China - state censorship by the book

More examples of what authoritarian media regulation looks like - useful to bear in mind to balance out any attacks you want to make on Western censorship. Chomsky, of course, argues that ownership, advertiser power etc (the five filters) perform the same job less controversially for the hegemonic forces who shape 'our' supposedly democratic media.

China bans news coverage of Hong Kong bookseller abduction.

BBC's More Good News About Israel. Time for OfCom?

Quick post, useful example on broadcast media. The title riffs on Glasgow University Media Group*'s excellent series of content analysis-centred ...Bad News books, highly recommended...

*website; Wiki; list of their books.

So, yet again the Beeb seems to show a pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian bias (there are several more examples in this blog and GUMG have written a book on this too!) and ... Well, not a lot actually happens.

Time to call in OfCom?

BBC Radio 4 report on Israel breached accuracy guidelines.

BBC cuts by government a Murdoch plan?

An incendiary post by Jukes (via a tweet by Nick Lacey, well worth following), though can anyone informed about the media landscape really be surprised at this apparently ongoing relationship between the Murdochs and a government/party when they both share a core neo-liberal, low tax, 'free market' ideology?

I've often blogged on the right-wing hostility towards the BBC and PSB generally, and how the sustained flak both from right-wing papers and politicians (often quoted in such coverage to beef it up or keep a story running) has looked ever more likely to finally down the BBC as a publicly funded large-scale broadcaster.

Jukes takes this point a step further, writing about an actual deal between Murdochs and senior Tory government ministers to work together to kill off the BBC as an organisation able to compete with the likes of Sky.

This is a short extract - its worth reading more.

As I've detailed in my 2012 book, [T]he Fall of the House of Murdoch, the plan to shrink the BBC by 30% was part of a four year dance between Cameron, Osborne and James Murdoch, as he vied to cement his succession at News Corp by buying the whole of BSkyB, and amalgamating News International and Sky in a digital hub at a new base in Isleworth.  

Called Operation Rubicon, the deal would have sealed the Murdoch family as owners of Britain's most lucrative TV channel and its biggest newspaper group - a virtually unassailable position in the media landscape. Their only real (non commercial) competition was the free news service provided by the BBC both in broadcast and online.

Read more.

Jukes' book.

3 NEW BOOKS FOR LIB

See new links list.
The following were ordered today for holding as Ref. Only copies in the Lib:

Delivery estimate: 1 May 2012 - 3 May 2012

	1	"Media Regulation: Governance and the Interests of Citizens and Consumers" Lunt, Peter; Paperback; £19.35 In stock
	1	"News and Journalism in the UK (Communication and Society)" McNair, Brian; Paperback; £17.28 In stock
	1	"Media and Democracy (Communication and Society)" Curran, James; Paperback; £21.99 In stock

James Murdoch humiliated + pushed out

You'll find pretty much all you need to know from this article by the author of a biography of his old man: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/04/james-murdoch-news-corp-scion
You can find much more at www.guardian.co.uk/media/jamesmurdoch
(As I've previously noted:

Michael Wolff's The Man Who Owned the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (look at the 'Customer who bought this also bought' list for more useful reads - this one has the 'Look Inside' feature meaning you can preview some content for free and take notes).

If you're doing business, Murdoch/NewsCorp makes for a great case study - including the current moves to shift him out of NewsCorp by shareholders.)

NEW Phone Hacking book

This has been extensively previewed in The Guardian through Roy Greenslade's column if you're feeling too fiscally challenged to purchase a copy; contains chapters on the history of press regulation, takes things up to date, and includes proposals for the future of press regulation - rather neatly spanning the ground you have to cover for your exam...
You can find the Guardian previews by googling 'guardian the phone hacking scandal: journalism on trial*'

This book on Amazon;
Guardian short book on hackgate;
another hackgate book;
Michael Wolff's The Man Who Owned the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (look at the 'Customer who bought this also bought' list for more useful reads - this one has the 'Look Inside' feature meaning you can preview some content for free and take notes).
If you're doing business, Murdoch/NewsCorp makes for a great case study - including the current moves to shift him out of NewsCorp by shareholders.