Understanding News: Studies in Culture and Communication

Chapter 1 News as Communication; Chapter 2 Reading the News; Chapter 3 News and Society; Chapter 4 Those Who Threaten Disorder; Chapter 5 Selection and Construction; Chapter 6 Hail Fellow Well Met; Chapter 7 A Winter of Discontent; Chapter 8 Producing the News: For Ourselves; Chapter 9 Consuming Interest; Chapter 10 Criticizing the News: What to do and Where to Find it;

John Hartley is Professor in Digital Media and Culture at the University of Sydney, Australia. He has worked in senior positions in Australia at Curtin University, as John Distinguished Professor and Professor of Cultural Science, and at Queensland University of Technology, as Australian Federation Fellow and dean of Creative Industries. Previously, he was first head of the Journalism School at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. He has held visiting scholar positions in the USA, UK, China, Germany and Denmark, and served on ministerial advisory bodies in Australia, China, Thailand and Indonesia. He was awarded the Order of Australia for service to education, and holds elected fellowships of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Learned Society of Wales, and International Communication Association. He has published more than 30 books in communication, cultural and media studies, including Cultural Science(with Jason Potts, 2014), Creative Economy and Culture (with Wen Wen and Henry Li, 2015), and How We Use Stories and Why That Matters(2020).

News depends for its effect on a culturally shared language, and this book concentrates on ways we can decode its messages without simply reproducing their underlying assumptions.