In a series of studies that engage with television in its own times and places, John Hartley seeks to broker a deal between the medium that is still the most popular pastime in the world, and the critical traditions that seek to 'discipline' it. Written during a period of rapid globalization in both media entertainment and media studies, TELE-OLOGY is grounded in detailed analysis of television within the flux of life, ideas and history. It includes an influential reconceptualization of the media audience, and considers the peculiarties of a wide range of TV genres:
- news (truth, propaganda and populism)
- drama (in the tradition of Shakespeare)
- continuity and ads (the TV that isn't there)
- sport (the Americas cup)
- art (but not as we know it)
Instead of blaming television for its effects on behaviour or culture, TELE-OLOGY discusses the 'textual' power of the medium as a part of social sense-making.
Part 1 Television theory
Part 2 Truth wars
Part 3 Paedocracy
Part 4 Photopoetics
Part 5 The art of television