Ib Bondebjerg – författare

This book is framed by theories of globalization and delves into the development of a new global media culture. It also deals with theories of documentary genres and their social and cultural functions. Engaging with Reality contributes to a new and broader understanding of our changing, contemporary media culture and offers a comparative, transnational analysis of the forms and functions of documentary in a new global and digital media culture.

Emphasizing the new documentary cinema, this book features film-makers who belong to the generation born in the 1970s. Many of the interviewees were trained at the National Film School of Denmark’s now legendary Department of Documentary and Television. The term ‘new’ also captures tendencies that cut across the work of the film-makers. For example, for the generation in question, internationalization and the development of a new digital media culture are inevitable aspects of everyday life, and, indeed, of the professional environments in which they operate. A comprehensive overview of documentary directors currently working in Denmark, this is the only book of its kind about this growing area of Danish cinema.

Emphasizing the new documentary cinema, this book features film-makers who belong to the generation born in the 1970s. Many of the interviewees were trained at the National Film School of Denmark’s now legendary Department of Documentary and Television. The term ‘new’ also captures tendencies that cut across the work of the film-makers. For example, for the generation in question, internationalization and the development of a new digital media culture are inevitable aspects of everyday life, and, indeed, of the professional environments in which they operate. A comprehensive overview of documentary directors currently working in Denmark, this is the only book of its kind about this growing area of Danish cinema.

Media, Democracy and European Culture presents some of the most recent, cutting edge research on Europe, from social, political and cultural perspectives, equally focusing on each dimension of democracy in Europe. The role of the media, communication policy and the question of how the media report on Europe runs as a thread through all contributions. The book is interdisciplinary and international. It brings together researchers from many countries and from humanities, social sciences and law. The articles combine the discussion of central theories and theoretical concepts for the understanding of media, democracy and European culture with empirical data and comparative analytical studies of media culture and democracy across Europe. The book is written by some of the most prominent European Scholars in media, political science, sociology and cultural studies.

We are witnessing a dynamic reshaping of the European ''mediascape''. This has been underway for more than a decade since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the growing impact of globalisation, and the birth of new technologies and new media, or the convergence between old and new media. A new and more intense ''mediatisation'' of society and everyday life is emerging. This is happening alongside the rapid reconstruction of the cultural and economic landscape of Europe itself. In this transformation the communicative and ideological dimensions, the digitalisation of technology, and changes in culture - ''the imaginary'', the discursive universe of politics and communication, are all crucial areas for research. The cultural industries, (film, television, books, magazines, entertainment and music), but also the world of news, actuality, ''infotainment'' and the internet, are key areas for the study of what we may begin to understand as a changing European culture in all its complexity and with all its differences and conflicts. The media and the cultural industries are among the fastest growing sectors in the global economy.

This book offers a comparative study of historical television genres in Europe, with a special focus on Germany and Great Britain and their way of narrating twentieth century European history. The book analyses our common European past and memory through central historical television narratives. Each chapter looks at how historical TV genres, fictional and documentary, have dealt with the most salient and defining periods, events and changes in the twentieth century— an age of extremes. Bondebjerg offers unique theoretical and analytical insight into the role of television in mediating and shaping the past. The book explores television’s creation of transnational cultural encounters across Europe in relation to our common and national past. The book addresses how television has influenced our understanding of history, collective memory and public debate over the twentieth century. It is fundamentally a book about the importance of the past in present day Europe and the centrality ofmedia for transnational understanding.

This book deals with the role of television drama in Europe as enabler of transnational, cultural encounters for audiences and the creative community. It demonstrates that the diversity of national cultures is a challenge for European TV drama but also a potential richness and source of creative variation. Based on data on the production, distribution and reception of recent TV drama from several European countries, the book presents a new picture of the transnational European television culture. The authors analyse main tendencies in television policy and challenges for national broadcasters coming from new global streaming services. Comparing cases of historical, contemporary and crime drama from several countries, this study shows the importance of creative co-production and transnational mediated cultural encounters between national cultures of Europe.