The Point Is to Change It! Introduction to Critical Political Interventions in Media and Communication Studies

  • Sašo Slaček Brlek Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
  • Jernej Amon Prodnik Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
  • Bogdan Osolnik
Keywords: Praxis, Critical Political Economy of Communication, Karl Marx, MacBride Report, New World Information and Communication Order, UNESCO, New International Economic Order

Abstract

The intention of this paper is to provide a historical overview and an introduction to the interviews with Bodgan Osolnik, Breda Pavlič, Cees Hamelink, Daya K. Thussu, Peter Golding and Dan Hind presented in this special section. Following Marx, we entitled the section The Point Is to Change It! Critical Political Interventions in Media and Communication Studies. We discuss the need for critical theory to bridge the divide between theory and practice because this notion is central to all of the interviews in one way or another. We also provide a historical contextualization of important theoretical as well as political developments in the 1970s and 1980s. This period may be seen as a watershed era for the critical political economy of communication and for the political articulation of demands for a widespread transformation and democratization in the form of the New World Information and Communication Order initiative. We believe that many contemporary issues have a long history, with their roots firmly based in this era. The historical perspective therefore cannot be seen as nostalgia, but as an attempt to understand the historical relations of power and how they have changed and shifted. In our view, the historical perspective is crucial not only for understanding long-lasting historical trends, but also to remind ourselves that the world is malleable, and to keep alive the promises of the progressive struggles of the past.

Author Biographies

Sašo Slaček Brlek, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana

Researcher at the Social Communications Research Centre at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. His main research interests include theories of public opinion and the public sphere, and the critical political economy of communication with a particular focus on researching newswork and newsworkers from the labour process perspective.

Jernej Amon Prodnik, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana

Assistant Professor at the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and researcher at the Social Communications Research Centre, which is based at the same institution. Between 2014 and 2015, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. His principal research interests encompass critique of political economy and historical transformations of capitalist societies with an emphasis on media and communication.

Published
2017-03-27
Section
The Point is to Change It! Critical Political Interventions in Media and Communication Studies