Ruthless Criticism: New Perspectives in US Communications History - Hardcover

"Ruthless Criticism" offers perspectives and subjects largely outside traditional historiography. It broadens the concept of media history to include lesser-studied media, and offers alternative interpretations of traditional media. This anthology of original research includes an array of scholarly and theoretical perspectives. Each addresses a specific topic within a specific era, reflecting the diversity of US mass media. Solomon and McChesney begin by using critical theory and deconstruction to examine the meanings of print in the colonial era. Subsequent chapters study the media ecology of the antebellum press in Cincinnati; the culture of the women's suffrage press; the intense focus on profits of the post-Civil War mainstream press; gender images in the labour press; the diversity of political views within the working-class press; and the development of a commercial press in the black community. The essays concerning the 20th century focus on the rise of a culture industry and include studies on the origins of the broadcast ratings system and the commercial broadcast system, early television's portrayals of childhood, the television networks' close ties with the federal government, the government's key role in creating and developing the field of mass communication research, and teenage girls' popular culture from 1960 to 1968 as a formative influence on the feminist movement. William Solomon writes on media history, newsroom labour studies, and sociology of news. Robert McChesney is the author of "Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: the Battle for the Control of US Broadcasting, 1930-1935". This book is intended for graduate studies in mass media, cultural studies.