Social Sciences Media Studies

What exactly is the purpose of the BBC nowadays—to entertain, educate and inform? But is that all? The broadcaster itself claims to be a fearless and independent provider of news tasked with "speaking truth to power"—a true champion of the underdog. However, as David Sedgwick reveals in his new book, the reality is somewhat different: not only does the BBC diligently protect power from scrutiny, it attacks and attempts to discredit those who dare to challenge the status quo.

The American Revolution was not only a political contest for liberty, equality, and independence (for white men, at least); it was also a contest to define certain accounts of reality to be truthful while defining others as false and dangerous. Misinformation Nation argues that we must also conceive of the American Revolution as a series of misperceptions, misunderstandings, and uninformed overreactions.

En este libro, Javier Horacio Contreras Orozco analiza las condiciones y procesos que han llevado a las redes sociales a constituirse en un jurado universal que ejerce un nuevo tipo de censura: la poscensura o censura horizontal.

More than a decade ago, counterterrorism expert Rita Katz began browsing white supremacist and neo-Nazi forums. The hateful rhetoric and constant threats of violence immediately reminded her of jihadist militants. Now, years of attacks committed by extremists radicalized online—including at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and mosques in New Zealand, as well as the Capitol siege—have brought home the danger. From ISIS to QAnon, Saints and Soldiers pinpoints the approaches needed for a new era in which arrests and military campaigns alone cannot stop never-before-seen threats.

Sonic Encounters: The Islamic Call to Prayer recounts the author’s experience gathering field recordings of the Islamic Call to Prayer. It touches on key questions and problems faced along the way, as well as discussing technologies and methods for recording, what it means to develop art from ethnographic research, and the ethics and considerations of working with Islamic communities around the globe. The book uses a sound studies framework to explore artistic research methods and practices in ethnography as they relate to religious recitation.

Locked away in refrigerated vaults, sanitized by gas chambers, and secured within bombproof caverns deep under mountains are America's most prized materials: the ever-expanding collection of records that now accompany each of us from birth to death. This data complex backs up and protects our most vital information against decay and destruction, and yet it binds us to corporate and government institutions whose power is also preserved in its bunkers, infrastructures, and sterilized spaces.

Mab Segrest explores her singular experience as a white lesbian organizing against a virulent Far Right movement in North Carolina in this best-selling political memoir.

In Abundance, Pablo J. Boczkowski builds upon what we know about the historical and contemporary scholarship to develop a novel framework on the experience of living in a society that has more information available to the public than ever before, focusing on the interpretations, emotions, and practices of dealing with this abundance in everyday life.

Journalists today are inundated with data about which stories attract the most clicks, likes, comments, and shares. These metrics influence what stories are written, how news is promoted, and even which journalists get hired and fired. Do metrics make journalists more accountable to the public? Or are these data tools the contemporary equivalent of a stopwatch wielded by a factory boss, worsening newsroom working conditions and journalism quality?

Der Ton wird schärfer, die Probleme nicht kleiner - in Deutschland wird heftig diskutiert. Die Lager stehen sich zunehmend unversöhnlicher gegenüber. "Alte weiße Männer", denen die Meinungsvorherrschaft abgesprochen wird, auf der einen Seite, junge schwarze Frauen, die, kaum gehört, der Ideologie verdächtigt werden. Dazwischen Wutbürger, Verschwörungserzähler, pöbelnde Klakeure. Vor allem in den sozialen Medien geht es hoch her, niemand will mehr zuhören, alle senden, keiner will empfangen. Zwischen grenzenloser Empörung und großer Empfindlichkeit wabern die Debatten hin und her.

Este es un audiolibro de investigación al que los autores han dedicado cerca de dos años. El resultado es este trabajo polémico compuesto por las biografías de once hombres y una mujer que controlan el 70 por 100 de la información mundial. Los autores nos cuentan como Silvio Berlusconi paso de vender aspiradoras a construir su imperio televisivo; esta es la primera biografía autorizada de Jesús de Polanco, así como los comienzos de El País, diario que en 1996 celebro sus veinte años de existencia.

