Πρόκειται για εκδόσεις μελών του ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association) που δείχνουν την ζωντάνια της ευρωπαϊκής έρευνας στον τομέα της μαζικής επικοινωνίας σε μια εποχή μεγάλων ανακατατάξεων.

Παραθέτω τα βιβλία και τα ρεζουμέ από το δελτίο τύπου του ECREA. Σημειώστε τον συγγραφικό οίστρο του Γιώργου Τερζή, καθηγητή στο Vesalius College των Βρυξελλών, που βγάζει σχεδόν ταυτόχρονα δύο (!) βιβλία.

European Media Governance: National and Regional Dimensions
Ed. Georgio Terzis, 2008, Intellect Books

Reviewed by Kaarle Nordenstreng, Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass
Communication, University of Tampere: “ʻA trip to the media landscapes of Europe offers us the variety of unique characteristics such as the Berlusconi phenomenon in Italy, pirate media in Ireland, and a public broadcasting station (PBS) with audience rating quotas in Belgium. In Croatia the law forbids the media to promote war, while Turkey, with five hours daily viewing, has one of the highest TV audience ratings in the world. A German company is the biggest newspaper owner in Bulgaria, and almost all the daily newspapers in the Czech Republic and Hungary are foreign owned, while in Slovenia there is almost no foreign ownership of newspapers.ʼ

This kind of paragraphs in the editorʼs preface raised my appetite and going through the menu covering 32 countries made me more than satisfied. This is an indispensable guidebook not only for navigating through the surprisingly diverse European media landscape but also as a stimulating resource for reflecting upon the theories of media and society.

In this regard the starting point, Hallin & Manciniʼs ComparingMediaSystemsand its classification of media systems, will itself be brought under scrutiny.” The following two volumes of European Media Governanceconcentrate on the shifting of media rules and regulations from national government policies to local, regional, national, multinational and international governance, showing a shift away from exclusively political domains to others, such as market, professional and public interest/pressure groups:

European Media Governance :The Brussels Dimension
Ed. Georgios Terzis, 2008, Intellect Books and Chicago University Press

A detailed analysis of the media works of the European Commission and Parliament, as well as the Brussels-based media-related civil society organisations. It examines their influence on Media Governance that has escaped the national shackles of the member states, and it tries to answer questions such as which are those organisations and who do they represent? Which are the relevant EU regulations for the different media industries that they try to influence? How do they participate in the media related debates in the different EU institutions? What are their major position papers? What is the current state of affairs in the European Media Governance relevant to their industry and what are the future issues that they are trying to tackle at a European level?

Finally, how are their lobbying efforts coordinated with other political, professional and public interest groups? This book presents the work of 10 of these European organisations from a variety of media sectors, as well as the relevant work of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Consumers Association.

Reclaiming theMedia: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles
Ed. Bart Cammaerts, Nico Carpentier, 2007, Intellect books.

Volume 3 in the European Communication Research and Education Association book series (2007) is now available to download as a PDF, for free, via Intellect Books. This book includes four thematic areas that outline the opportunities for democratising (media) democracy; citizenship and the public spheres, giving special attention to the general theme of communication rights, participation, the democratic efforts of contemporary journalism and finally the range of communication strategies used by activists.

Δωρεάν σε PDF εδώ

Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age
Christian Fuchs, 2007, Routledge.

The goal of this book is to work out a theoretical understanding of the relationship of Internet and society. It is an introduction to the social theory of the Internet that addresses how internet and society are related, i.e. how the internet transforms society and social systems and is shaped by social processes. The author discusses the potentials of the Internet for advancing new forms of co-operation and competition in the various subsystems of society such as the ecological, the economic, the political, and the cultural system.

The problem that the book addresses is the question how society and Internet need to be shaped by humans in order to avoid risks and maximize human happiness. The book discusses how the internet and society can be shaped in ways that advance co-operation, participation, and inclusion and avoid competition, domination, and exclusion. The notion of transnational informational capitalism is introduced and elaborated throughout the book.

Περισσότερα εδώ

Corporate Communications: Convention, Complexity and Critique
Lars Thøger Christensen, Mette Morsing & George Cheney, 2008, Sage

Through practices such as corporate branding, identity and reputation management and stakeholder communication, a growing number of organisations seek to fortify their identities and strengthen legitimacy by orchestrating all communications strategically.

Corporate Communications: Convention,Complexity and Critique challenges that practice and its presumption that it is possible and desirable for organisations to communicate as unified wholes. The authors demonstrate that in complex environments with multiple constituencies, the field of corporate communications needs to embrace the diversity and richness of multiple opinions and voices.

Update: Κι άλλο ένα λίγο πιο παλίο που μου είχε ξεφύγει από τον Πέτρο Ιωσηφίδη, καθηγητή στο City University του Λονδίνου.

Public Television in the Digital Era, Technological Challenges and New Strategies for Europe

Public Television in the Digital Era defines the mission and role of Public Television (PTV) broadcasters in Europe, outlines the interrelated political, economic, social, cultural, legal and technological factors influencing their development, and looks at the strategies employed by different PTV broadcasters to adapt to the new era. In doing so it examines the state of public television in a range of European countries (Britain, France, Spain, Ireland, Sweden and Greece) with a comparative approach across the countries monitored.

Each national case study provides a picture of the general characteristics of the television market and the regulatory framework. It then reports on the dilemmas that national PTV broadcasters face in the era of digital convergence, as well as the initiatives and strategies that are developing to face competitive pressures arising from new technologies, organisational reform and programming policy/scheduling. The close observation of these strategies helps identifying the prospects and future role of public TV in Europe.