Media Geographies: Uncovering the Spatial Politics of Images

Abstract

Geographers are increasingly interested in the study of media. This article thinks through media geographies via a review of the recent literature on media, space, and place. In doing so, it suggests that geographers are situated in a particularly useful place to think about the spatial politics of media and images. But, in order to do so, they must wrestle with some unaddressed issues regarding those politics, particularly regarding the struggles over social power through media and images. It is argued that geographers’ most important contributions to these questions will come from a focus on the spatial processes, terrain, and built environment of these struggles, not just on the images themselves.

Indian media representations of climate change in a threatened journalistic ecosystem

“…To the extent that ongoing research fails to examine 'how' these representations and symbols are produced in mass media, and negotiated through relations of dominance, subordination, inequalities of access and resources, we effectively constrict the spectrum of possibilities appropriate climate action (Boykoff 2007;Rosati 2007). But the Billet paper takes a critical step toward better recognizing how the re-configuration (or re-organization) of media discourses can open up new possibilities for international (and particularly N-S) climate governance (see Swyngeduow 2007).…”

Re‐scripting Place: Managing Social Class Stigma in a Former Steel‐Making Region

“…Importantly these shows do not just represent places, but dialectically produce them as they engage with the wider “circuit of culture” (Johnson ). My interest in such media geographies extends beyond how place is constructed by media elites, to consider how some local people are active in contesting and re‐scripting media productions of place from the inside out, “uncovering the spatial politics of images” (Rosati ). Social media is seen as a live wire of communication here, documenting responses to events as they happen, or in their immediate aftermath.…”

Foregrounding technology over politics? Media framings of federal elections in Malaysia

“…These commercial interests promote the notion that acquiring the latest and newest technology is synonymous with being ‘modern’ and progressive – a philosophy of commodity fetishism that also affects how journalists and media owners frame the role of ICTs in society (cf. Rosati 2007a 2007b).…”