Mapping Irish Media

Reviews / Votes

"A new book focusing on Ireland's rapidly-changing media aims to show foreign readers that there is more to Irish culture than James Joyce ... Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole, who launched the book ... said one of the most illuminating sections of the book was a rational, calm analysis of crime reporting." "The appearance of Mapping Irish Media is to be welcomed, if for no other reason than that there is a dearth of good writing on media issues in Ireland ... it's likely to prove useful for students of media for some time to come." Irish Times Sept 2007 "offers a wide-ranging review of scholarly approaches to understanding the Irish mediascape ... these essays broadly deal with the way in which the Irish mediascape is being reconfigured relative to wide-scale changes of a socio-cultural, political, economic, spatio-temporal and technological nature ... the collection is an important ongoing contribution to that larger project of mapping Irish media." Irish Studies Review Winter 2007/8 'Ireland offers a fascinating case study for those interested in mapping out some of the changes in the relationship between media, economy and society in small countries. This collection of essays offers and excellent and succinct snapshot of how a range of media-related issues that stretch across production, representation and media reception are being played out in contemporary Irish society. Although the book is organised into three quite traditional sections od production, representation and reception, the material engages with a range of themes that run through the collection and the sections do not inhibit connections being made across the areas. The themes in the book include the impact of global shifts on media production and reception; the rise of consumerism; the role that digitisation is having in re-shaping the media industries; debates about media regulation; and the changing relationship between the media and national and cultural identity-formation. All these are set in the context of a small peripheral European economy that has enjoyed an almost uninterrupted economic boom since the mid 1990s. The broader context for the chapters is what the editors call the global expansion in media studies, and the particular development of this area within the Irish university and college sector. Yet no theoretical straitjacket is imposed on the book, and differing theories and methods inform the diverse range of material examined.' Media, Culture and Society Vol 30 (5) 2008 SAGE