Newspaper Power
The New National Press in Britain
Published on 28. March 1996
Book
Paperback/Softback
452 pages
978-0-19-871133-9 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first authoritative account of the British national press since the Rupert Murdoch-triggered `Death of Flee Street' in 1986. Since then competition has intensified with more titles, fatter papers, more sections, and aggressive marketing. All areas of journalism - from sport to politics - have been transformed. A star system has developed for columnists and there is now a bigger and more powerful top echelon of senior executives, star writers, and section heads. The Editor has taken on a newly dominant role as impresario and entrepreneur.
Newspaper Power is based on 200 interviews with senior newspaper people in the 1990s. Jeremy Tunstall also studied pre-Murdoch Fleet Street and he makes illuminating comparisons between the 1960s and the 1990s.
The author argues that it is the newspapers (not TV) which define political crises and severely wound Prime Ministers; that the broadsheets have increasingly regarded finance as the new core of serious journalism; and that the tabloids have re-defined the British monarchy as soap opera. He also analyses the control over policy-making for the press, broadcasting, and cross-media ownership, which is exercised by the Prime Minister in consultation with the press. The book provides a valuable introduction to the national Press of our time and the issues that surround current and recent British journalism.
Newspaper Power is based on 200 interviews with senior newspaper people in the 1990s. Jeremy Tunstall also studied pre-Murdoch Fleet Street and he makes illuminating comparisons between the 1960s and the 1990s.
The author argues that it is the newspapers (not TV) which define political crises and severely wound Prime Ministers; that the broadsheets have increasingly regarded finance as the new core of serious journalism; and that the tabloids have re-defined the British monarchy as soap opera. He also analyses the control over policy-making for the press, broadcasting, and cross-media ownership, which is exercised by the Prime Minister in consultation with the press. The book provides a valuable introduction to the national Press of our time and the issues that surround current and recent British journalism.
Reviews / Votes
Tunstall has studied journalists, journalism and the newspaper industry for decades, and one great strength of his new book is that he is able to compare. * New Statesman and Society * Tunstall's comparative study is most valuable for the light it sheds on the link between the ruthless pursuit of profit on the one hand and the increasingly enclosed nature of journalism on the other. * London Review of Books * He gives a unique picture of the changes in British newspapers, rather than the over-simplistic story offered as a pre- and post-Wapping analysis. * Irish Times * an exceptionally readable and brilliantly researched survey of the British press ... essential background to understanding the journalistic culture for all its faults and virtues * Mark Urban, International Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 2, April '97 * sweeping, insightful study of the British national press...Rarely is a work of such scope and sweep so rich in precision and detail. * CHOICE April 97 * His new book...will prove a definitive study, rich in detail and organised by short thematic chapters which stop important strands getting hidden in the overall pattern. * Parliamentary Affairs Vol 50 No.3. * a valuable introduction to the current condition of the British national press ... it is essential reading for students of contemporary British history and mass communications ... By addressing the more challenging issues surrounding modern-day journalism, it should also appeal to the serious scholar in a variety of disciplines. * Tony Shaw, Contemporary British History, Vol. 10, No. 4, Winter '96 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
line figures, tables
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
571 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-871133-9 (9780198711339)
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Schweitzer Classification