Television News, Politics and Young People: Generation Disconnected?

`A wonderfully thought-provoking rejoinder to those who maintain that the media defends liberty through the dominance of the commercial market. Written by experienced scholars in the field who provide some fascinating insights into the hidden world of senior newscasters and producers.'---Brian D. Loader, University of York, UK

Why are young people alienated from television news? This book argues that contemporary trends indicating deepening disconnection from news about public life reflect problems both with the way television news covers politics - which is the single biggest item on the news - and with the nature of politics itself under neoliberal capitalism. The authors explore the representation of young people and politics on television news and suggest that there are links between these representations and the reason why young people are turned off news programming. They ask both broadcasters and young people what they think can be done to address this issue, and examine the way that young people consume news. The book concludes that the problem is deep-rooted and requires profound changes both in our political culture and in the culture of television news.

Mike Wayne is Professor in Screen Media at Brunel University, UK.
Julian Petley is Professor of Screen Media and Journalism in the School of Arts, Brunel University, UK. His most recent publication is Censorship: A Beginner's Guide (2009). He is co-principal editor of the Journal of British Cinema and Television, and chair of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.
Craig Murray has a PhD from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He has been involved in ESRC- and AHRC-funded research projects at the University of Liverpool and Brunel University in London, and is currently chief media analyst with the Norwegian media monitoring company Opoint.
Lesley Henderson is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communications in the School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, UK. She has published widely on factual and fictional media production and public understandings of diverse issues. Her most recent book is Social Issues in Television Fiction (2007).