 7th edition of this Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies in 2006 it is participation: the audience is king; and this has largely come about as a result of the opportunities for feedback and interactivity made possible by new and improved technology. Once upon a time there were TV sets. Th e whole family sat in front of them and the choice was either, or. Today young people see less of their parents. Th ey retire to their rooms, click a button and a universe of information, entertainment, games opens up to them. Th ey can contact their hundreds if not thousands of ‘friends’ on Facebook, watch a score of fi ve-minute videos a night on YouTube – and may appear to have less need to interact with real people in the real world. Ironically, for this same generation many educational experiences will be shared with others, in the traditional manner, in seminars and lectures. True cyberspace will be available on electronic whiteboards, but what happens on a daily basis is little diff erent from the educational experiences of their parents and or indeed their grandparents. We ask, has the bounty of the Internet, the access our smartphones have made possible, changed culture that much? Are people meeting each other less frequently, reading less, watching conventional TV less; is the newspaper on the verge of extinction? Also, taking into account the fashionable political mantra, the ‘big society’, in which we all rise up and take command of the heights of decision-making, opening our own schools, choosing where we’ll have our babies or our heart surgery, are we experiencing the beginning of a world turned upside down, of power rising from the depths to assert itself over former privilege, of the power of smart mobs? Whether the answer is a qualifi ed yes or no, what is important is who is asking and attempting to answer the question. For example, has power of a sort shifted to social networks (see networking: social networking), where petitions and protests can be organized swiftly and on a large scale? Faced with public opinion expressed online, do the power elites (see elite) adjust their position, promise more public consultation in future, reverse their decisions – or do they wait till online interactivity returns to the more normal, ‘I hate Monday mornings’/ ‘So do I’ discourse? Interactive culture Technological innovation is not the only source of change confronting the twenty-fi rst-century citizen. To use Eric M. Eisenberg’s phrase, the sociocultural ‘surround’ in which much everyday social interaction takes place has also changed for many of us. Most Western societies have seen a growth in cultural diversity. Th e challenges this presents for successful interaction has been the focus of much contemporary research within the fi eld of interpersonal communication and the entries for this fi eld of study have been revised to refl ect such developments. Arguably the forces of globalization usher-in social fragmentation and uncertainties – not least uncertainties about self-identity. So, research focused on the contemporary odyssey of the search for self-identity, which Anthony Giddens terms the project of self, is considered. Th e potential of everyday communication to contribute to the forging of a sense of self-identity informs numerous entries, such as those for dress, gender, the johari window, performativity, role model and self-disclosure. v Preface to the 8th edition Much of modern life is mediated and thus the interplay between interpersonal and mass communication also needs to be considered. advertising and other aspects of media culture contain many messages that may impact on the development of a sense of identity; the entry on self-identity thus embraces discussion of second-life identities. Th e arrival of facebook and other social networking sites also opens up the debate about what it is to have a ‘sense of self’. Th e Internet has not so much taken over and transformed traditional media as appropriated the way we think about the broad spectrum of communication. Change has been in the air, but how fundamentally has hegemony been shaken, how seriously has it been stirred? A key issue concerning claims to ‘democratization’ and popular involvement in the exercise of power is whether the ‘usual suspects’ – the corporations, the fi nancial organisations, the mass media – have at any time of late lost or surrendered their powers. It could be that we are so busy talking among ourselves, networking, vanishing into the magic whirlpools of our iPods, iPlayers and iPads that we fail to notice something: the power elites have not gone away; nor have they undergone any Pauline conversion except to embrace the opportunities, for commerce and control, that the Network Society off ers the alert entrepreneur. Paging Mr Murdoch Th is is not to say that predictability rules. Until the summer of 2011 the global media empire ruled by Rupert Murdoch was widely seen as an unstoppable force, a threat to the plurality of media and a malign infl uence on governments, obtaining from them concessions in return for a generally supportive press: ‘Touch Your Forelocks to Mr Murdoch’ was embossed on the dance-card of every politician ambitious to achieve power or hold on to it (see british sky broadcasting, bskyb). Th e phone-hacking scandal (see journalism: phone-hacking) involving News International’s News of the World, and the dramatic closure of the 168-year-old paper in July 2011, may well have brought about a sea-change, not only for the murdoch effect specifi cally but for the media generally in its relation to politics and policing. Some would say it is ‘not before time’ that politicians and public in the UK paid attention to the systemic practice of prying electronically (and illegally) into the lives of citizens high and low. Public outrage and a united parliament forced Murdoch to retreat, at least temporarily, from his ambition to own the whole of BSkyB; something Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt had, until revelations turned from a trickle to a tsunami, been ‘mindful’ of accepting. It is fi tting to celebrate the true purpose of journalism in action, holding power – that of govern- ment, corporations, institutions, the police and the media themselves – to account. Varyingly called ‘the best political thriller of our times’ and likened to the ‘crumbling of the Berlin Wall’, the hacking scandal – fearlessly revealed by the Guardian, initially alone in the UK and battling against denial and indiff erence – raised wider issues concerning media ownership and its connection with politicans and police. Not least among public concerns was the way