Publication Date: 2011
This book traces the history of television journalism in Britain from its austere roots in the BBC's post-war monopoly to the present-day plethora of 24 hour channels and celebrity presenters. It asks why a medium whose thirst for pictures, personalities and drama make it, some believe, intrinsically unsuitable for serious journalism should remain in the internet age the most influential purveyor of news.
Barnett compares the two very different trajectories of television journalism in Britain and the US arguing that from the outset a rigorous statutory and regulatory framework rooted in a belief about the democratic value of the medium created and sustained a culture of serious, responsible, accurate and interrogative journalism in British television. The book's overarching thesis is that, despite a very different set of historical, regulatory and institutional practices, there is a very real danger that Britain is now heading down the same road as America. As a result, Britsh public life will be diminished.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- The Argument
- Laying the Foundations
- Competition and Commercialism
- Competition, Commercialism and the ‘Golden Age’
- ‘Real Lives’ v ‘Death on the Rock’
- The Propaganda Model and the 1990 Broadcasting Act
- Competition and Commercialism into the Twenty-first Century
- Tabloidization
- The BBC and the Aftermath of Hutton
- Television Journalism, the Market and the Future
- 24-hour News Channels and the ‘New’ Television Journalism
- Television Journalism and Impartiality
- What is Television? What is Journalism? And Why does it Matter?
- Methodology for News Study
- Detailed Breakdown of Story Types on UK News Bulletins 1975–99