Letters to the Editor Comparative and Historical Perspectives
This book provides an account of current work on letters to the editor from a range of different national, cultural, conceptual and methodological perspectives. Letters to the editor provide a window on the reflexive relationship between editorial and rea
- PDF / 2,413,696 Bytes
- 193 Pages / 433.76 x 612.28 pts Page_size
- 53 Downloads / 175 Views
a l l i son c ava n agh joh n s t e e l
Letters to the Editor
Allison Cavanagh • John Steel Editors
Letters to the Editor Comparative and Historical Perspectives
Editors Allison Cavanagh Institute of Communication Studies University of Leeds Leeds, UK
John Steel Department of Journalism Studies University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-26479-6 ISBN 978-3-030-26480-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26480-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: estudioCalamar This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Foreword
A volume offering a historical take on letters to the editor is both long overdue and welcome. Letters to the editor have historically formed a vital site for participation, capturing the preoccupations and views of ordinary citizens, as well as the tenor of the large and small debates animating local and national communities. The distinctive nature of letters renders them an indispensable source of information for scholars across social sciences and humanities fields. Here, I will discuss two key reasons why this is so. First, for much of the history of mass media, letters to the editor were the main forum for debate in the public sphere, and therefore constitute a rich source of vernacular social and political history. Second, letters constitute carefully crafted contributions which are selected and curated by news organisations. This suggests that they represent what news organisations judge to be the most valuable contributions to debate, and makes them qualitatively different from digitally facilitated forms of participation as a genre and a practice. These features have m
Data Loading...
