Republic on the Wire

Cable Television, Pluralism, and the Politics of New Technologies, 1948-1984

John McMurria (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

240 Seiten

2017
Rutgers University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8135-8529-1 (ISBN)

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The history of cable television in America is far older than networks like MTV, ESPN, and HBO, which are so familiar to us today. Tracing the origins of cable TV back to the late 1940s, media scholar John McMurria also locates the roots of many current debates about premium television, cultural elitism, minority programming, content restriction, and corporate ownership. Republic on the Wire takes us back to the pivotal years in which media regulators and members of the viewing public presciently weighed the potential benefits and risks of a two-tiered television system, split between free broadcasts and pay cable service. Digging into rare archives, McMurria reconstructs the arguments of policymakers, whose often sincere advocacy for the public benefits of cable television were fueled by cultural elitism and the priority to maintain order during a period of urban Black rebellions. He also tells the story of the people of color, rural residents, women’s groups, veterans, seniors, and low-income viewers who challenged this reasoning and demanded an equal say over the future of television. By excavating this early cable history, and placing equality at the center of our understanding of media democracy, Republic on the Wire is a real eye-opener as it develops a new methodology for studying media policy in the past and present.

JOHN MCMURRIA is an assistant professor in the department of communication at the University of California, San Diego. He is the coauthor of Global Hollywood and Global Hollywood 2.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: American Pluralism, Television Policy, and the Method of Equality
1Broadcast Policy, Television Spectrum, and the Pluralist Logics of Inequality
2Contesting (In)Equality at the Margins of Television Reception
3Pay-TV Orders
4Local Origination, Public Access, and the Hierarchical Logics of Civic Culture
5Blue Skies, Black Cultures
Epilogue: Neutrality, Connectivity, or Equality When Media Converge
NotesSelect BibliographyIndex

Erscheinungsdatum	04.02.2017
Zusatzinfo	1 figure, 8 photographs
Verlagsort	New Brunswick NJ
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
	Technik ► Nachrichtentechnik
ISBN-10	0-8135-8529-5 / 0813585295
ISBN-13	978-0-8135-8529-1 / 9780813585291
Zustand	Neuware