Bad News from Israel
Greg Philo and Mike Berry (2004, Pluto Press)

TV news and public understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A NEW BOOK from the Glasgow University Media Unit. Click here for information and to download extracts. 

Market Killing
Greg Philo and David Miller (2000, Longman)

This book shows how the release of the free market in the last part of the twentieth century produced a rise in inequality and violence, the development of a huge criminal economy and the degradation of social and cultural life

It questions the silence of academics in the face of these changes and asks how much they have been incorporated into the priorities of commerce and governments. Many academics in the social sciences, and media and cultural studies have avoided critical issues and become occupied in obscure theoretical debates such as post-modernism. The effect was to draw intellectuals and students away from the engaged and empirical work needed to identify key social problems and possibilities for change debate.

The authors of this book point to the need for independent research, which can criticise political policies and reveal their effects. They show, for example, why contemporary policies on drugs and education are creating more problems then they solve. The book features contributions from a wide range of academic disciplines including mass communication, sociology, politics, geography, philosophy and economics, and points to new directions for radical science. It also examines the possibilities for a free and democratic media and calls for the development of critical and open public debate.

For a longer description of the book click here.

Message Received
GUMG edited by Greg Philo (1999, Longman)

This gives research results from 1994-1998 in the areas of 'Race' and media, Migration, Development, Mental Illness, Health and Food Scares, Risk, Children and Violence, Debates on media Effects and Audiences. To see summaries of each chapter and selected downloadable chapters click here.

Key Publications

War and Peace News
GUMG (1985, Open University Press)

Deals with television coverage of the Falklands War in 1982, with coverage of defence and disarmament issues. It includes an analysis of the images of women in the media at the time of the war.

A study of audiences, looking at what they believe, and the power of television when used for public relations and political propaganda. It also illustrates the new focus group methodologies for audience research used by the Glasgow media Group in later studies.

A collection of essays by Group members focusing on production processes, media context, and the reception of messages by audiences.

Four chapters from this book are available to download.

Glasgow Media Group Reader ; Vol. 1: News Content, Language and Visuals
GUMG edited by John Eldridge (1995, Routledge)

Focusing on content, language, and the role of visual images in news reporting, this volume includes such case studies as media coverage of the Greenham Common and 'the Church and the Bomb' controversies.

Reprinting classic articles on the reporting and audience reception of industrial and economic news (on, for example, the 1984-5 Miner's strike) this volume includes more recent material dealing with media coverage of the Northern Ireland conflict, and the Falklands and Gulf Wars; plus recent material on political advertising and information management.

Media and Mental Distress
GUMG edited by Greg Philo (1996, Longman)

This volume examines the content of media images of mental conditions (such as schizophrenia), showing how these are routinely depicted and stigmatised. The study also considers the impact of these images on public beliefs and attitudes, as well as on carers and users of mental health services.

In this introduction to the role of the mass media in modern Britain, the authors examine the development, issues of ownership, and roots of media power in the public and political spheres. They also consider the question of media effects and introduce new research into audience reception.

This book examines the promotional strategies of interest groups, the production of media coverage, meanings promoted by the media and their impact on policy culture and society. Using detailed analysis of the struggle over representation during the AIDS crisis, the authors reveal the power of the media to influence public opinion, and the complex interaction between media coverage and audience response.