Media at War: Radio's Challenge to the Newspapers, 1924-1939

by Gwenyth L. Jackaway

Overview

Fought when radio was first introduced, the Press-Radio war was an attempt on the part of print jourbanalists to block the emergence of radio news. For nearly a decade, the newspapers of America fought to keep broadcast jourbanalism off the air, exerting various forms of economic, regulatory, and legal pressure against new competitors. This study traces the stages and forms of institutional self-defense utilized by the press. Far more than mere battles to protect profits, media wars are fights to preserve the institutional power that derives from controlling the channels of communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275952570
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/20/1995
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1570L (what's this?)

About the Author

GWENYTH L. JACKAWAY is an Assistant Professor of Communications at Fordham University, New York, where she teaches courses in media history, mass culture, and research methods.

Table of Contents

Media Wars and Resistance to New Technologies
The Life Cycle of a Media War: The Three Stages of the Press-Radio War
Radio's Threat to the Institutional Identity of the Press
Radio's Threat to the Institutional Structure of the Press
Radio's Threat to the Institutional Function of the Press
Epilogue
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Media at War is a case study of the period from 1924, the year in which the airways first reposted election returbans, through 1939, the year that the Associated Press finally lifted its ban on providing news briefs to radio. During these years most newspapers attempted to block the development of broadcast jourbanalism. At stake was the power to control news distribution—the power to shape public opinion and set the national political agenda.” —Choice

“In her deeply researched 1995 book, Media at War: Radio's Challenge to the Newspapers, 1924-1939, scholar Gwenyth L. Jackaway charts a similar set of complaints leveled by newspapers against the upstart medium of radio in the 1920s and 1930s.” —Slate.com

From the Publisher

Jackaway (communication, Fordham U.) explores the nature of conflicts between established and emerging media through an in-depth case study of the 10-year battle by newspapers to defend their territory against upstart radio journalism. She looks at the reasons for resistance to new technologies; three chronological stages of the conflict; and radio's threat to the identity, structure, and function of the press. The immediate issue is no longer relevant because all the new technology is now owned by the established technology, but the mechanisms of cultural change revealed can be applied elsewhere. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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