To See and Be Seen considers some of the ideological, aesthetic, pragmatic, institutional, cultural, commercial, environmental, and psychological forces that consciously or otherwise shape the production of news images and subsequently influence their reception. T. J. Thomson examines the expectations, experiences, and reactions of those depicted by visual journalists and considers other relevant factors: How do everyday people perceive cameras and those who operate them?

Finding Normal explores how people are using the internet to find community, forge connections, and create identity in ways that challenge a variety of sexual norms. Based on a highly candid interview series conducted for New York magazine's human science column - "What It's Like" - each story in Finding Normal intimately immerses the listener in the world of a person who is grappling with a unique set of circumstances relating to sexuality.

Few people watch sport for its politics. Yet what happens on the field of play often reflects the problems in our society. Such was the case in the '80s, when black footballers emerged from the dressing room to find bananas being hurled from the stands, and racially motivated attacks and police harassment were the norm. Today, things have improved. Crowds are less hostile and stars like Anthony Joshua and Sir Mohamed Farah are among our most revered sporting heroes. But for athletes of colour, success on the field seldom converts to power away from it.

Con humor y espíritu crítico, la periodista Marta García Aller nos sumerge en una búsqueda fascinante de lo que significa ser humano en un mundo incierto dominado por las máquinas. El resultado es un libro imprescindible en el que aparecen todo tipo de testigos de lo inesperado.

Walter Veltroni denuncia la debolezza della politica di fronte al ricatto dell'opinione pubblica, il cedimento dell'etica e del pudore sotto i colpi della società delle immagini e della comunicazione totale, riportandoci con la memoria al giorno in cui il nostro sguardo perse l'innocenza. L'11 giugno del 1981, un grido disperato paralizza l'Italia davanti ai teleschermi. Alfredino Rampi, sei anni, è precipitato in un pozzo e sta chiamando disperatamente sua madre. Gli italiani ascoltano agghiacciati il suo lamento, mentre iniziano i tentativi di salvataggio.

Gorgeous War argues that the Nazis used the swastika as part of a visually sophisticated propaganda program that was not only modernist, but also the forerunner of contemporary brand identity. When the United States military tried to answer Nazi displays of graphic power, it failed. In the end the best graphic response to the Nazis was produced by the Walt Disney Company.

Influencer – das ist für eine ganze Generation inzwischen ein ernsthafter Berufswunsch, wenn nicht sogar ein Traumberuf. Es klingt auch zu verlockend: Ein bisschen posieren vor der Kamera, ein paar Likes und schon kommen die gut bezahlten Werbekooperationen wie von selbst. Sie filmen sich beim Schminken, reisen an paradiesische Orte, halten sich fit mit Sport und teilen ihre Tipps mit Fans. Doch dahinter steckt ein profitorientiertes Business, das große Begehrlichkeiten und Abhängigkeiten auf der Seite der Nutzer schafft.

Las redes sociales nos han llevado a un nuevo mundo en el que vivimos cercados por las opiniones ajenas. Lo que parecía la conquista total de la libertad de expresión ha hecho que una parte de la ciudadanía se revuelva, incómoda. Grupos de presión organizados en las redes -católicos, feministas, activistas de izquierdas y derechas- han empezado a perseguir lo que consideran «excesos» intolerables mediante el linchamiento digital, las peticiones de boicot y las recogidas de firmas.

Instagram está tan ligado a nuestro día a día que su historia no puede disociarse del impacto que tiene sobre nuestras vidas. Desde su creación en el año 2010 de la mano de Kevin Systrom y Mike Krieger como una aplicación simple e intuitiva, lnstagram se ha convertido en una máquina de hacer famosos como nunca antes se había visto -ya sea en el patio de los colegios, en el mundo cultural o en el de la moda- en busca de un reconocimiento digital que obtiene gracias a likes, comentarios, seguidores y espectaculares acuerdos con distintas empresas.