PS Mass-Produced Culture, Nationalism, and (Project) Fear: British Quality Newspapers, 1920-2020
In this seminar, we will be looking into the characteristics of British newspaper texts published by, among others, The Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, and The Times. In so doing, we are going to consider the application of quality-press journalistic tools such formal language, in-depth analysis of news events, as well as (relatively) objective and (rather) fact-based news coverage. We will also look into the process of the tabloidisation of quality newspapers. All of this will be done against the background of the news coverage of four major historic events: the General Strike (1926), the Good Friday Agreement (1998), Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War (2003), and the Brexit referendum (2016, with references to nationalism/Project Fear). The concepts of mass-produced culture (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1947) as well as folk devils (Cohen, 1972) will be utilised as theoretical starting points. In order to obtain access to the seminar texts, participants will have to create a VPN connection on their computers.
In this seminar, we will be looking into the characteristics of British newspaper texts published by, among others, The Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, and The Times. In so doing, we are going to consider the application of quality-press journalistic tools such formal language, in-depth analysis of news events, as well as (relatively) objective and (rather) fact-based news coverage. We will also look into the process of the tabloidisation of quality newspapers. All of this will be done against the background of the news coverage of four major historic events: the General Strike (1926), the Good Friday Agreement (1998), Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War (2003), and the Brexit referendum (2016, with references to nationalism/Project Fear). The concepts of mass-produced culture (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1947) as well as folk devils (Cohen, 1972) will be utilised as theoretical starting points. In order to obtain access to the seminar texts, participants will have to create a VPN connection on their computers.
- Moderator/in: Mario Ebest
- Moderator/in: Carmen Zink
Semester: 2021/22 Wintersemester