Kirjahaku

It has become clear that the U.S. media are no longer increasingly their grip throughout the globe: Asia and the Arab/Moslem world is virtually saturated with their own national media output. Tunstallproduces a well-written, provocative snapshot at global media today. His point of view is relentlessly global: he considers the role of the media in the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ascendanceof the Brazillian and Mexican soap opera, the increasing strength of "Bollywood" - the national cinema output of india- as well as the relative decline in influence of US media . Importantly, Tunstall focuses on both the nation state and the geographical and cultural region as crucial levels in today's mass media. Both the United States and the US mass media have now lost their previous moral leadership. Lone American control of the world news flow has ceased. today, rather than Global media, we see a world media system comprised of inter-locking national-regional-cultural systems. Tunstall's assessment is a wake-up call for insular American media consumers.

In 1977, Jeremy Tunstall published the landmark The Media Are American . In it, he argued that while much of the mass media originated in Europe and elsewhere, the United States dominated global media because nearly every mass medium became industrialized within the United States. With this provocative follow-up, Tunstall chronicles the massive changes that have taken place in the media over the past forty years--changes that have significantly altered the "balance of power" within the global media landscape. The Media Were American demonstrates that both the United States and its mass media have lost their previous moral leadership. Instead of sole American control of the world news flow, we now see a world media structure comprised of interlocking national, regional, and cultural systems. From a relentlessly global point of view, Tunstall looks closely at China and India--and at their rapidly burgeoning populations--and also at the rise of the mass media in the Muslim world. He considers the role of the media in the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ascendance of the Brazilian and Mexican soap opera, the increasing strength of "Bollywood"--the national cinema output of India--and the relative decline in influence of U.S. media. Reconsidering the very notion of "global media," the book posits a reemergence of stronger national cultures and national media systems.

Based on 200 interviews with senior newspaper reporters and executives, this study examines the fate of Britain's national newspapers in the 1990s. The author makes illuminating comparisons between the Fleet Street of the 1960s and the 1990s, and defines the power and influence of the media.

Journalists, television producers, and other media workers are members of newly powerful occupations, yet no broad study of media workers has until now been attempted. Media Occupations and Professions is the first major attempt to consider a broad range of media occupations and their historical development. This collection of essays confronts numerous occupational controversies and dilemmas: can a valid distinction be made between media 'crafts' and media 'professions'? What are the differences between media moguls, media barons, and media stars? Are media workers becoming not only more powerful, but also more insecure? How predictable are media careers and why do media occupations have such chaotic entry patterns? Media occupations are strongly influenced by national politics and culture; so this book includes pieces about media occupations not only in the USA and UK, but also in Africa, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia.

Covering all the major areas of television production, this in-depth work highlights the widely varying influences, difficulties and opportunities at work in the industry. Each kind of producer across the seven areas here examined faces the same practical issues of budget, talent and equipment resources, and end-product expectations; however, the self-image of the producers and the creative environment in which they work can differ greatly from one programming sector to the next, and whilst their careers may run parallel they are usually cut off from one another ideologically. Based on interviews from over two hundred and fifty producers working across a selection of British television channels as well as producers of a number of high-profile American shows, this book takes in a panoramic view of production models at work today and concludes with some insightful suggestions for the future.

What is it like to be an isolated old widow, living alone on the bare old-age pension? In the 1960s, the question had become a standard refrain. Originally published in 1966, this was the first full-length study by a sociologist of isolation in old age.Although the majority of old people were in no sense a problem group at the time, a substantial minority of the elderly were ‘alone’ in one or more ways. About 1.3 million people aged sixty-five and over in Britain lived alone; a large number admitted to feeling lonely, at least sometime. About a million were actually socially isolated in terms of low level and frequency of social contact. Mr Tunstall also uses a fourth category of aloneness – namely anomie (as developed by Durkheim, Merton, and Srole).This report uses careful and statistical analysis of the four types of aloneness and of specially affected groups such as the single, the recently widowed, and the housebound. But it also includes details of interviews with ten highly individual old people from suburban Harrow, booming Northampton, industrial revolution Oldham, and rural South Norfolk.The book contains a discussion of the problem of personality in isolation, and a commentary on the inadequacies of social theory about old age. Finally, the concluding chapter suggests a wide variety of policy measures which might help to alleviate social isolation in old age.

