New book: Journalism and the Political

[Felicitas Macgilchrist]

Dear list members,

I'm very pleased to announce a new publication:

Macgilchrist, Felicitas (2011): Journalism and the Political: Discursive 
tensions in news coverage of Russia. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, Vol. 40)

Abstract: Journalism is often thought of as the ‘fourth estate’ of 
democracy. This book suggests that journalism plays a more radical role 
in politics, and explores new ways of thinking about news media 
discourse. It develops an approach to investigating both hegemonic 
discourse and discursive fissures, inconsistencies and tensions. By 
analysing international news coverage of post-Soviet Russia, including 
the Beslan hostage-taking, Gazprom, Litvinenko and human rights issues, 
it demonstrates the (re)production of the ‘common-sense’ social order in 
which one particular area of the world is more developed, civilized and 
democratic than other areas. However, drawing on Laclau, Mouffe and 
other post-foundational thinkers, it also suggests that journalism is 
precisely the site where the instability of this global social order 
becomes visible. The book should be of interest to scholars of discourse 
analysis, journalism and communication studies, cultural studies and 
political science, and to anyone interested in ‘positive’ discourse 
analysis and practical counter-discursive strategies.

Further details:
http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=DAPSAC%2040

Sorry about multiple postings.
All the best,
Felicitas

-- 
Dr. Felicitas Macgilchrist
- wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin | Research Fellow -
Georg-Eckert-Institut fuer internationale Schulbuchforschung
Celler Str. 3
D-38114 Braunschweig
http://www.gei.de/de/mitarbeiter/dr-macgilchrist