the Murdoch empire did everything in its power to hush up the scandal. Th e Daily Mirror editorial of 15 July declared that ‘News International has mishandled the crisis engulfi ng it with the fi nesse of an elephant trying to tap-dance on an oil- smeared fl oor’. History was truly made when Rupert Murdoch, his son James, Chairman of News International, and (just resigned) Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks were summoned to appear before House of Commons special committees for questioning; this in the same week as the Commis- sioner of the London Metropolitan police, Sir Paul Stephenson, and his Assistant Commissioner, John Yates, resigned following evidence of their connections with the under-scrutiny organization. For the present, we leave it to media watchers to monitor the after-shock of such seismic events; to track how far remonstration, indignant headlines, mass petitions, committees of inquiry actually impact, in the long run, on the status quo; and whether a new dawn will produce a less exploitative, more balanced media more answerable to public interest, to the law and to media ethics. vi Preface to the 8th edition Meanwhile, back on the ground Less sensational than the hacking saga, but of equal interest and sometimes of concern in
Load more

Recommended publications
  • “Rule Number Two Is Doctors Can't Change Rule Numb-1 REFORMAT
    Britain’s Television Act of 1954: One Medium’s Effect on a Society Joshua Altman Professor Dane Kennedy 20 th Century Britain May 5, 2008 Joshua Altman Britain’s Television Act of 1954 May 5, 2008 INTRODUCTION When television came to the British masses it signaled the beginnings of a metamorphosis that was beyond suppression. Decades of a BBC monopoly provided a culturally unifying factor in both television and radio, but the Television Act of 1954 ended that monopoly, thus ending the unifying force 1. While debating the Act in Parliament, Ian Harvey MP said “Television is an instrument of communication and I am amongst those who believe that an instrument of such power of communication should not be vested in one single authority 2” The nature of British television changed with the Television Act of 1954. For the first time British broadcasting was open to competition and entities other than the BBC were able to produce content to air on channels other than the BBC 3. One condition of open broadcasting was that content had to be monitored, as it was no longer all created by the government. Created by the Television Act of 1954, the Independent Television Authority [ITA] took television one step further away from government regulation by functioning as an oversight body for Independent Television [ITV]. The ITA was responsible for licensing stations [franchises] and providing closer monitoring of content to ensure that it was appropriate for broadcast. Primarily, Members of Parliament concerned themselves with two major questions, the first being how television programming would be supported financially.
    [Show full text]
  • The Romantic Economist
    This page intentionally left blank THE ROMANTIC ECONOMIST Since economies are dynamic processes driven by creativity, social norms and emotions, as well as rational calculation, why do econo- mists largely study them through the prism of static equilibrium models and narrow rationalistic assumptions? Economic activity is as much a function of imagination and social sentiments as of the rational optimisation of given preferences and goods. Richard Bronk argues that economists can best model and explain these creative and social aspects of markets by using new structuring assumptions and metaphors derived from the poetry and philosophy of the Romantics. By bridging the divide between literature and science, and between Romanticism and narrow forms of rationalism, economists can access grounding assumptions, models and research methods suitable for comprehending the creativity and social dimensions of economic activity. This is a guide to how economists and other social scientists can broaden their analytical repertoire to encompass the vital role of sentiments, language and imagination. Educated at Merton College, Oxford, Richard Bronk gained a first class degree in Classics and Philosophy. He spent the first seventeen years of his career working in the City of London, where he acquired a wide expertise in international economics, business and politics. His first book, Progress and the Invisible Hand (1998) was well received critically, and anticipated millennial angst about the increasingly strained relationship between economic growth and progress in wel- fare. Having returned to academic life in 2000, Bronk is now a writer and part-time academic. richard bronk is currently a Visiting Fellow in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
    [Show full text]
  • Reducing Traffic Congestion in London Released 19 January 2017
    Appendix 1 Transport Committee Report Impact Review London stalling: Reducing traffic congestion in London Released 19 January 2017 Stakeholder feedback “I welcome your report and the Committee’s focus on addressing the problem of congestion across the capital.” Cllr Julian Bell, Chair of Transport & Environment Committee, London Councils “Can I just say well done to the Committee on some of your recent reports? I hope the Mayor listens to some of them. I thought the one on [congestion] in particular had some excellent points made.” David Begg, Transport Times and Visiting Professor, Plymouth University "Today, we welcome the findings of the London Assembly Transport Committee into congestion on London's streets. This is an issue that not only affects the productivity of the capital's businesses, but more importantly, the physical and mental health of its residents.” Suzanne Moroney, Institution of Civil Engineers London "This is an important and timely report. It is right to recommend taking forward road pricing which could be a real improvement on the Congestion Charge by targeting fees on those journeys causing congestion and pollution.” Bridget Fox, Campaign for Better Transport Media coverage The report received widespread national and local media coverage on publication. The Chair was interviewed on BBC Sunday Politics, ITV1 London, BBC London Radio, LBC and Heart London. Additional broadcast reports were featured on BBC One London News, BBC News Channel, ITV1’s Late Debate, London Live and BBC radio stations outside London. National print coverage included the Financial Times (front page), Economist, Daily Express, Daily Mail and the Metro. Local press coverage included the Evening Standard, City AM, Time Out London.
