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Des Freedman: Media Policy Fetishism CAMRI Seminar March 11, 2015 Univ of Westminster, Harrow Campus 14:00 Room A7.01 http://www.westminster.ac.uk/camri/research-seminars/des-freedman-media-policy-fetishism Registration: e-mail to [log in to unmask] Why do ordinary users have so little input into or interest in the formal decisionmaking processes that shape our media systems? This presentation suggests that we focus on the fetishism of the media policy process, understood as the loss of control over the decisionmaking arena and as the outsourcing of political agency to external forces. It focuses on both the dimensions of ‘everyday fetishism’ (its capacity to naturalize commodification processes and to reify social life) as well as its relevance to media policy in particular. It reflects on how a fetishistic policy distorts key policy principles, restricts access to policymaking arenas and mystifies the process as a whole so that it becomes a ‘spectral’ activity from which ordinary citizens are largely excluded. Des Freedman invites us to consider ways in which publics can re-connect themselves to the policy process and, in doing so, to invigorate and democratize the struggles for media justice we face today. Des Freedman is professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London and chair of the Media Reform Coalition. He is the author of The Contradictions of Media Power (2014) and The Politics of Media Policy (2008). -------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA mailing list -------------------------------------------------------- To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1 ------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation. MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html). Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list. For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/ --------------------------------------------------------