2007: Book Review on WTM
“We, the media: Pedagogic Intrusions into U.S. Mainstream Film and Television News Broadcasting Rhetorics”, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main / New York, pp. 418. Author: ALAN TAYLOR
“Altogether this is a very thorough, penetrating study that furnishes a valuable perspective into the American media system”.
Book review author: Art Silverblatt, St. Louis (MO).
“Alan Taylor’s penetrating study examines how the U.S. media shape the public discourse and, consequently, American foreign policy.
Employing a European perspective, the author contends that the U.S. mainstream news is reported in ways that serve the wider corporate interests. Taylor identifies how cross-ownership is used to reinforce this ideological message – specifically, how film is used to reinforce the legitimacy of another medium: news broadcasting. The author also shows how the American media employ rhetoric that maintains the illusions of freedom of speech in the United States. Taylor takes a historical approach to the evolution of U.S. corporate media, from the beginning of the U.S. broadcast system in the 1920s to the media coverage of the Iraq war, paying particular attention to the events of 9/11. The author declares: “The question to ask is: have we invited a press to witness a war, or have we created a war to prove that this freedom of expression is possible?”
Taylor employs elements of a number of approaches – Rhetorical resp. Dramaturgical Perspective, and certain key elements of the Auteur theory – sometimes moving from one approach to another. He establishes a historical overview, generating a chronology that demonstrates the development of the concentration of ownership n the U.S. media. He also makes a convincing case by citing a case study, focusing on the Universal film studio and how its films reinforce the illusion of freedom of speech in America.
The author argues that the cumulative message of U.S. media ultimately discourage participation in the democratic process, contributing to American student lethargy. One of the objectives of the book, then, is to encourage a more active citizenry: a “wakeful political literacy”” that promotes critical understanding of the current state of American mainstream media. The book also examines the pedagogical implications of this ideological function of the U.S. mass media., calling for a curriculum that encourages critical thinking skills.
Altogether, this is a very thorough, penetrating study that furnishes a valuable perspective into the American media system”
ART SILVERBLATT,St. Louis (MO).
Review Publication, December 2006
The review itself was published in the German Media Journal PUBLIZISTIK (Vol 51, #4, Dec 2006), in a shorter PDF version here:
