"In the beginning was the press, and then the world appeared." —Karl KrausSince the beginning of the media age, there have been thinkers who have reacted against the increasing power of the mass media and perceived its ever more pervasive role in historical development. This book examines those early mass media critics, and their controversial writings, and links them with their contemporaries to demonstrate the relevance of their legacy for today's debates on media power and media ethics.Included in this book is a look at the work of Karl Kraus and his devastating critiques of the role of corrupt journalism in the First World War; at Ferdinand Tönnies' provocative analysis of the relationship between public opinion and propaganda; and at the 'Frankfurt School,' especially Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, in the shadow of the experience of Nazism.The Glasgow Media Group unmasks ideological bias in apparently objective news and current affairs media coverage. The importance and influence of the much contested figure of Marshall McLuhan is analysed, as is the work of Robert McChesney and the United States' tradition from which his own writing and collaboration with fellow critical intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman emerged. From Jesús Martín-Barbero in Colombia, and Nestor Garcia Canclini in Mexico comes a perspective on globalizing mass communications practice.The media-critical work of thinkers such as Harold Innis, Northrop Frye, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, and the black American feminist writer, bell hooks, make this book truly one of the first full historical surveys of radical mass media criticism.Anthology contributors are a team of leading international experts in the field and include: Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana; Hanno Hardt, University of Iowa; Joost van Loon, Nottingham Trent University; Stuart Allen, University of West of England; Jason Barker, Independent Writer and Researcher; John Eldridge, University of Glasgow; Robert McChesney, University of Illinois; James Winter, University of Windsor; Cynthia Carter, Cardiff UniversityTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsNotes On Tile ContributorsChapter OneRadical Mass Media Criticism: An Introduction.David BerryChapter TwoThe Intellectual Tradition Of Radical Mass Media Criticism: A Framework.John TheeobaldChapter ThreeIn Pursuit Of Socialised Press: Ferdinand Tönnies's Critique Of The Press And Its PredecessorsSlavko SplichalChapter FourKarl Kraus And Media Commodification Of LanguageJohn TheobaldChapter FiveThe Frankfurt School And Aesthetic Discourse: Critical Theory, Art, And The Critique Of (Mass) CommunicationHanno HardtChapter SixMediating Politics: Jürgen Habermas And The Public SphereJim McGuigan and Stuart AllanChapter SevenThe Work Of The Glasgow Media Group: An Insider's StoryJohn EldridgeChapter EightArmand Mattelart: Historicism And Mass MediaSanda MillerChapter NineCanadian Critical CommunicationRobert E. Babe and James P. WinterChapter TenMcLuhan And His InfluencesJoost Van LoonChapter ElevenA Century Of Radical Media Criticism In The USABen Scott and Robert W McChesneyChapter TwelvePopular Culture And Mass Media In Latin America: Some Reflections On The Works Of Jesus Martin-Barbero And Nestor Garda CancliniDavid BerryChapter ThirteenThe Transformative Power Of Cultural Criticism: bell hooks's Raclical Media AnalysisCynthia CarterChapter FourteenDissident Intellectuals And Intellectual Dissidents: Some Concluding Thoughts About Thinking And ActingJohn TheobaldIndexDAVID BERRY is Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Culture and Mass Communications and JOHN THEOBALD is Associate Professor in Modern Languages both at the Southampton Institute, UK.272 pages, 6x9, bibliography, index