The Wide Angle: Eco films & Emotionalism

My second appearance on The Wide Angle -- and another interesting conversation.

Melancholia: Imaging the End of the World

Just back from this very interesting conference.  My paper, with Hugh Ortega Breton, was on 'The Eco Apocalypse'.

Green Day

Kalemegdan, 27 May 2013

The Wide Angle: Comedy & the war on terror

I enjoyed taking part in this programme -- the first of a new series from WORLDbytes.

Selling War

Out now --  Selling War: The Role of the Mass Media in Hostile Conflicts from World War I to the 'War on Terror', edited by Josef Seethaler, Matthias Karmasin, Gabriele Melischek and Romy Wohlert, and published by Intellect (UK) and the University of Chicago Press (US).  My chapter is on 'The Media and Humanitarian Intervention'.

Available from Amazon (UK) / Amazon (US)

The Politics of War Reporting: A Critical Symposium

The November 2012 launch of Tim Markham's book The Politics of War Reporting.  I'm at about 28 minutes in.

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Press

... And We Need One More Than Ever


Mick Hume

1pm, Wednesday 28 November

Centre for Media & Culture Research
London South Bank University
Room K305, Keyworth Building
Keyworth Street SE1

Are today’s media too free?  Do we need a new system of regulation and control to tame the tabloids? With the Leveson Inquiry into the ‘culture, practices and ethics’ of the press due to report this month, Mick Hume questions many of the assumptions underlying the current discussion of media freedom.

Mick Hume is editor-at-large of the online magazine spiked.  Formerly a columnist for The Times and editor of LM magazine (which he launched, originally as Living Marxism, in 1988) until it was forced to close in 2000 following a libel suit, Hume is also the author of Whose War Is It Anyway? (1997) and Televictims (1998).

His latest book, There Is No Such Thing As A Free Press ... And We Need One More Than Ever has been described as ‘splendidly non-conformist’ (The Guardian), ‘a rousing defence of free speech’ (The Sun), and ‘a masterclass in the writing of polemic’ (The Times) – and also as ‘shameless anti-Leveson propaganda’ (by Professor Brian Cathcart, co-founder of the Hacked Off campaign).

Join us for what promises to be a lively debate on the future of journalism post-Leveson.  This event is free and open to all, but registration is required: please email cmcr@lsbu.ac.uk if you’d like to come.

The Politics of War Reporting

I'm a panellist this evening at a critical symposium to mark the launch of Tim Markham’s excellent new book, The Politics of War Reporting: Authority, authenticity and morality.

Further details of the launch, at Birkbeck at 6pm are here.

The New Culture Wars

One of the highlights of this year's Battle of Ideas festival was this session on 'The New Culture Wars', with (left to right) John Waters, Wendy Kaminer, Claire Fox, Frank Furedi and John Haldane.

Caught in the Frame

Caught in the Frame:
Frame Analysis as Contemporary Media Scholarship

I'm speaking today at this conference, organized by the BSA Media Study Group and the News and Journalism Research Group, at the University of Leicester.

My paper is on ‘“Ethnic Conflict” and “Genocide”: A Case Study of Competing Frames’

Pockets of Resistance

My review of Pier Robinson et al.'s Pockets of Resistance appears in this month's edition of Media, War & Conflict.

'Piers Robinson and his co-authors have accomplished that most sought-after goal of academic publishing: delivering both a substantial and original piece of scholarly research, and a useful and accessible text for undergraduate teaching.'

Paul Simon

Went to see Paul Simon playing at Hyde Park yesterday -- with guest spots from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Hugh Masekela and Jimmy Cliff.

The Punch Brothers and Alison Krauss were the best of the support acts.  Astonishing to think it's 25 years since Graceland...

Justifying War

Out now -- Justifying War: Propaganda, Politics and the Modern Age, edited by David Welch and Jo Fox, and published by Palgrave Macmillan.  My chapter is on 'Cosmopolitanism and Precautionary War'.


Available from Amazon (UK) / Amazon (US)

Don’t Panic! The Apocalypse in Theory and Culture

Speaking at Skepsi’s Fifth Annual Interdisciplinary Conference, Don’t Panic! The Apocalypse in Theory and Culture today, giving a joint paper with Hugh Ortega Breton on 'Loss, Alienation and the Desire for Annihilation: Phantasies in the Politics of the Eco-Apocalypse.

Beyond Representation: Photography, Humans & Computers

Registration is now open for this international conference, to be held on 24—25 May 2012 at the Centre for Media & Culture Research, London South Bank University, in association with the journal Philosophy of Photography.

Early Bird Rate : £150/£75 concessions
(available until 31 March 2012)

Download the booking form (Word)

There is a pressing need to reframe photographic theory to account for the radical reorientation of image production brought about by computer networks. In a world where air-conditioned server-farms create the real landscape, and where reality is augmented on screens, what do these organizational systems tell us about the ways images operate in network ecologies? As images circulate in the network, acquiring new contexts at each instance, how are we to approach the ontologies of the digital image?

Find out more about the conference...

New in paperback!

Framing post-Cold War Conflicts: The media and international intervention is now available in paperback, at a considerably lower price than the original edition...

MeCCSA 2012

Speaking at the annual MeCCSA conference today: a joint paper with Hugh Ortega Breton, on ‘The Emotional Engagements of Environmental Television and Film’.

Reconstruction

Graham Barnfield and I have edited a special supplement to Reconstruction Vol. 11, No. 4, on 'War on Terror by Other Means: The Media Industries after 9/11'. Read our introduction here.

Amy LaVere

Went to see the very talented Amy LaVere at the Lexington last night. Fantastic gig!

Journal of War and Culture Studies

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2011: special issue on the war on terror in news & popular culture, edited by me and Graham Barnfield. You can read our introduction here.