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SUMMARY:Book Launch! Capturing News\, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the V
 oice of America - Kate Wright
DTSTART:20240228T170000Z
DTEND:20240228T183000Z
UID:TALK210490@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anusha Arumugam
DESCRIPTION:Kate Wright talks to us about her book "Capturing News\, Captu
 ring Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America". \n\nKate Wright is an ass
 ociate professor of media and communications\, based in the Politics and I
 nternational Relations Department at the University of Edinburgh. She is a
  former BBC journalist\, who specialized in flagship news and investigativ
 e documentaries. She now researches how different political economies shap
 e the production of international news. She is the author of Who’s Repor
 ting Africa Now? Non-governmental Organizations\, Journalists and Multimed
 ia (2014)\, and co-authored Humanitarian Journalists (2022).\n\nAlong with
  her co-authors Martin Scott (University of East Anglia) and Mel Bunce (Un
 iversity of London)\, she asks: “How did the Trump administration captur
 e one of the world’s most important public service news networks?” Thi
 s book uses rare interviews and an analysis of private correspondence and 
 internal documents\, to explain why and how Voice of America (VOA) became 
 intensely politicized from 2020–2021.\n\nThe book analyzes how political
  appointees\, White House officials\, and right-wing media influenced VOA
 —changing its reporting of the Black Lives Matter movement\, the preside
 ntial election\, and its contested aftermath.\n\nThey argue that Trump all
 ies took control of the network’s financial and human resources\, domina
 ted its governance structures\, and instigated intimidating investigations
  into journalistic “bias.” Some journalists tried to resist\, but othe
 rs were too exhausted and fearful\, particularly those in the organization
 ’s language services.\nThe book puts these events in historical and inte
 rnational context—and develops a new analytical framework for understand
 ing government capture and its connection to broader processes of democrat
 ic backsliding.\nThey argue that there is currently too little to prevent 
 a future US administration with authoritarian tendencies from capturing VO
 A and converting it into a major domestic broadcaster. They use this resea
 rch to recommend practical ways of protecting the network and other intern
 ational public service media better in future.
LOCATION: SG2\, Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 9D
 T
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