Jean Seaton Book order

A dramatic and revealing history of the BBC during some of its most turbulent and testing years. During the Margaret Thatcher years, Britain experienced mass unemployment, trade union strikes, bloody war in Northern Ireland and the Falklands, and an existential threat to its public service broadcaster, the BBC. Pounded by a coherent free market argument, the BBC had to justify its right to the Licence Fee and its independent place in the 'unwritten' British constitution. It did so by producing memorable programmes for the whole British public (not just for the groups that advertisers liked), bolstered by a surprising amount of help from elements of the Conservative government (although not from Thatcher).Drawing on previously unseen state and BBC papers, many released specifically for this dramatic and revealing account, as well as a compelling range of interviewees, Jean Seaton examines the turbulent controversies (stirred up by programmes such as Maggie's Militant Tendency) and the magnificent triumphs (such as Life on Earth and Morecambe and Wise) of an institution that Britain loved and hated, and in many ways is still defined by

Originally published in 1911, this book presents a discussion regarding the development of religious tolerance during the late Stuart period.

A gripping and insightful examination of the relationship between news-makers and news-watchers, looking at how images of war and tragedy are presented to us in the media and how we consume them. Jean Seaton argues that print and television news are central to the way in which we understand and respond emotionally to the world. She shows how we now tolerate without question the increasing levels of violence in news reporting and traces the public representation of suffering from ancient Romans through Communist Russia to all those who avidly watch today's breaking news'. Seaton neither harks back to a lost golden age, nor presumes that more news is necessarily better news. This is a celebration of the media, which, despite all its problems, we must embrace as an essential part of a free society.

In this revised edition, Curran and Seaton have included sections on the emergence of satellite television and recent government legislation for the media.