Media according to Doug Kellner and Keith Tester

["L Spencer" <L.SPENCER@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The "Illuminations" web site

Anyone following the vociferous debates about TV on this list
recently might like to look at the contributions by Doug Kellner
 available on the WWW at http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/

Douglas Kellner

Doug Kellner has written extensively on the Frankfurt School as well
as on Baudrillard, postmodernism and various aspects of contemporary
media. I think one could say that the various figures from Weimar
Germany (FSchool, Benjamin, Bloch, Brecht etc.) are a huge influence
on his writings. I have just caught up with an excellent book of his
called MEDIA CULTURE in which he discusses both theoretical issues
and offers applied analysis of coverage of the (first) Gulf War,
Madonna and so on.

Keith Tester

I wonder if everyone on this list is familiar with the work of
sociologist and cultural theorist, Keith Tester. In particular, I
think that you would all be very interested in his little book MEDIA,
CULTURE & MORALITY (Routledge, 1994). The book is a sustained attempt
to bring Adorno's perspective to bear on the contemporary
media-saturated world. In particular, he wishes to complement
Adorno's strictures on the aesthetic limitations of the media by
examining the dubious role of the media in mapping the moral universe
for contemporary men and women.

Tester begins by recording that the book has its origins in the
mutual incomprehension between himself and his students when it comes
to matters of culture and values. The book is written for those
undergraduates. As a consequence it contains very carefully written
expositions of the perspective of Adorno (and Horkheimer). And the
book as a whole is written as a critique of the moral/political
vacuity of what passes for Cultural Studies, particularly as
practices in Britain.

Truly, I am convinced that anyone who thinks Adorno relevent to
thinking about the media in the modern world will want to read this
book.


Lloyd