International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics - Volume 3, Issue 3, 2007

In many western democracies, public service broadcasting institutions (PSB) have long been criticised, their legitimacy thwarted by technological, cultural and political developments. However, while the future might appear bleak to those who have a nostalgic vision of PSB, more encouraging and forward-looking visions are possible. As an example of forward-looking vision, this paper looks at the evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica from the establishment of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) in 1962, to its dismantlement in 1997, and to the formation of a new public broadcaster, the Jamaica Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBCJ), in Spring 2006. Throughout this history, and notwithstanding its many challenges, public service broadcasting continues to be a vital institution in Jamaican social, political and cultural life. Some of the questions that spur from this complex history are: In an era characterised by the everexpanding choice of media channels, while governments in wealthier countries are trying to get rid of their PSB, why is a new public broadcaster being re-established in the Caribbean island? What are its characteristics? Finally, could this attempt to recreate a public broadcaster in Jamaica be indicative of broader trends pointing to the necessity of preserving, or re-creating, public spaces in commercially saturated media environments? Although the lack of financial resources is a major challenge for the newly born PBCJ, efforts to re-build a public broadcaster speak to Jamaica's continuous desire to create a valuable alternative to commercial media. Attempts to create an efficient and socially relevant institution of public service broadcasting are discussed.

This paper examines the role that culture, the information society, and media play in forming stable and productive communities. Through a theory of culture defined by conflict and play, it examines the history of Europe as a concept, issues of continental identity, and the impact/intent of European Union policy initiatives regarding culture and media. It suggests that although some EU policy approaches are well designed, there is a great deal of room for improvement in their conceptualisation and execution. By understanding culture and media to be intertwined but not identical, we can see how the arts and media can be used to create community not only in their distribution and consumption but also in the very fact of their creation. Moreover, by situating culture and media within contemporary socio-political frameworks, particularly the deregulatory atmosphere supported by transnational corporate interests and the construction of a commodified neoliberal citizen, the paper argues for a conceptualisation of culture that can exist within contemporary systems of capital while retaining the potential for oppositional and critical ontologies. It concludes with specific suggestions for EU policy and funding directives through analyses of two visual culture phenomena, the 2002 film L'Auberge Espanole and the 2005 Venice Biennale.

This paper investigates the way in which the European Union's Television Without Frontiers directive (recently re-named the Audio-Visual Media Services directive, AVMS) was implemented by two neighbouring states, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Focusing on the broadcasting rights for live international cricket matches in England and the rights for the live coverage of the Republic of Ireland soccer team's competitive home matches, the paper will highlight each state's approach to marrying the cultural rights of its citizens with the demands of the free market. The article locates the response of each state within the wider framework of the development of European media markets and their respective industrial/cultural policy therein.

This investigation examines Qu me dices! (What are you telling me!), an entry in Spain's prensa rosa (pink press) ensemble. The celebrity- and female aesthetics-oriented magazine presents as staunchly apolitical as it resolutely ignores contemporary issues (e.g. the economy, immigration). However, I posit that Qu me dices! channels a distinct political posture. The publication affirms celebrity as a form of meritocracy enacted to market specifications that bestows popularity on figures that resonate with mass audiences. Qu me dices! is, nonetheless, silent on the production of celebrity via the media apparatuses of which it is a part. Where ideology and gender are concerned, Qu me dices! is traditionalist in exhorting women to surveil their appearances and to make interventions with an eye toward attracting men; intensifying consumption to eradicate presumed personal defects is emphasised at the exclusion of other projects. Surveillance of celebrity also eases readers' participation in the new information-based economy with its emphasis on obtaining customer details. Thus, a publication that refuses formal politics teems with political implications, particularly for women.

Drawing on two studies, one involving a sample of adults, and the other a sample of children, the paper seeks to understand the definition of screen violence given by adults and children. This is accomplished by empirical examination of responses to a range of material that included acts of violence. Using a variant of focus groups video editing groups the paper shows that definitions of violence are drawn from understandings of violence in real life, and the realism of the violence shown on the screen. Definitions of screen violence drawn from definitions of what makes something violent in real life are referred to as the Primary Definers of Violence, and the manner in which the violence is shown on the screen are referred to as the Secondary Definers of Violence. A third set of definers were seen to be in place in so far as the children in our sample were concerned. Referred to as the Tertiary Definers of Violence, they include material that is scary.

Music is an important device that filmmakers use to create a sense of place. Different countries have different music cultures and film soundtracks move swiftly to accommodate and incorporate an approximation of them. Specific instruments can be used to provide local colour, standard instruments can be used in imitation of them, specific tunes associated with specific places can be invoked or shadowed as the musicological fundamentals of specific national musics are harnessed to produce appropriate original music. Distinctive rhythms and dance forms can be incorporated, and either genuine musicians or recordings of musicians from a particular country or culture can be used to give an immediate sense of people and place.

Gandhi Meets Primetime: Globalization and Nationalism in Indian Television, Shanti Kumar (2005) Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 284 pp., ISBN 025203001X (hbk), $45.00; ISBN 0252072448 (pbk), 25.00

Waves of Opposition: Labour and the Struggle for Democratic Radio, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf (2006) Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 256 pp., ISBN 0252031199 (hbk), 60.00; ISBN 0252073649 (pbk), 25.00

Leading to the 2003 Iraq War: The Global Media Debate, Alexander Nikolaev and Ernest Hakanen (eds.) (2006) New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 283 pp., ISBN 1-4039-7113-7 (hbk), 42.00

Media and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century, Philip Seib (ed.) (2005) New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 242 pp., ISBN 1-4039-6833-0 (hbk), 42.00

Hypercapitalism: New Media, Language and Social Perceptions of Value, Phil Graham, 2005 New York, Peter Lang, 202 pp., ISBN 0-8204-6217-9 (pbk), 17.42