Neoliberalism, Media and the Political

Sean Phelan is Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. He is the co-editor of Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics (2011) and Scooped: The Politics and Power of Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand (2012).

• List of Tables Acknowledgements Introduction: Disfiguring Neoliberalism 1. Articulating Neoliberalism in Critical Media and Communication Studies 2. Neoliberal Discourse: Theory, History and Trajectories 3. Neoliberal Logics and Field Theory 4. Neoliberalism and Media Democracy: A Representative Anecdote from Post-Rogernomics New Zealand 5. The Journalistic Habitus and the Realist Style 6. Media Cultures, Anti-Politics and the 'Climategate' Affair 7. Neoliberal Imaginaries, Press Freedom and the Politics of Leveson 8. Media Rituals and the 'Celtic Tiger': The Neoliberal Nation and its Transnational Circulation Conclusion: The Possibility of a Radical Media Politics

"Sean Phelan draws upon a diverse range of theoretical sources ... and a handful of illustrative case studies in order to diagnose the contemporary condition of 'actually existing neoliberalism.' ... Phelan has managed to produce a book that offers both a valuable contribution to the scholarly understanding of neoliberalization and a timely critique of the pretensions of postideological journalists and the disingenuous proclamations of postneoliberal politics." (Simon Dawes, Cultural Politics, Vol. 11 (3), November, 2015) "Understanding how the concept and mechanics of neoliberalism work through and in the media and the consequences for our political lives is one of the key issues of our times. Phelan manages to weave political economy with cultural studies, discourse theory with field theory alongside an historical analysis of the concept of neoliberalism, to offer an incisive and insightful empirical critique of how neoliberalism gets mediated through contemporary issues It should be required reading for any scholar interested in a critical media politics " - Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK "If political theorists have sometimes been inclined to ignore the work of media and communication researchers, this book shows why they can no longer do so. Phelan offers a powerful analysis of the political role media and journalism play in the performance of neoliberal logics." - Jason Glynos, University of Essex, UK "Neoliberalism, Media and the Political is a theoretically astute, politically engaged, and empirically grounded guide to the often-perplexing world of neoliberalized media. Sean Phelan goes beyond neoliberalism's willful misrepresentations, and beyond the ways that it likes to look at itself in the mirror, to deliver a penetrating analysis of the actually existing, variegated, and often 'disfigured' forms of mediatized market rule." - Jamie Peck, author of Constructions of Neoliberal Reason "Seeking to overcome the 'Blindspot of Western Marxism', Phelan's insightful book discusses neo-liberalism, the media, and the political by defacing neo-liberalism, analysing journalism using neo-liberal media control of New Zealand and Ireland (the so-called Celtic Tiger) as well as the case of 'Climategate' as prime examples Phelan's book is exquisite on ascertaining the hallucinogenic ideologies and pathologies of neoliberal corporate mass media." - Thomas Klikauer, University of Western Sydney, Australia