Communism, Capitalism and the Mass Media

Communism, Capitalism, and the Mass Media provides a challenging reassessment of the impact of the collapse of communism on the media systems of Eastern Europe. Author Colin Sparks analyzes both the changes themselves and their implications for the ways in which we think about the mass media, while at the same time exposing serious flaws in many orthodox accounts of the end of communism. He argues that there are much greater continuities between the old and the new systems than have previously been taken into account. Instead of marking the end of critical inquiry or the end of history, Sparks contends that the collapse of communist systems demonstrates how very limited and frequently incorrect the main ways of discussing the mass media actually are. He concludes with a provocative examination of the ways in which we need to modify our thinking in the light of these developments. This volume will be an invaluable text for students in communication and media studies and of additional interest to those working in political science, social theory, and European studies.