Power Without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and New Media in Britain - Brief Article - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Feb, 2004

Power Without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and New Media in Britain. James Curran and Jean Seaton. Routledge. [pounds sterling]16.99 p.b. 459 pages. ISBN 0-415-24390-4. This now venerable analysis was first published in 1981 and the sixth edition shows not only how popular it is but how quickly and relentless the subject changes.

The controversy created by the BBC's dubious role in the Kelly affair shows how important the topic is both to national and to political life. This new edition has the earlier chapters re-examining the great Whig myth that the emergence of the modern media is the result of a long struggle for freedom against royal and state control etc: it is a lecture that needs constantly to be repeated to each new generation and in itself would justify a new edition. In addition the authors have taken into consideration the 'conversion' of so much of the media to New Labour and added three new chapters devoted to the 'new media': controlling the Internet, analysing the influence of the Internet on modern life and a third chapter discussing how far the 'new media' has really changed news-gathering and news-publishing. In addition the authors have rewritten the chapter devoted to 'central debates in media politics' in light of the increased importance of European and world events in the British media.