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The British broadcasting ban was a form of direct censorship introduced by the British Government in 1988, following several decades of indirect censorship against the broadcast media before and during the Northern Ireland conflict. Indirect censorship had long operated through a combination of pressure against broadcasters from Stormont and Westminster politicians and the institutionalised self-censorship of the ‘reference upwards’ system practised by broadcasters. The broadcasting ban, however, directly controlled the British broadcast media by making it illegal for representatives of eleven republican and loyalist organisations to speak on television and the radio until the restrictions were lifted in 1994. This chapter begins by briefly considering the significant events leading up to the introduction of the broadcasting ban with a particular focus on the relationship between the British Government and the British broadcast media in this period. It then outlines the justifications given by the British Government for the broadcasting ban, explains how broadcasters were impacted by it and how they tried to resist it. After contextualising these important factors, the findings of a study on British newspaper representations of the broadcasting ban are presented and analysed, revealing the extent to which national newspapers supported and resisted this censorship in Britain.

This chapter explores the coincidence between public attitudes towards poverty and public discourse revealed by survey evidence, content analysis of newspapers, and analysis of policy rhetoric. Surveys indicate overwhelming support for the work ethic and a tendency to see poverty as an appropriate reward for idleness. These values are explicitly reflected in the framing of anti-poverty policy in Britain and South Korea, in the underlying assumptions and policy structures that prioritize work incentives in China, Norway, and India, and in terms of policy neglect in Pakistan and Uganda. However, the tenor of public debate and the language used in public discourse varies markedly, as does the part played by journalism in the dynamic between politics and public opinion. Popular negative frames of thinking are reinforced by public discourse in Britain and Uganda, shaped by the print media and political rhetoric. This is not so in China, India, or Norway.

This chapter portrays Clarke's ‘voice’ as a filmmaker, and reveals the ‘voices’ that his productions articulated. It discusses Clarke's interrogations relating to the state and media discourses within the discursive framework of academic writing, and acknowledges the extent to which these voices have been expressed latently. The way that Clarke articulates the ‘political dilemma’ is also discussed. The Thatcherite discourses, which Clarke documented, ultimately silenced the kind of drama with which he was associated. Eventually, directors gained more influence than writers, as drama shifted to a more visual form of storytelling. Finally, the chapter uses analytical tools to unpick Clarke's contribution to their style and form, and to attempt to understand their effects. Clarke died on 24 July 1990. Many of his collaborators and admirers have argued that his technique of making radical plays died with him.,

This chapter determines how the constructions of ASB and the categorisations of individuals play out at local levels. It starts with a critique of contemporary political and media discourses that result in the reaffirmation of normality that can be attributed to powerful majority groups and the demonisation of ‘deviant’ groups that are categorised as ‘other’. It also describes how the witnesses of ASB constructed the causes of the problem around the characteristics of the alleged perpetrators. The chapter also examines the ‘neighbours from hell’ and reveals that these individuals shared the concerns and values of their neighbours, and were often the victims as well as perpetrators of ASB. Their behaviour can be largely attributed to personal and family vulnerability and difficult social circumstances.

In spite of recent interest in the international media's depiction of mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), few academics and commentators have considered how gendered discourses have been shaped by local and regional players. Focusing on media discourse generated by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the Congolese and Rwandan governments in the wars in the east of Congo leading up to the end of 2009, this chapter considers how narratives about rape, gender based sexual violence and human rights abuses have been appropriated by all sides to either justify their actions or condemn those of their enemies. The analysis suggests that regional politicians and military operators are not ignorant of the problem of rape in the east of Congo and do not lack awareness of the importance of gender equality within the Great Lakes region. On the contrary, they employ ‘Western’ images of African conflict and international concepts of post-conflict development and democracy in order to gain ground politically and economically.

Chapter 3 describes how Japan remembers the war and the war dead at the annual commemorations on August 15. It shows how political performances and popular media discourses divide rather than unite the nation over the questions of war guilt and national sacrifice. The chapter surveys the political performances on August 15 from 1985 to 2013, as well as the media discourse surrounding them in newspaper editorials, television, and film. It shows that many of Japan’s memory makers responded positively to the international pressures to deepen perpetrator memories and attempted to redress past wrongs in the 1990s, but they faced a severe backlash in the 2000s. Thus the impact of the global politics of regret on Japan has been mixed.

This chapter explores intersections of race, nationality, class, and heterosexuality in news coverage of the 1999 Columbine High School and 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. In many ways, the media portrayed the killers as troubled loners bent on destroying the individuals who contributed to their alienation. Media discourse also constructs the killers as socially deviant, using race, nationality, and sexuality to do so. By aligning violence with urban cities, depicting suburban college campuses as idyllic, and rendering the racialized masculine killers as out of place, media discourse draws attention away from examination of the social and cultural basis for violence and distress. Thus, more consideration should be given to the killers' tactical rhetorics, as their self-representation offers a unique opportunity for scholars to understand how the men viewed themselves within systems of power rendered visible through their bloodshed.

This chapter examines the government’s responses to the Umbrella Movement. After the initial attempts of quickly ending the occupation failed, the government turned to the strategy of attrition. The government and the pro-establishment forces utilized three major frames—intrusion of foreign powers, the rule of law, and public nuisance—to challenge the legitimacy of the movement. Two of the frames were coupled with governmental actions and/or counter-mobilization efforts to undermine the occupation. This chapter also examines the government and pro-establishment forces’ presence in digital and social media, as well as how public opinion toward the Umbrella Movement was constructed in the mainstream media. It contributes to an understanding of the dynamics leading to the end of the occupation.

This chapter argues that political promises do not have to be made by individual politicians. Rather, multiparty discourses may be attributed to political leaders, a process labeled metaphorical promising. It analyzes Yukio Hatoyama’s brief (2009–2010) reign as prime minister of Japan. Hatoyama was forced to resign amid charges that he had failed to remove a US military base from Futenma, Okinawa. Although Japanese newspapers accused him of breaking promises to move the base, Hatoyama had never explicitly promised to do so. Expectation for change arose through a complex discourse involving the government, opposition, and Japanese media, among others. As political leader, Hatoyama failed to take difficult steps toward military reform. As peace is not merely the absence of war, political accord is more than the absence of divisive speech. Japan’s experience reminds us that accord and mutual agreement must be sought through active engagement throughout society.

In this chapter, Brian Hudson explores the effects of tourism on the Caribbean landscape, focusing on the transformation of the Negril area in Jamaica in the latter half of the twentieth century. His study not only shows how development projects driven by the tourist industry have physically remade the landscape, but also considers how this landscape has been aestheticized and ‘repackaged’ in newspapers, travel guides, and other media. Hudson witnessed the early phase of Negril’s development during his period of service with the Jamaican Government Town Planning Department. Later he became involved in the conservation movement in Jamaica, responding to the baleful effects of poorly designed and inadequately controlled development. While the chapter throws light on the problematic tendency for the Caribbean to be portrayed in terms of ‘unspoiled’ beaches and paradisiacal beauty spots, it also reveals the way in which the rhetoric of ‘the pristine’ versus ‘the degraded’ can be mobilized in the cause of resisting unsustainable development.

The figure of the shaman seems to fit exceptionally well into contemporary structures of needs and motivations in different cultural areas beyond the religious-spiritual field. By exploring the stories and images that are the focus of the spiritual entrepreneur Esther Utsi, I elaborate how, in the wake of Sámi shamanism, a variety of hybrid products have been established, catering for broader audiences and for a variety of needs, including tourism, entertainment, and regional development.