The Poverty of Television

The Mediation of Suffering in Class-Divided Philippines

By (author) Jonathan Corpus Ong

Publication date:

15 May 2015

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783084067

Based on a 20-month ethnographic study of television and audiences in class-divided Philippines, this is the first book to take a bottom-up approach in considering how people respond to images and narratives of suffering and poverty on television. The book aims to contribute to the broader project of de-Westernizing media studies and explore the tension between ethical prescription and anthropological description in the social sciences and humanities. Winner of the 2016 Philippine Social Science Council Excellence in Research Award.

Acknowledgements; Introduction: The Poverty of Television; 1. The Moral Turn: From First Principles to Lay Moralities; 2. Theorizing Mediated Suffering: Ethics of Media Texts, Audiences and Ecologies; 3. Audience Ethics: Mediating Suffering in Everyday Life; 4. Entertainment: Playing with Pity; 5. News: Recognizing Calls to Action; Conclusions: Mediating Suffering, Dividing Class; Appendix; Notes; References; Index

‘“The Poverty of Television” is an important book that will be cited for years to come. Not only is this the first ethnographic study on mediated suffering in the global South, but it is also written with great intellectual lucidity and a profound sense of care and responsibility for those it talks about.’ —Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science