In the course of my research, I have worked with and advised the European Union, Unesco, the Open Society Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the British Council, Universities in the US, Europe and East Asia, and many other organisations, academic, official, and non-governmental. I have participated actively in the professional associations of the field, both nationally and internationally. I was one of the founders of Media, Culture and Society, and I continue to play an active role as managing editor, as well as editing issues on a regular basis. I was a founder of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. I have organised several of its colloquia, and edited themed issues of its journal Javnost/The Public. In 2004, I took the initiative to launch an open access journal Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, on whose editorial board I serve. My current research interests include the comparative study of media systems undergoing rapid change. I am particularly interested in comparing the media systems of post-communist countries with those of other societies that have moved away from different forms of dictatorship towards more democratic forms of political rule. My other major current interest is in theories of media and communication.
Communism, Capitalism, and the Mass Media provides a challenging reassessment of the impact of the collapse of communism on the media systems of Eastern Europe. Author Colin Sparks analyzes both the changes themselves and their implications for the ways in which we think about the mass media, while at the same time exposing serious flaws in many orthodox accounts of the end of communism. He argues that there are much greater continuities between the old and the new systems than have previously been taken into account. Instead of marking the end of critical inquiry or the end of history, Sparks contends that the collapse of communist systems demonstrates how very limited and frequently incorrect the main ways of discussing the mass media actually are. He concludes with a provocative examination of the ways in which we need to modify our thinking in the light of these developments. This volume will be an invaluable text for students in communication and media studies and of additional interest to those working in political science, social theory, and European studies.
