Critical Political Economy of Communications – A Mid-Term Report: The 
First Fifty Years and the Future
Jonathan Hardy
University of Westminster
Harrow Campus (tube stop: Northwick Park, Metropolitan Line)
Wed, March 26.
!4:00-16:00
Room A6.08

Registration at latest until Monday, March 24, per e-mail to 
[log in to unmask]

Abstract
If we take the late 1960s as a starting point an explicitly defined 
‘critical political economy of communications’ is fifty years old. How 
salient today are the core concerns that shaped this tradition? What are 
the emergent themes in contemporary critical media studies? Jonathan 
Hardy will discuss his book-length review of critical political 
economists’ work (Hardy, Jonathan. Critical Political Economy of Media: 
An Introduction. London: Routledge.), and reflect on what their 
approaches can offer for contemporary investigations into the problems 
of the media.

Biography
Dr Jonathan Hardy is Reader in Media Studies at the University of East 
London and teaches political economy of media at Goldsmiths College, 
London. He is the author of Critical Political Economy of Media: An 
Introduction (Routledge, forthcoming; Cross-Media Promotion (Peter Lang, 
2010), Western Media Systems (Routledge, 2008) and writes on media, 
marketing communications, regulation and policy. He is Secretary of the 
Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, a UK media reform group.