Contesting Media Power

Nick Couldry is senior lecturer in media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. James Curran is professor of communications at Goldsmiths College, London.

While mainstream corporate and state media are growing in power and reach, they are increasingly contested by a wide range of alternative media. Contesting Media Power contains a series of studies of alternative media and their funding, practices, and often contradictory effects. Covering a broad array of media and locations, the collection attests to growing anti-corporate globalization movements and a promising proliferation of alternative forms, strategies, practices, and movements. Written by scholars and activists from around the world, this book provides state-of-the-art reports on media activism and alternative media.

• Part 1 Part I: Introduction and Theoretical PerspectivesChapter 2 1 The Paradox of Media PowerChapter 3 2 New Media Power: The Internet and Global ActivismChapter 4 3 Beyond the Hall of Mirrors? Some Theoretical Reflections on the Global Contestation of Media PowerPart 5 Part II: In the Shadow of the StateChapter 6 4 Infoshops in the Shadow of the StateChapter 7 5 Framing the Future: Indigenous Communication in AustraliaChapter 8 6 The Press Subsidy System in Sweden: A Critical ApproachPart 9 Part III: In the Shadow of the MarketChapter 10 7 Commercialism and Critique: California's Alternative WeekliesChapter 11 8 Has Feminism Caused a Wrinkle on the Face of Hollywood Cinema? A Tentative Appraisal of the '90sChapter 12 9 Empire and Communications: Centrifugal and Centripetal Media in Contemporary RussiaPart 13 Part IV: In the Shadow of Civil Society and ReligionChapter 14 10 Liberalization without Full Democracy: Guerilla Media and Political Movements in TaiwanChapter 15 11 The Bishop and His Star: Citizens' Communication in Southern ChileChapter 16 12 New Nation: Anachronistic Catholicism and Liberation TheologyChapter 17 13 Falun Gong, Identity and the Struggle Over Meaning Inside and Outside ChinaPart 18 Part V: New Media SpacesChapter 19 14 Global Journalism: A Case Study of the InternetChapter 20 15 The Independent Media Center Movement and the Anarchist Socialist TraditionChapter 21 16 The Gay Global Village in CyberspaceChapter 22 17 The Internet, Social Networks and Reform in IndonesiaChapter 23 18 The Alternative Media in Malaysia: Their Potential and Limitations