Popular Reality

the long version

Popular Reality is a major new study of journalism in modernity. For the first time, journalism is treated as a textual system, a "mediasphere" without which modernity's twin energies - the pursuit of freedom and comfort - could not have enjoyed their social and global reach. John Hartley provides a wealth of theoretical analysis and historical detail to reconceptualize the significance of modern journalism from the point of view of its greatest creation - popular readerships. Popular Reality traces the vital but virtual links between journalism, politics, and popular culture, showing how liberty, fraternity and equality are unthinkable without suburbia, sexualization and kissing. The book also provides a much-needed critique of academic and professional discourses on popular journalism, and provides new bridges between contemporary journalism and contemporary theory. Written with brilliance and wit, and richly illustrated from the pages and images of popular media new and old, Popular Reality presents an original, coherent and challenging vision of the postmodern public sphere that will set a new agenda for cultural studies and journalism schools alike. -- from back cover.