This book attacks the conventional history of the press as a story of progress; offers a critical defence and history of public service broadcasting; provides a myth-busting account of the internet; a subtle account of the impact of social media and explores key debates about the role and politics of the media.

Power Without Responsibility has become a standard book on media and other courses: but it has also gone beyond an academic audience to reach a wider public. Hailed as a book that has 'cracked the canon' by the Times Higher, it has been translated into five languages. In 2019, the text gained the International Communication Fellows' 'classic book' Award. This ninth edition is based on a major overhaul of its content to take account of new developments (such as generative AI) and new scholarship in the field. It also contains a new chapter on the transformed opportunity for a reformed and buccaneering public service broadcasting in the face of automated misinformation and social division: locally, nationally and internationally.

This trailblazing text is essential reading for all students and scholars interested in British media and contemporary media and society.

About the Author

James Curran is Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Jean Seaton is Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster, Director of the Orwell Foundation and Co-Director of the Chevening South Asian Journalists programme.

Reviews

Praise for previous editions

'. . . the best guide to the British media.'

Nick Cohen, New Statesman

'A classic of media history and analysis.'

Michael Foley, Irish Times

'Many students and young people in and around the British media will make Power Without Responsibility into a new orthodoxy.'

Jeremy Tunstall, Encounter

'Excellent new study of the press and broadcasting.'

Tribune

'A classic text.'

Stage and Television Today

'An invaluable general textbook for the specialist student of communications as well as a guide into a complex area for social scientists.'

Teaching Politics

'Curran and Seaton's writing, scholarly but not academicist, manages that rare and difficult task of rendering complex information and different theoretical approaches in a style open to teachers and post-16 students alike. No reading list for courses in media or the social sciences should be without Power Without Responsibility. It not only fuels the mind, it liberates it.'

David Lusted, Journal of Educational Television

'Every media studies student should be expected to read it [Power Without Responsibility].'

Peter Golding, Times Higher Education Supplement

'Magisterial ... it provides a model'

Graeme Turner, British Cultural Studies

'Invaluable . . . Even the most casual reader with no professional interest in the subject would find it interesting. For the teacher of the media it is essential.'

Media Educational Journal

'A sacred text of media studies.'

Fred Inglis, Times Higher Educational Supplement

'A readable and reliable guide to the history of the press and broadcasting, and the politics of the media in Britain. It is a book that anybody interested or involved in the debates about the future of democratic communications in these islands should study.'

Robert Hutchison, Times Educational Supplement

'James Curran and Jean Seaton have cracked the canon.'

Harriet Swain, Times Higher Educational Supplement

'Seminal media studies text.'

Huw Richards, Times Higher Educational Supplement

'Students of politics, sociology, history and communications will find this Fontana original as thought-provoking and stimulating as anything that has appeared in print.'

Eric Hiscock, The Bookseller

Praise for this book

'This is the book that changed everything in media studies.'

Sally Young, University of Melbourne

'This is a brilliant seminal history of broadcasting, press and the new media, vividly and insightfully told, with sharp vignettes of political interference and policy challenges. It is a powerful reminder of why public service broadcasting and truthful communication is vital to our democracy.'

Baroness Helena Kennedy, President of Mansfield College, Oxford

'This skillfully revised and updated edition of Curran and Seaton's magnificent history is just as fresh and relevant now as it has been over the decades.'

David Hesmondhalgh, Leeds University

'The pleasure of a classic that just keeps redelivering. Power Without Responsibility proves itself yet again as the go-to source for analysis of the British media at their best and worst.'

Barbie Zelizer, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania

'If I was able to suggest one book about the history of journalism - whether to a student, a journalist or someone who simply wanted to know more about the role of the news media in our democracy - it would be Power Without Responsibility. Much of our understanding of the past is altered by the present, so we are all indebted to James Curran and Jean Seaton for this excellent new edition. There has been no shortage of controversies and debates about the news media in recent years: this book guides us through them with a sharp eye, a clear head, and the wisdom that comes from a formidable sense of history. Packed with eloquently delivered information, it is analytical but jargon-free, critical without ever being doctrinaire.'

Justin Lewis, Cardiff University

Book Information
ISBN 9781032112015
Author James Curran
Format Paperback
Page Count 582
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd