Power Without Responsibility
Power Without Responsibility is a book written by James Curran and Jean Seaton. Originally published in 1981 by Fontana, it has been translated into several languages and is now in its eighth edition. The title comes from a quotation by the writer Rudyard Kipling; though it is widely attributed to Stanley Baldwin, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he was quoting Kipling. It details the history of the news media in the UK from the eighteenth century to the present.
In the introduction to Manufacturing Consent, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky have cited this book; Chomsky has cited it again in a televised BBC interview with Andrew Marr. Nick Cohen rated it "the best guide to the British media" in a review for the New Statesman.
Contents (Eighth edition)
Part I: Press history- Whig press history as political mythology
- The struggle for a free press
- Janus face of reform
- Industrialization of the press
- Era of the press barons
- Press under public regulation
- Post-war press
- Press and the remaking of Britain
- Rise of the neo-liberal Establishment
- Moral decline of the press
- Reith and the denial of politics
- Broadcasting and the Blitz
- Public service commerce: ITV, new audience and new revenue
- Foreign affairs: The BBC, the world and the government
- Class, taste and profit
- Managers, regulators and broadcasters
- Public service under attack
- Broadcasting roller-coaster
- New media in Britain
- History of the internet
- Sociology of the internet
- Social media: Making new societies or polarizing merchants?
- Metabolising Britishness
- Global understanding
- Broadcasting and the theory of public service
- Industrial folklore and press reform
- Contradictions in media policy
- Media reform: Democratic choices