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News as Entertainment
The Rise of Global Infotainment

  • Daya Kishan Thussu - Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, University of Westminster, UK, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Co-Director, India Media Centre, University of Westminster, London, UK


January 2008 | 224 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
"Thussu brings to this project the passion for news of a socially committed former journalist, the political economy of his international relations education and a formidable assembly of global detail, examining the recent explosion of 'infotainment'."
- 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.

 
Introduction
 
The 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?

Thussu brings to this project the passion for news of a socially committed former journalist, the political economy of his international relations education and a formidable assembly of global detail, examining the recent explosion of 'infotainment'.

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

A very easy to follow text although I feel it would be better served as a sumplimentary taxt for the course I am teaching currently

Mr Mark Timoney
Social Science, Sligo Institute of Technology
February 18, 2015

adopted text book. Clear and easy to follow.

Mr Altaf Baghdadi
Business, University Centre at Blackburn College
February 7, 2014

Interesting insights into the modern journlaism world. Used to draw attention to students critique of media and how stories are told.

Miss Sarah Moore
Humanities, London Metropolitan Univ - North London Campus
December 8, 2009

I am actually using Thussu's book right now in a course called Globalization. It fits nicely in that course, though I won't have student reactions for a while yet. I'll still consider it for the Social Life of media course.

Mr Lynn Thomas
Anthropology Dept, Pomona College
September 29, 2009

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction PDF


For instructors

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