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Foreword xix

discontent in Egypt (with multiple causes) that made new media subversive, not
the mere existence of new media.
So, the argument about simplification goes both ways. Alexander’snarrow focus
on cultural power caused him to simplify, just as Turow’s narrow focus on adver-
tiser influence had the same consequence. Reductionism is not a problem confined
to one tradition. Yet, both books have something interesting and important to tell.

Moving forward
And both media political economy and cultural studies have much to contribute
to each other, and jointly to the future development of the field. An informal
division of labour has developed, in which some researchers focus on political
and economic influences on media institutions, journalism and government, and
others focus on media representations, the cultural power of audiences and the
social relations of everyday life. This division gives rise to unhelpful intellectual
barriers: for example, the absurd notion that the study of media entertainment is
separate from the study of political communication (Curran 2010a).
It also gives rise to inflated turf claims, in which precedence is claimed by
each side. There probably is an irreducible difference between the materialist
emphasis of media political economy and the idealist emphasis of cultural studies.
But we have a long way to go before we reach this irreducible point, and there is
a lot we can learn from each other on the way.
Yet, obstacles lie in the way of this proposed reciprocity. Media political
economy has been marginalised by recurrent attacks on its ‘reductionism’. This
tradition has not helped itself by failing to provide a narrative of its develop-
ment, and compact presentations of its work, in the way that cultural studies has
done so frequently and effectively.
This is why this book is so important. It is an original synthesis that pulls
together in book-length form a disaggregated tradition of research. It not only
serves well all those who work and study in media political economy. It also
makes a larger contribution to the field for all those outside this tradition, and
for all those who think that we should learn more from each other.

Notes
Foreword © James Curran
1 Jonathan Hardy may well disagree with, or disapprove of, this foreword. When
I undertook to do this, in order to honour publication of this important book in a
series of which I am the editor, I did so on the understanding that I would do it
independently.
2 Mosco (1996: 149) says in passing that the media deliver ‘audiences en masse and in
specific demographically desirable forms, for advertisers’ without exploring the implications
of this key point. Mosco (2009) also incorporates, in the second edition of The Political
Economy of Communication, discussion of some pertinent topics missing from the first edition.
3 See, for example, his illuminating study of ideas about technology and information
(Mosco 2005).