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Understanding Global News
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Understanding Global News
A Critical Introduction



December 1997 | 256 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Understanding Global News provides a lively and critical introduction to the news media. Written specifically for media students and training journalists, this book invites the reader to explore contemporary journalistic practice, as well as the assumption that the media provide a mere window on the world. Challenging the often unquestioned notions of media objectivity, the author turns the classic questionsùWho, Why, What, When, and Whereùonto the news media themselves. By employing a range of theoretical perspectives and a large variety of examples, the author demonstrates the way in which our perceptions of the world are constructed by the news media. Understanding Global News will be an essential text for all students of journalism and media studies.
 
Introduction
 
What is News and What is `Nothing New'? The Philosophy of the Notable and the Inconspicuous
 
Which are the World's Most Influential Media? The Economics of Rich and Poor Media Markets
 
Who are Journalists and How do they Work? The Sociology of Professionals and Laymen
 
Who Gets to Speak in the World News? The Politics of Loud and Whispering Voices
 
When Does Something Become World News? The History of Ruptures and Continuities
 
Where Does World News Come From? The Geography of Centres and Peripheries
 
How are Messages Formulated? The Linguistics of Lines and between the Lines
 
How Do Images Come About? The Semiology of What is Seen and Overseen
 
What Effects do Media Have? The Psychology of Compassion and Misunderstanding
 
Conclusion
Us, We and `Them'

 

`Understanding Global News looks at how North American and Western European media report world affairs and how they shape news definintion on other continents. It provides an eminently readable, lively and critical introduction to news media'- Educational Media International

`Jaap van Ginneken's book invites us to problematize the phenomenon we call "news" and to reflect on the conditions which shape its production, circulation and reception. Wide-ranging, highly accessible and lucid; students in both professional and academic studies will find this book engaging and useful' - Peter Dahlgren, Lund University, Sweden

`The book is an effective introduction to the world of critical media theory, full of references and paradox, familiarizing the reader with the rather specific difficulties of this theoretical field' - European Journal of Cultural Studies

Quotes from the original Dutch edition

`[It is] a book which should be read by TV journalists in particular' - NCR Handelsblad

`Van Ginneken's book might be dismissed as leftist old hat. But reading it, one comes across just a few too many examples which command consideration' - De Journalist

`Van Ginneken wrote an intriguing book... I finished reading the one hundred and eighty pages in one and the same breath' - Comma

`It is a very readable and provocative book. It makes clear that it is not censorship and propaganda which slant a news item, but all kinds of ingrained automatisms, stereotypes and presuppositons' - Politieke en sociale vorming

`The scientific treatment is clear and the examples are vivid. Absolutely recommended to anyone striving for a better understanding of these problems' - Wereldzaken

`Whenever one looks at the news or reads the paper, it is imperative always to bear in mind that one hears and sees only part of the truth and of the reality. Anyway wanting to understand more thoroughly, should indeed read Jaap van Ginneken's book' - Frontaal

`The book remains highly readable, in spite of a rather detailed approach here and htere and hte huge list of literature referred to. Not in the least for the great number of practical examples.... As far as I am concerned it forms obligatory reading for every (aspiring) journalist' - Kruispunt

Jaap van Ginneken

Jaap van Ginneken was born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in 1943. During the 1970s, he was based in Paris as a correspondent and roving reporter on ‘third world’ affairs, publishing books on China and Vietnam that were translated into other languages. After that, he returned to his original field as a social psychologist, specialized in mass media, public perceptions and collective behavior. He was long a part-time associate professor at the Amsterdam University Communication Department and International School. Books in English include Crowds, psychology and politics (1992), Understanding global news (1998), Collective behavior and... More About Author

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ISBN: 9780761957096
£44.99

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