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Media Matters Race and Gender in U.S. Politics, Revised Edition John Fiske |
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Leading cultural critic examines the debate carried out through television, talk radio, and low-tech media that enabled the political defeat of Reaganism. In the expanded paperback edition of this highly acclaimed book, media critic John Fiske looks at how the fierce battle over cultural meaning is negotiated in American popular culture. Providing the first substantive treatment of the entire O. J. Simpson trial and its immediate aftermath as well as dealing with other recent racially charged media events, Fiske examines the way "weaker" voices in our society make themselves heard against the repressive discourse of the Right exemplified by Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, and other "mainstream" voices. Exploring the media's treatment of the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, the L.A. uprisings, the "family values" debate between Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown, as well as the O. J. Simpson trial, Fiske shows how minority groups influenced the way the nation made sense of these key events. Here we see how women, African Americans, Korean Americans, and Latinos use the low-tech media of telephones, home video, fax machines, rebel radio, and private conversations to counter the voices that dominate the mainstream. "Unlike the do-gooder positivists, TV theorist John Fiske has long argued that there is no inherent meaning in images at all. In Media Matters, Fiske again attempts to break through the myth of 'realistic images' from a slightly different angle. Fiske challenges the distinction between the 'real' and that which is constructed by the 'media' to argue that all events are, in fact, mediated, and are made real only through discourse. Fiske offers his reader/viewer a viable analytical road map." —Village Voice "Compelling, full of well argued points. John Fiske's lively analysis of the discourse surrounding various media events is interesting and engaging, and would serve as an excellent introduction for undergraduates or first-year graduate students to Fiske's critical perspective. Fiske's well-documented treatment of events and his careful analysis of media discourse challenges whites to consider how the discourse of domination can conceal racism from the view of the political and economic elite." —Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media “Fiske has found a mother lode of raw material in U.S. news coverage. Fiske strips away the spin-doctored words that hide real meaning in what the players in these sordid affairs had to say. He finds plenty of evidence to display in all its bloodiness that open sore of racism in the United States.” —The Record, Kitchener, Ontario John Fiske is professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author of eight books, including Power Plays, Power Works (1993), Understanding Popular Culture (1989), Reading the Popular (1989), and Television Culture (1987). 320 pages | 35 black-and-white photographs | 5 7/8 x 9 | 1996 |
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$25.00 Paper
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