Get Me a Murder a Day!
A History of Media and Communication
in Britain
Second Edition
Kevin Williams

Published 2009 – £21.99
Extent: 340pp
Paperback – ISBN 9780340983256

'Get Me A Murder A Day!' the famous motto of Lord Northcliffe, founder of the Daily Mail, says it all. Murder, sex and scandal seem to be the mass media's staple diet in Britain. Now we have 24-hour news television, podcasts and blogs enabling constant communication and consumer comment. To understand how we got to this, we need to start from the beginning.

Tracing the history of the print, broadcast and film industries, this book offers a concise and enjoyable introduction to mass communication in Britain. It outlines the main landmarks in the development of the media, the changing nature of their industrial organisation and the resulting impact on audiences. This
new edition discusses all the key events and developments of the last decade, including the changing content of TV, the growth of 'spin', the Hutton inquiry
and the establishment of the BBC Trust.

Get Me A Murder A Day! is an essential read for media and journalism students and anyone with an interest in understanding the media landscape in the UK.

Contents

History of mass communication in Britain – timeline;
Preface to the Second Edition;
Acknowledgements;
Readers, rioters and rick burners: an introduction to the history of mass communication in Britain.

PART 1 The age of print: The ‘naughty and lewd world’: the birth of mass communication in Britain;
Right against might: the rise and fall of the radical press;
Get me a murder a day: the Northcliffe Revolution and the rise of the popular press.

PART 2 Sound and vision: Rescued by Rover: British cinema before the Second World War;
The golden age of the wireless: the early years of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC);
Sing as we go: representing British society in the 1930s;
Their finest hour: the Second World War and the British way of censorship.

PART 3 The television era: The cosy duopoly: the development of television;
Crisis? What crisis? The demise of British broadcasting in the 1980s and 1990s;
Carrying on: The British film industry since 1945;
Goodbye to Fleet Street: the slow decline of the British press since the he Second World War.

PART 4 The digital world: Dumbing down? Declining standards and structural change in the contemporary media;
Living in a digital world: experiencing mass communication in the twenty-first century;
Notes;
Bibliography;
Index.

About the Author

Kevin Williams is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Swansea University.

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