Television Policies of the Labour Party, 1951-2001 (British Politics and Society)

Des Freedman explores Labour's divided response to the development of commercial television in the 1950s and assesses the impact of Wilson's governments on television in the 1960s. His key argument is that Labour has always been a vigorous but ultimately unreliable advocate of television.

drawing Upon Archival Research As Well As Interviews With Participants, Freedman Describes The History Of The British Labour Party's Involvement With Television Broadcasting. The Volume Opens With An Examination Of The Party's Divided Response To The Development Of Commercial Television In The 1950s. Other Topics Include The Party's Role In The Creation Of The Open University, Its Reaction To Conservative-backed Television Reforms Of The 1980s, And Labour's Recent Attempts To Liberalize And Deregulate British Television. Freedman Teaches Communications And Cultural Studies At Goldsmiths College, London. Distributed In The Us By Isbs. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or

"Television Policies of the Labour Party, 1951-2001 examines the party's divided response to the development of commercial television in the 1950s and assesses the impact of Harold Wilson's governments on television in the 1960s. It highlights the contribution of left-wing demands for television in the 1970s and analyses how the party responded to the Conservative government's reform of television in the 1980s. Concluding with an evaluation of the role of television in the emergence of New Labour and a critique of the Blair government's record concerning television developments, the book suggests that Labour has been a vigorous but ultimately unreliable advocate of television reform." The New Labour government is attempting to liberalize and deregulate British television to meet the needs of a digital future. Its policies are set to transform the environment in which both public service and commercial broadcasters currently operate. This activity appears to stand in stark contrast to the Labour Party's former opposition to a commercial television system and its indifference towards innovations in the field of electronic media. With the exception of the Open University, the party has not been directly associated with any of the major developments in broadcasting, all of which have occurred under Conservative administrations "Television Policies of the Labour Party, 1951-2001 makes a valuable contribution to the historiography both of broadcasting and of the Labour Party, and will appeal to all scholars in these fields, and to general readers with an informed interest in the subject."--Jacket