An examination of the media and how it operates in Australia. The history of human communication is outlined and an exploration of contemporary media ownership and media criticism is presented. The author, a communications lecturer at Charles Sturt University, has worked for various media organisations including the ABC, SBS TV,'The Australian' and 60 Minutes.

"This new edition of MYTHOLOGIES is the first complete, authoritative English version of the French classic, Roland Barthes's most emblematic work"--

This book provides a timely political insight to show how mythology plays an affective role in our lives. Brexit, bankers, institutional scandals, the far right, and Russell Brand’s “revolution” are just some of the issues tackled through this innovative and interdisciplinary discourse analysis. Through multimedia case studies, Kelsey explores the psychological dimensions of archetypes and mythologies and how they function ideologically in contemporary politics. By synergising approaches to critical discourse studies with the work of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and other mythologists, Kelsey’s psychodiscursive approach explores the depths of the human psyche to analyse the affective qualities of storytelling. Kelsey makes a compelling case for our need to understand more about the power of mythology in modern society. Whilst mythology might be part of who we are, societies are responsible for its ideological substance and implications. Media and Affective Mythologies shows how we can begin to engage with this principle.

Media narratives are the “reflection” of current beliefs and ideas. The case studies in this volume represent an exceptional field of research on dominant mythologies; examples from several countries reveal that media narratives express a dominant consumer storytelling.

From the start, the Soviet human space program had an identity crisis. Were cosmonauts heroic pilots steering their craft through the dangers of space, or were they mere passengers riding safely aboard fully automated machines? Tensions between Soviet cosmonauts and space engineers were reflected not only in the internal development of the space program but also in Soviet propaganda that wavered between praising daring heroes and flawless technologies. Soviet Space Mythologies explores the history of the Soviet human space program within a political and cultural context, giving particular attention to the two professional groups—space engineers and cosmonauts—who secretly built and publicly represented the program. Drawing on recent scholarship on memory and identity formation, this book shows how both the myths of Soviet official history and privately circulating counter-myths have served as instruments of collective memory and professional identity. These practices shaped the evolving cultural image of the space age in popular Soviet imagination. Soviet Space Mythologies provides a valuable resource for scholars and students of space history, history of technology, and Soviet (and post-Soviet) history.

Savage wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, Liberia, Iraq and many other places continue to fill our television screens and newspapers with terrible images of conflict. Despite the optimism about world peace, brought about by the collapse of super-power hostilities in the early 1990s, we seem to be encountering more wars, or at least wars that are more socially traumatic. All too often, the media suggest that these conflicts are caused by the return of primordial loyalties and hatreds after the collapse of the Cold War, or that mass slaughter can be explained by reference to the inherently evil nature of individuals or groups. This book counters this kind of nonsense, and asks why such views have gained a currency. It examines the role of the media in inciting conflicts within nations, as well as the adverse impacts of news reporting on international perceptions - and on policy-making. But it also reveals how valuable informed journalism can be. Above all, it highlights the dangers of basing analysis on vague assertions about deep human motivation, or on mythologies of the past and the present promoted by the protagonists themselves.

These 130 articles Aisan mythologies and cover such topics as Buddhist and Hindu symbolic systems, myth in pre-Islamic Iran, Chinese cosmology and demons, and the Japanese conceptions of the afterlife and the "vital spirit". Also includes myths from Turkey, Korea, Tibet, and Mongolia. Illustrations.