ANALYSING THE NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS SECTOR OF MEDIA WITH A CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH

This essay introduces an approach to studying media, which deals with the interplay of economic, political, social and cultural life. The political economy approach we are outlining here is clearly critical and its focus will mainly comprise of the fundamental political and economic aspects of media in the news and current affairs sector. The historical development of current structures of ownership and production practices will also be exemplified in this essay, confining the main emphasis on four historical processes. A detailed argument of the advantages and disadvantages of analysing media with a critical political economy approach will also be discussed in this essay. Definitions of terms and several substantiating examples will be included to support the arguments mentioned.

Golding and Murdock (1991) in their article draw several terms and concepts used in ‘critical political economy’. The detailed definition and explanation of the term points out that social relations an...