– John Downing, Southern Illinois University
‘Thussu′s account of war as infotainment, the Bollywoodization of news and the emergence of a global infotainment sphere is as compelling as it is alarming. This is a significant and essential book for anyone interested in exploring the connections between news journalism, informed citizenship and democracy.’
– Bob Franklin, The Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
Richly detailed and empirically grounded, this first book-length study of infotainment and its globalization by a leading scholar of global communication, offers a comprehensive and critical analysis of this emerging phenomenon. Going beyond – both geographically and theoretically – the ′dumbing down′ discourse, largely confined to the Anglo-American media, the book argues that infotainment may have an important ideological role, a diversion in which ′soft news′ masks the hard realities of neo-liberal imperialism.
Chapters include a historical appraisal of infotainment; the infrastructure for its globalization as well as coverage of recent wars on television news as high-tech infotainment and the growing synergies between Hollywood and Bollywood-originated infotainment. A ′global infotainment sphere′ is emerging, the book argues, within which competing versions of news – from 24/7 news networks to bloggers – coexist. Accessible, engagingly written and robustly argued, the book combines analyses of theoretical debates on infotainment with extensive and up-to-date comparative data.
İçerik tablosu
IntroductionThe evolution of Infotainment
The infrastructure for global infotainment
Global circulation of 24/7 infotainment
Indian infotainment
the Bollywoodization of TV news
War as infotainment
Infotainment and ′neo-liberal imperialism′
A global infotainment sphere?