    [Show full text]
  • Weekly Highlights Week 04/05: Sat 30Th January - Fri 5Th February 2021
    Weekly Highlights Week 04/05: Sat 30th January - Fri 5th February 2021 Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home - Travels in My Own Land Tuesday, 8pm The presenter sets off on a journey around the UK. This information is embargoed from reproduction in the public domain until Tue 26th January 2021. Press contacts Further programme publicity information: ITV Press Office [email protected] www.itv.com/presscentre @itvpresscentre ITV Pictures [email protected] www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures ITV Billings [email protected] www.ebs.tv This information is produced by EBS New Media Ltd on behalf of ITV +44 (0)1462 895 999 Please note that all information is embargoed from reproduction in the public domain as stated. Weekly highlights Simply Raymond Blanc Saturday, 11.40am 30th January ITV Join Raymond Blanc and enjoy some Le Manoir Magic as he rustles up a selection of simple yet delicious dishes from the heart of his Oxfordshire kitchen. In this series opener, the chef is joined by Angela Hartnett, who’s cooking a stunning tagliatelle for her friend. Plus, the host creates food for every palette, from a sumptuous meringue with blackcurrant coulis to a heritage salad with beetroot. The Masked Singer Saturday, 7pm 30th January ITV TV’s craziest guessing game continues its second series. Joel Dommett presents as a gang of celebrities don costumes and sing with their identities hidden. There are shocks in store as the remaining seven are cut to five in a double elimination. Will Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and guest Alan Carr be able to guess who is performing? Two singers are unmasked at the end of tonight’s show.
    [Show full text]
  • Confirmation Bias in Criminal Cases
    Moa Lidén Confirmation Bias in Criminal Cases Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Sal IV, Universitetshuset, Biskopsgatan 3, 753 10 Uppsala, Uppsala, Friday, 28 September 2018 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Laws. The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Professor Steven Penrod (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University New York). Abstract Lidén, M. 2018. Confirmation Bias in Criminal Cases. 284 pp. Uppsala: Department of Law, Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-506-2720-6. Confirmation bias is a tendency to selectively search for and emphasize information that is consistent with a preferred hypothesis, whereas opposing information is ignored or downgraded. This thesis examines the role of confirmation bias in criminal cases, primarily focusing on the Swedish legal setting. It also examines possible debiasing techniques. Experimental studies with Swedish police officers, prosecutors and judges (Study I-III) and an archive study of appeals and petitions for new trials (Study IV) were conducted. The results suggest that confirmation bias is at play to varying degrees at different stages of the criminal procedure. Also, the explanations and possible ways to prevent the bias seem to vary for these different stages. In Study I police officers’ more guilt presumptive questions to apprehended than non-apprehended suspects indicate a confirmation bias. This seems primarily driven by cognitive factors and reducing cognitive load is therefore a possible debiasing technique. In Study II prosecutors did not display confirmation bias before but only after the decision to press charges, as they then were less likely to consider additional investigation necessary and suggested more guilt confirming investigation.