What is it like to be an isolated old widow, living alone on the bare old-age pension? In the 1960s, the question had become a standard refrain. Originally published in 1966, this was the first full-length study by a sociologist of isolation in old age.Although the majority of old people were in no sense a problem group at the time, a substantial minority of the elderly were ‘alone’ in one or more ways. About 1.3 million people aged sixty-five and over in Britain lived alone; a large number admitted to feeling lonely, at least sometime. About a million were actually socially isolated in terms of low level and frequency of social contact. Mr Tunstall also uses a fourth category of aloneness – namely anomie (as developed by Durkheim, Merton, and Srole).This report uses careful and statistical analysis of the four types of aloneness and of specially affected groups such as the single, the recently widowed, and the housebound. But it also includes details of interviews with ten highly individual old people from suburban Harrow, booming Northampton, industrial revolution Oldham, and rural South Norfolk.The book contains a discussion of the problem of personality in isolation, and a commentary on the inadequacies of social theory about old age. Finally, the concluding chapter suggests a wide variety of policy measures which might help to alleviate social isolation in old age.

The Westminster Lobby correspondents have a special place in both the politics and the mass media of Britain. These journalists dominate the behind-the-scenes reporting of British national politics. In this book, originally published in 1970, Jeremy Tunstall presents the first systematic social science study of the uniquely British phenomenon of Lobby correspondents.The study includes data collected from interviews with the national Lobby correspondents, who also completed lengthy questionnaires. It contains evidence of their careers, political opinions, pay, working conditions, relationships with their employing news organization and political news sources, and on the way in which the correspondents both compete with, and exchange information with, each other. As well as this fascinating empirical data, the book offers an important contribution to the sociology of politics and the mass media, and to the study of ‘organizational intelligence’ and the sociology of occupations.There had long centred upon the Lobby correspondents many myths and misconceptions, which Jeremy Tunstall effectively demolishes. (The so-called ‘Lobby rules’ were here published for the first time.) Other real dilemmas are, however, revealed: the competing demands of publicity and secrecy; the dilemmas of British politics in which basic principles – such as Parliamentary supremacy and Cabinet secrecy – are daily breached, not only by the correspondents, but also by leading politicians; and the problems of a system of political communication whose obsession with daily news values is so similar to official and academic contributions. With media and politics still very much linked today, this reissue can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.

The Westminster Lobby correspondents have a special place in both the politics and the mass media of Britain. These journalists dominate the behind-the-scenes reporting of British national politics. In this book, originally published in 1970, Jeremy Tunstall presents the first systematic social science study of the uniquely British phenomenon of Lobby correspondents.The study includes data collected from interviews with the national Lobby correspondents, who also completed lengthy questionnaires. It contains evidence of their careers, political opinions, pay, working conditions, relationships with their employing news organization and political news sources, and on the way in which the correspondents both compete with, and exchange information with, each other. As well as this fascinating empirical data, the book offers an important contribution to the sociology of politics and the mass media, and to the study of ‘organizational intelligence’ and the sociology of occupations.There had long centred upon the Lobby correspondents many myths and misconceptions, which Jeremy Tunstall effectively demolishes. (The so-called ‘Lobby rules’ were here published for the first time.) Other real dilemmas are, however, revealed: the competing demands of publicity and secrecy; the dilemmas of British politics in which basic principles – such as Parliamentary supremacy and Cabinet secrecy – are daily breached, not only by the correspondents, but also by leading politicians; and the problems of a system of political communication whose obsession with daily news values is so similar to official and academic contributions. With media and politics still very much linked today, this reissue can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.

This book considers British television from the point of view of executive producers: the people who employ the workforce and are in charge of making all television series. The focus of the book is twenty-one separate genres, at least seven of which are in significant decline – namely current affairs, education, natural history, science, arts, children’s and religion. Some other public service genres – such as documentary, history and travel – are in good health. The most commercially successful genres include formatted factual entertainment series, such as cooking, homes, quiz/game, reality and sport. The author completed 150 interviews not only with executive producers but with BBC and ITV channel controllers and top genre commissioners. Playing a supporting role are another 200 interviews, which were the basis of the author’s 1993 book, Television Producers. Since 1990, and especially since 2008, British television production has faced financial challenges. Meanwhile, BSkyB, Virgin Media and Channel Five are American controlled, and most of the larger London ‘independent’ production companies are now American or Euro-American owned and operated. Public service broadcasting in general, and BBC television in particular, are threatened with probable further decline. This book offers new insights into the state of British television through the eyes of those working on the inside.