[ICTs-and-Society] CAMRI Seminar (Jan 22): A Conversation with Nicholas Garnham - Revisiting the Political Economy of Communication

[Christian Fuchs]

Revisiting the Political Economy of Communication: A Conversation with 
Nicholas Garnham
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014. 14:00-16:00
CAMRI Research Seminar
University of Westminster, Harrow campus (Metropolitan Line, tube stop:
Northwick Park)
Room A6.08 (6th floor, A block)

http://www.westminster.ac.uk/camri/research-seminars/revisiting-the-political-economy-of-communication-a-conversation-with-nicholas-garnham

Registration at latest until January 19th, per e-mail to 
christian.fuchs at uti.at

Nicholas Garnham has played a major role in British Media and 
Communication Studies, the emergence and development of what James 
Curran has termed the Westminster School of Media and Communication 
Studies, and the Political Economy of Communication. His works have 
focused on and have influenced the intellectual debates on topics such 
as capitalism and communication, the cultural industries, information 
and communication technologies, information society theory, media and 
modernity, media and telecommunications policy, public service media, 
the public sphere, the relationship between Cultural Studies and 
Political Economy in Media and Communication Studies, and the theory and 
sociology of culture.
The Political Economy of Communication is today an established field of 
study that has been institutionalised in the form of research networks 
such as the International Association of Media and Communication 
Research’s (IAMCR) Political Economy Section, journals, conferences, 
handbooks, the regular publication of new books, chapters and articles, 
undergraduate and postgraduate modules, textbooks, continuous works by 
PhD students, etc.
The task of this seminar is to revisit some of Nicholas Garnham’sideas, 
writings and contributions to the study of the Political Economy of 
Communication and to reflect on the concepts, history, current status 
and perspectives of this field and the broader study of political 
economy today.
Christian Fuchs will chair this conversation.

Recommended Readings:

Garnham, Nicholas. 1979. Contribution to a Political Economy of Mass 
Communication. Media, Culture & Society 1 (2): 123-146. Available at:
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/devereux/website%20material/Proofed%20web%20materials/Journal%20articles/Chap%203%20-%20Garnham%20'Contribution%20to%20a%20Political%20Economy....pdf

Garnham, Nicholas. 2011. The Political Economy of Communication 
Revisited. In The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, eds. 
Janet Wasko, Graham Murdock and Helena Sousa, 41-61. Malden, MA: 
Wiley-Blackwell.

Biographies:

After studying English Literature at Cambridge University Nicholas 
Garnham worked from 1963-70 in Television as film editor and film 
director. He joined the Polytechnic of Central London (that is now the 
University of Westminster) in 1972 to teach film making and film theory. 
In 1974 he was made head of the newly created Department of 
Communications and headed the team that created the first Media Studies 
degree in the UK. He is founding editor of the journal Media, Culture 
and Society. In 1986 he founded the Centre for Communication and 
Information Studies (CCIS) – that today is the Communication and Media 
Research Institute (CAMRI) – and remained its director until he retired 
from the University of Westminster in 2002. In 1987 he started with 
William Melody the annual European Communication Policy Research 
Conference. Since 2002, Nicholas Garnham is Emeritus Professor of Media 
Studies, University of Westminster. He is author of many contributions 
to Media and Communication Studies, including the books The Economics of 
UK Television (Sage 1987, with R. Collins and G. Locksley), Capitalism 
and Communication: Global Culture and the Economics of Information (Sage 
1990), Emancipation, the Media and Modernity (Oxford University Press 2000).

Christian Fuchs is Professor of Social Media at the University of 
Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute and the Centre 
for Social Media Research. He is the editor of the journal tripleC: 
Communication, Capitalism & Critique (http://www.triple-c.at), chair of 
the European Sociological Association’s Research Network 18 – Sociology 
of Communications and Media Research, Vice Chair of the EU COST Action 
“Dynamics of Virtual Work” and author of books such as “Social Media: A 
Critical Introduction” (Sage 2014), “Digital Labour and Karl Marx” 
(Routledge 2014) and “Foundations of Critical Media and Information 
Studies” (Routledge 2011).