    [Show full text]
  • THE IMPACT of the FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION on the JOBS MARKET Senate of the Italian Republic – 11Th Labour and Social Secu
    THE IMPACT OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ON THE JOBS MARKET Senate of the Italian Republic – 11th Labour and Social Security Committee For the victims of terrorism fallen in the line of work Introduction The issue of the relationship between technology and work has returned to the heart of the public debate. This is by no means a new discussion: fear of jobs being destroyed by the emergence of new tools for producing goods and services, and their new processes, crisscrosses the history of the industrial economy, leaving us with memories of Luddites, Keynesian technological unemployment, and the “the end of work” alarm raised in the early 1990s. The new Industrial Revolution appears to have been enabled by technologies that are increasingly available at low cost to companies and individuals. These technologies are destined to evolve at an unpredictable pace, in unpredictable ways and with unforeseeable content. Their consequences may impact business models and production processes; above all, they are ushering in new ways of relating to consumers and the markets through more efficient, personalized and immediate channels of coordination enabled by technology. The hallmark feature of this technology is its way of integrating physical processes and digital technologies as a means of renewing organizational models. Another way of expressing this is to say that production is “smartening up” along a number of different paths, either making a break or evolving from the past. Large factories are looking to go beyond assembly lines and replace them with autonomous “islands”, manned by people and machines – teams of workers and robots. Small companies are leveraging a typically Italian feature of the economy – the fact that they are concentrated in districts, and are specialized in niche output – as they work to combine classical artisanal with digital skills.
    [Show full text]
  • Powering Fast Forward Thinking
    1 Powering Fast Forward Thinking THE AXA 2019 FORESIGHT TRENDBOOK 2 Editorial 3 AXA Foresight: Who are we? 4 Environment 5 Health 21 New Tech 37 Socio-Economics 53 Appendix 69 Acknowledgement & Credits 70 3 EDITORIAL Editorial Using past experience to anticipate probable future is at the core of insurance. At the same time, as an investor and asset manager, we know that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Societies’, companies’ and individuals’ fates may be overturned, for better or worse, by an unexpected combination of existing trends, by major scientific breakthrough or by a “black swan” event. Foresight is not about the extrapolation of existing trends, it is about the identification of potential disruptions. At AXA, day-to-day management matters but we also have the conviction that true achievements are founded on long term visions. We feel that a foresight effort is important to build our strategy but might also be useful to tackle many public debates. This first Trendbook is a modest contribution to answer this need to broaden our horizons. With this publication, we hope to provide more than a simple compilation of “trending topics”: exploring “ Foresight is not about the substance beyond buzzwords and, based on latest scientific evidence, sharing visions and options for decision-making. extrapolation of existing Indeed, we believe that concepts such as “slashers”, “affective computing” or “genetic engineering” will change trends, it is about the the way we think, live and work. identification of potential Our research initiatives, notably through the AXA Research Fund, are focused around four pillars: Environment & disruptions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Production of Religious Broadcasting: the Case of The
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OpenGrey Repository The Production of Religious Broadcasting: The Case of the BBC Caitriona Noonan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Centre for Cultural Policy Research Department of Theatre, Film and Television University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ December 2008 © Caitriona Noonan, 2008 Abstract This thesis examines the way in which media professionals negotiate the occupational challenges related to television and radio production. It has used the subject of religion and its treatment within the BBC as a microcosm to unpack some of the dilemmas of contemporary broadcasting. In recent years religious programmes have evolved in both form and content leading to what some observers claim is a “renaissance” in religious broadcasting. However, any claims of a renaissance have to be balanced against the complex institutional and commercial constraints that challenge its long-term viability. This research finds that despite the BBC’s public commitment to covering a religious brief, producers in this style of programming are subject to many of the same competitive forces as those in other areas of production. Furthermore those producers who work in-house within the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics believe that in practice they are being increasingly undermined through the internal culture of the Corporation and the strategic decisions it has adopted. This is not an intentional snub by the BBC but a product of the pressure the Corporation finds itself under in an increasingly competitive broadcasting ecology, hence the removal of the protection once afforded to both the department and the output.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the Development of British Satellite Broadcasting Policy, 1977-1992
    THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH SATELLITE BROADCASTING POLICY, 1977-1992 Windsor John Holden —......., Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD University of Leeds, Institute of Communications Studies July, 1998 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others ABSTRACT This thesis traces the development of British satellite broadcasting policy, from the early proposals drawn up by the Home Office following the UK's allocation of five direct broadcast by satellite (DBS) frequencies at the 1977 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC), through the successive, abortive DBS initiatives of the BBC and the "Club of 21", to the short-lived service provided by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB). It also details at length the history of Sky Television, an organisation that operated beyond the parameters of existing legislation, which successfully competed (and merged) with BSB, and which shaped the way in which policy was developed. It contends that throughout the 1980s satellite broadcasting policy ceased to drive and became driven, and that the failure of policy-making in this time can be ascribed to conflict on ideological, governmental and organisational levels. Finally, it considers the impact that satellite broadcasting has had upon the British broadcasting structure as a whole. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Contents ii Acknowledgements 1 INTRODUCTION 3 British broadcasting policy - a brief history
    [Show full text]
  • Violence: Interpersonal, Intergroup, and International. with Comments
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 053 001 SO 001 265 AUTHOR North, Robert TITLE Violence: Interpersonal, Intergroup, and International. With Comments. INSTITUTION Diablo Valley Education Project, Berkeley, Calif.; New York Friends Group Inc., New York. Center for War/Peace Studies. PUB DATE 15 Oct 69 NOTE 22p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS *Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Decision Making, *Foreign Relations, Human Relations, Interaction Process Analysis, *Intergroup Relations, *Models, Policy Formation, Political Power, Political Science, Systems Approach, *Violence, World Affairs, World Problems IDENTIFIERS Nation States, Peace, *War ABSTRACT This paper takes a holistic view of the conditions and causes of conflict and violence. Beginning with an analysis of interaction and conflict between individuals, the author proceeds to examine its occurrence on the group, organization, and nation-state level.. He points out that since all human interaction involves some conflict, we should consider alternative modes for conflict management. Several uni-causes have at times been put forth for war--including biological instinct, a form of psychotic behavior, etc. The line of argument taken here is that national leaders will always try to move their nation in directions which reduce whatever discrepancies they perceive between the state of affairs they believe they are living in, and the state of affairs they prefer. Based on this analysis, the general dynamics of conflict and violence between nations of varying levels of power are examined. The author points out that because of these dynamics, warfare is almost inseparable from the nation state (and empire) system as it has existed with the exception of a few countries such as Sweden, who have chosen to play world politics in a different way.
    [Show full text]
  • A Narrative Pedagogy for Transformative Christian Faith
    Story-Making: A Narrative Pedagogy For Transformative Christian Faith Author: Nathaniel Girard Samuel Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3403 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2013 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry STORY-MAKING: A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHRISTIAN FAITH a dissertation by NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2013 © copyright by NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL 2013 ABSTRACT STORY-MAKING: A NARRATIVE PEDAGOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHRISTIAN FAITH NATHANIEL GIRARD SAMUEL ADVISOR: THOMAS H. GROOME The mid-twentieth century upsurge in scholarship on the methodological and conceptual importance of narrative for theology - established in the work of H.R. Niebuhr, Hans Frei and Stephen Crites inter alia – was a watershed moment for narrative pedagogy in Christian religious education. By and large, narrative approaches have however tended to privilege one form of narrative embodiment - literary (or discursive narratives) - over action (or non-discursive narratives). This dissertation points to the equivocal and pluriform nature of narrativity, and its codification in much more than oral and written textuality. I extend it to refer to a distinct competency for establishing a meaningful world (or ethos) to inhabit, which congeals in varied forms of human expression including our lived narratives. Narrative competency allows us to understand ourselves as persons and communities in (synchronic) relationship with the rest of creation, as well as in (diachronic) relation with persons and communities from the past and in the anticipated future.
    [Show full text]
  • Independent Television Producers in England
    Negotiating Dependence: Independent Television Producers in England Karl Rawstrone A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, University of the West of England, Bristol November 2020 77,900 words. Abstract The thesis analyses the independent television production sector focusing on the role of the producer. At its centre are four in-depth case studies which investigate the practices and contexts of the independent television producer in four different production cultures. The sample consists of a small self-owned company, a medium- sized family-owned company, a broadcaster-owned company and an independent- corporate partnership. The thesis contextualises these case studies through a history of four critical conjunctures in which the concept of ‘independence’ was debated and shifted in meaning, allowing the term to be operationalised to different ends. It gives particular attention to the birth of Channel 4 in 1982 and the subsequent rapid growth of an independent ‘sector’. Throughout, the thesis explores the tensions between the political, economic and social aims of independent television production and how these impact on the role of the producer. The thesis employs an empirical methodology to investigate the independent television producer’s role. It uses qualitative data, principally original interviews with both employers and employees in the four companies, to provide a nuanced and detailed analysis of the complexities of the producer’s role. Rather than independence, the thesis uses network analysis to argue that a television producer’s role is characterised by sets of negotiated dependencies, through which professional agency is exercised and professional identity constructed and performed.
    [Show full text]