Table Of ContentPalgrave Global Media Policy and Business
Series Editors: Professor Petros Iosifidis, Professor Jeanette Steemers and Professor
Gerald Sussman
Editorial Board: Sandra Braman, Peter Dahlgren, Terry Flew, Charles Fombad,
Manuel Alejandro Guerrero, Alison Harcourt, Robin Mansell, Richard Maxwell,
Toby Miller, Zizi Papacharissi, Stylianos Papathanassopoulos, Caroline Pauwels,
Robert Picard, Kiran Prasad, Marc Raboy, Chang Yong Son, Miklos Suksod, Kenton
T. Wilkinson, Sugmin Youn
This innovative series examines the wider social, political, economic, and techno-
logical changes arising from the globalization of the media and communications
industries and assesses their impact on matters of business practice, regulation
and poli cy. C o ndesri ignmedia convergence, industry concentration, and new
communications practices, the series makes reference to the paradigmatic shift
from a system based on national decision-making and the traditions of public
service in broadcast and telecommunications delivery to one that is demarcated
by commercialization, privatization, and monopolization. Bearing in mind this
shift, and based on a multidisciplinary approach, the series tackles three key
questions: To what extent do new media developments require changes in reg-
ulatory philosophy and objectives? To what extent do new technologies and
changing media consumption require changes in business practices and mod-
els? And to what extent does privatization alter the creative freedom and public
accountability of media enterprises?
Titles include:
Steven Barnett & Judith Townend (edi t o )r s
ME D I AOPWER AND PLURALITY
From Hyperlocal to High-Level Policy
Abu Bhuiyan
INTERNET GOVERNANCE AND THE GLOBAL SOUTH
Demand for a New Framework
Benedetta Brevini
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING ONLINE
A Comparative European Policy Study of PSB 2.0
Karen Donders, Caroline Pauwels and Jan Loisen (editors)
PRIVATE TELEVISION IN WESTERN EUROPE
Content, Markets, Policies
Tom Evens, Petros Iosifidis and Paul Smith
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TELEVISION SPORTS RIGHTS
Manuel Guerrero and Mireya Márquez-Ramírez (editor)
MEDIA SYSTEMS AND COMMUNICATION POLICIES IN LATIN AMERICA
Petros Iosifidis
GLOBAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION POLICY
An International Perspective
John A. Lent and Michelle A. Amazeen
KEY THINKERS IN CRITICAL COMMUNICATION SCHOLARSHIP
From the Pioneers to the Next Generation
Michael Starks
THE DIGITAL TELEVISION REVOLUTION
Origins to Outcomes
Peggy Valcke, Miklos Sükösd, Robert Picard
MEDIA PLURALISM AND DIVERSITY
Concepts, Risks and Global Trends
Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–137–27329–1 (hardback)
978–1–137–36718–1 (paperback)
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Key Thinkers in Critical
Communication
Scholarship
From the Pioneers to the Next Generation
Edited by
John A. Lent
International Journal of Comic Art, USA
Michelle A. Amazeen
Rider University, USA
Selection, introduction and editorial matter © John A. Lent &
Michelle A. Amazeen 2015
Individual chapters © Respective authors 2015
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
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Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
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the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-56468-2 ISBN 978-1-137-46341-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137463418
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For those who took a firm stance,
and those who never had a chance
JAL
For TR and JC:
Look beyond the glitter,
and never stop asking questions
MAA
Contents
List of Figures viii
Preface ix
Background xi
1 Noam Chomsky 1
2 Christian Fuchs 13
3 Edward S. Herman 38
4 John A. Lent 59
5 Robert W. McChesney 80
6 Eileen R. Meehan 102
7 Vincent Mosco 124
8 Graham Murdock 146
9 Manjunath Pendakur 166
10 Gerald Sussman 189
11 Janet Wasko 205
12 Yuezhi Zhao 224
Index 249
vii
Figures
1.1 Noam Chomsky, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2013
(photo by John A. Lent) 1
2.1 Christian Fuchs, London, UK, 2014 (photo by Michelle
A. Amazeen) 13
3.1 Edward S. Herman, Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, USA,
2013 (photo by John A. Lent) 38
4.1 John A. Lent, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, 2015
(photo by Michelle A. Amazeen) 59
5.1 Robert W. McChesney, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, April,
2007 (photo by Brent Nicastro) 80
6.1 Eileen R. Meehan, San Francisco, California, USA, 2013
(photo by John A. Lent) 102
7.1 Vincent Mosco, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2014 (photo
by Bing Wen) 124
8.1 Graham Murdock, Shanghai, China, 2014 (photo
courtesy of Graham Murdock) 146
9.1 Manjunath Pendakur, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 2013
(photo by Michelle A. Amazeen) 166
10.1 Gerald Sussman, Portland, Oregon, USA, 2014 (photo by
John A. Lent) 189
11.1 Janet Wasko, Lisbon, Portugal, 2014 (photo by Christian
Agbobli) 205
12.1 Yuezhi Zhao, San Francisco, California, USA, 2013
(photo by John A. Lent) 224
viii
Preface
As we finalize the manuscript for this book in early 2015, institutions
throughout the United States are reeling from the reverberations fol-
lowing the hack into Sony Pictures’ computer systems, allegedly by the
North Korean Government. The cyber-terrorists were intent on sup-
pressing the release of the movie The Interview, because it depicted the
assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Auerbach, 2014). Just
a few weeks later a satirical cartoon of the Islamic prophet Mohammed
resulted in the actual assassination of nearly a dozen cartoonists, jour-
nalists, and others at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo
in Paris, France (Bilefsky and de la Baume, 2015). In the wake of these
tragedies, a global conversation about freedom of speech and censorship
has been revisited. A contentious issue up for debate is the advisability of
silencing those who have political or religious views that are not conge-
nial to one’s own. Both of these situations exemplify the psychological
theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). When confronted with
information that is threatening to one’s belief system, people attempt
to relieve the tension in some manner. In these cases, extreme forms
of censorship were employed. Nonetheless, they are pulled from the
same quiver as the death threats, harassment, and precarious employ-
ment that the scholars who are the focus of this book have varyingly
endured.
This volume profiles a dozen critical scholars who have withstood dif-
fering attempts to silence them over the years because they dared to
challenge the status quo of communication, economic, and/or political
institutions. What makes one critical? According to the scholars pro-
filed in this book, it’saer luctance to accept the way things are. John
A. Lent has previously defined critical communication scholarship as
“an in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of dominant com-
munication institutions, processes, and artifacts, with the intention of
arriving at solutions, guidelines, and policies that benefit the masses, not
the power brokers” (1 9 9 5 , p)..A2s we shall see, this critical orientation
is problematic when academic institutions take on the role of vocational
training rather than encouraging an understanding of how communica-
tion industries can be used for public good. Before sharing an overview
of the scholars whom we interviewed, we first provide context on the
ix
