Stephen Harper Books

The ideological distortions of the conservative media, from Fox News to the Daily Mail, are widely acknowledged and often denounced among contemporary critics and commentators. But what if The Guardian newspaper and BBC news, in fact, constitute the most insidious forms of capitalist propaganda? In a wide-ranging and erudite polemic, Beyond the Left analyses capitalist news and current affairs media from a radical perspective. The book rejects the liberal and pluralist paradigms that often underpin critiques of the media, showing how media texts reflect and reinforce the material interests of the ruling class and arguing that the principal ideological menace today is posed not by the right wing, but by the left-liberal media, as it co-opts and obscures radical political positions and reinforces a range of mystifications, from anti-fascism and humanitarian war to green politics. Drawing on the work of radical media critics as well as the writings of revolutionary communist groups and considering the recent reporting of war, industrial action, immigration and the environment, Beyond the Left updates and recharges the Marxist critique of the media.

Oktober 1942: ein Prisenkommando des britischen Zerstörers HMS Pentard erbeutet beim Angriff auf das deutsche U-Boot U 559, kurz bevor dieses sinkt, die Codeunterlagen für die beste Chiffrier-maschine, die es bis dato gegeben hat: die Enigma mit ihrem Vier-Walzen-System. Dadurch sind die Briten erstmals in der Lage, den Funkverkehr der deutschen »Wolfsrudel« bei deren Jagd auf die alliierten Nachschubkonvois zu entschlüsseln. Stephen Harper schildert noch einmal das dramatische Geschehen und geht der Frage nach, ob dadurch die Schlacht im Atlantik entschieden wurde.