Comparative Media History - An Introduction - 1789To The Present

The textbook compares developments and influences from a broad perspective, highlighting and contrasting different countries, industries and periods of history in order to encourage an understanding of cause and effect. In a style which is clear, accessible and provocative, Jane Chapman argues that most of the roots of today's media - even the globalizing impulse - lie in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The book emphasises continuity and certain decisive factors such as the social use of technology, the character of the institutions in which it is applied and the political approach of the specific countries involved.

The comparative element to this book, both across countries and industries, will enable students to reflect on key issues in media studies, including those of diversity, form, method and choice, both past and present. It will become an essential text for any student of the media and its history.

For more information about the book and the author, please see www.janechapman.co.uk

Introduction.

PART 1. ANTECEDENTS, CONTINUITIES AND DISCONTINUITIES.

Chapter 1: Newspapers, Radicalism, Repression and Economic Change, 1789-1847.

Chapter 2: The Focusing of Political Communications and Newspaper Business, 1848-81.

PART 2. POPULARIZATION, INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE TRIUMPH OF TECHNOLOGY, 1881-1918.

Chapter 3: Commercialization, Consumerism and Technology, 1881-1914.

Chapter 4: Politics, New Forms of Communication and the Globalizing Process, 1881-1918.

PART 3. DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION OF THE MASSES FORMULA, 1918-1947.

Chapter 5: The Business and Ideology of Mass Culture, 1918-1939.

Chapter 6: War and Beyond, 1939-1947.

PART 4. THE GLOBAL AGE, 1948-2002.

Chapter 7: Cold War and the Victory of Commercialism, 1948-1980.

Chapter 8: Continuity and Change since 1980.

Notes.

References and Bibliography.

Index