Assesses the fundamental features of the pop music industry in Hungary by exploring the ideas of P. Tagg, M. Dardai, and J. Marothy. (JD)

Surveys the evolution of American television criticism, suggesting that, with the current attention to textual and contextual criticism, it is now in an important stage of refinement. (MS)

Discusses the importance of Hoggart's "The Uses of Literacy" in cultural studies. Notes the simplicity and grace in Hoggart's writing and his insistence on using plain and honest language. (PD)

Surveys the relationship between historical inquiry and mass communication research. Argues that historically grounded inquiries into mass communications have focused on three areas: apparatus-centered criticism, social history, and textual interpretation. Contends that challenges from inside and outside the discipline have encouraged historians…

Reviews a variety of books and essay collections that demonstrate the new concern in the American Studies movement for the influence of mass media. (PD)

Explores implications of the antagonism between Marxist political economy and cultural studies. Argues that the antagonism is based on a profound misunderstanding of political economy, and that the project of cultural studies can only be successfully pursued if the bridge with political economy is rebuilt. (RS)

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal. Agrees that cultural studies writers commonly and almost ritualistically distinguish themselves from their "reductionist" cousins, but notes that every few years some political economist attacks cultural studies. Challenges the history of the relation between cultural studies and…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal. Finds it strange that the intense dispute between political economy and cultural studies is cast as wholly independent of real political issues. Suggests that the aim of cultural studies is to renew a democratic conversation outside of the media, and to begin renewal in the universities.…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal. Suggests that the author is unwilling to establish an entry point in the realm of culture because he privileges the moment of production over that of consumption. Suggests disregarding the demarcation lines separating cultural studies from critical political economy, and both from the…

Responds to articles in the same issue of this journal. Suggests that other commentators continue to misrepresent political economy. Suggests that the conversation on this issue should continue across as wide a civic and civil discourse as possible. (RS)

Traces the development of British and Australian television criticism from the mid-seventies. Suggests a conscious study of the characteristics of television as a cultural agent and as a text within a sociocultural context. (MS)

Describes three varieties of metatelevision: audience awareness and intertextuality or medium-reflexive structure; metagenericism or genre-reflexive structure; and autodeconstruction and ilinx or text-reflexive narrative. Metatelevision relies on the ability of the viewers to recognize artifice. (NKA)

Schudson, Dan Schiller, Donald L. Shaw, and John J. Pauly discuss John C. Nerone's article (this issue) and suggest other approaches to the study of the penny press. (JK)

Critiques three contemporary films, "Rocky IV,""Blade Runner," and "The Terminator." Constructs an evolving dystopian shadow myth that expresses the culture's repressed fears about its relationship to technology. Offers implications for the reinterpretation of the dystopian myth and for the conduct of other cultural…

Identifies the movie, "Rambo," and "Soldier of Fortune" magazine as artifacts of "paramilitary culture." Contends that they are a social phenomenon which helps legitimate the United States government's rapid escalation of military forces. (MS)