Palgrave Macmillan has published Media and Global Civil Society, a book by CMCS Research Fellow Lina Dencik. Lina is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the Political Science Department at CEU.
The book constitutes a timely and critical investigation into the way media operates in a so-called global age, presenting new empirical data on key sites of news production and crucially tying these findings to ongoing debates on globalization and democracy.
The publication grew out of concern with how changes in media are influencing democratic functions and politics in our global age. In response to such changes, much has been said in both the academic and the political realm about ideas of deliberation and post-national democratic practices, and a certain degree of hope has been invested in such practices becoming the roots of a 'global civil society'. This concept has taken force as not just an analysis of social and political change, but as a normative project.
In her book, however, Lina Dencik argues that the very notion of a global civil society needs to be subjected to rigorous critique, given so much of the debate is based on an implicit (and problematic) account of changing conditions, not least within the media. Bridging the gap between different literatures across disciplines, the book provides a fresh and critical approach to the topical debate on media, globalization and social and political change.
Table of Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 'Global Civil Society' and the Media
- The Organisation of News
- 'Global Civil Society' and Global News Broadcasters: The Case of BBC World News
- 'Global Civil Society' and National/Local Newspapers: The Case of Los Angeles Times
- 'Global Civil Society' and Alternative Online News: The Case of OhmyNews International and Groundreport
- A Liberal Paradox: Media developments and 'Global Civil Society'
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index