Regina G. Lawrence

Portraying Power follows the recent trend toward using popular culture and entertainment as a vehicle for explaining politics by pushing the line of inquiry into the study of film, the form of entertainment least explored by scholars of political communication. Film studies rooted in film theory and critical cultural approaches have a long and venerable history, but political science has thus far contributed very little to nor drawn much upon it. Regina Lawrence’s new text argues that many films explicitly or implicitly portray aspects of power—the central concept in the study of politics—in patterned, predictable, and often problematic ways. By introducing a multi-faceted framework for thinking about the political nature of films, Lawrence explores three ways film can be studied by political scientists and scholars of political communication: the power of film to portray political reality, how films allocate resources, and the nature of film’s portrayals of power. Covering a typology of film in terms of general form—from documentaries to "based on a true story" narratives to the purely fictional—and their political content—from explicit to implicit—Lawrence analyzes a broad array of films. This will be the only text on the market written by an expert on political communication that truly synthesizes the scholarly insights of political science, communication studies, and film studies. A companion website will includes basic background on film theory and technique, links to film clips and interviews with filmmakers, and other support materials for the text.

Portraying Power follows the recent trend toward using popular culture and entertainment as a vehicle for explaining politics by pushing the line of inquiry into the study of film, the form of entertainment least explored by scholars of political communication. Film studies rooted in film theory and critical cultural approaches have a long and venerable history, but political science has thus far contributed very little to nor drawn much upon it. Regina Lawrence’s new text argues that many films explicitly or implicitly portray aspects of power—the central concept in the study of politics—in patterned, predictable, and often problematic ways. By introducing a multi-faceted framework for thinking about the political nature of films, Lawrence explores three ways film can be studied by political scientists and scholars of political communication: the power of film to portray political reality, how films allocate resources, and the nature of film’s portrayals of power. Covering a typology of film in terms of general form—from documentaries to "based on a true story" narratives to the purely fictional—and their political content—from explicit to implicit—Lawrence analyzes a broad array of films. This will be the only text on the market written by an expert on political communication that truly synthesizes the scholarly insights of political science, communication studies, and film studies. A companion website will includes basic background on film theory and technique, links to film clips and interviews with filmmakers, and other support materials for the text.

Published over twenty years ago, Regina G. Lawrence's The Politics of Force was the first scholarly book to look at the way in which media coverage of unexpected, dramatic events shaped public consciousness about important social and political problems. At a time when police brutality was rarely discussed in the news, Lawrence examined police use of force in over 500 incidents, with an in-depth look at the Rodney King case. In doing so, she showed that when incidents of police brutality became news, they offered one of the few real opportunities for marginalized voices and activists to find a public platform and take on the powerful. In the intervening years, the empirical and theoretical contributions of The Politics of Force have become more significant, not only because police brutality is back in the news, but because the media system itself has changed. In this updated edition, Lawrence contextualizes and extends these contributions, while including a closer look at race and racial justice in incidents of police use of force. Reflecting on the context in which the book was written--a time when race and policing received limited coverage in the news and in the field of political communication--Lawrence considers what has changed in media studies since the year 2000, what things haven't changed, and why. Moreover, Lawrence examines coverage of more recent incidents of police violence and the ways in which the voices of citizen activists are treated in the news today. In turn, she addresses the important question of how defining political problems through such events might or might not produce more lasting policy change. Expanding on her landmark publication, Lawrence provides an accessible update on news production dynamics and police use of force for a new generation of scholars, students, and activists.

Published over twenty years ago, Regina G. Lawrence's The Politics of Force was the first scholarly book to look at the way in which media coverage of unexpected, dramatic events shaped public consciousness about important social and political problems. At a time when police brutality was rarely discussed in the news, Lawrence examined police use of force in over 500 incidents, with an in-depth look at the Rodney King case. In doing so, she showed that when incidents of police brutality became news, they offered one of the few real opportunities for marginalized voices and activists to find a public platform and take on the powerful. In the intervening years, the empirical and theoretical contributions of The Politics of Force have become more significant, not only because police brutality is back in the news, but because the media system itself has changed. In this updated edition, Lawrence contextualizes and extends these contributions, while including a closer look at race and racial justice in incidents of police use of force. Reflecting on the context in which the book was written--a time when race and policing received limited coverage in the news and in the field of political communication--Lawrence considers what has changed in media studies since the year 2000, what things haven't changed, and why. Moreover, Lawrence examines coverage of more recent incidents of police violence and the ways in which the voices of citizen activists are treated in the news today. In turn, she addresses the important question of how defining political problems through such events might or might not produce more lasting policy change. Expanding on her landmark publication, Lawrence provides an accessible update on news production dynamics and police use of force for a new generation of scholars, students, and activists.

A sobering look at the intimate relationship between political power and the news media, "When the Press Fails" argues that the dependence of reporters on official sources disastrously thwarts coverage of dissenting voices from outside the Beltway. The result is both an indictment of official spin and an urgent call to action that questions why the mainstream press failed to challenge the Bush administration's arguments for an invasion of Iraq or to illuminate administration policies underlying the Abu Ghraib controversy. Drawing on revealing interviews with Washington insiders and analysis of content from major news outlets, the authors illustrate the media's unilateral surrender to White House spin whenever oppositional voices elsewhere in government fall silent. Contrasting these grave failures with the refreshingly critical reporting on Hurricane Katrina - a rare event that caught officials off guard, enabling journalists to enter a nospin zone - "When the Press Fails" concludes by proposing new practices to reduce reporters' dependence on power.

A sobering look at the intimate relationship between political power and the news media is presented in this examination that is both an indictment of official spin and an urgent call to action to reduce reporters' dependence on power.