This book examines the complex and dynamic relationship between the popular press and popular culture. Martin Conboy rejects approaches to popular culture which restrict themselves to the contemporary, arguing for the importance of an historical perspective in understanding the contemporary relationship between the popular and the press. Benefiting from a very broad historical and international scope, the book: * offers a much-needed critical history of the popular press - from the Early Modern Period to the present day * theorises the role played by the press in the formation of popular culture * provides a comparative analysis of the emergence of the popular press in the US and Britain * offers an approach to the role played by the popular press in the formation of popular culture which emphasizes the use of language Moving beyond historical analysis to the present day, the book concludes with an analysis of the popular press in a globalised media environment.
Drawing on a range of contemporary examples from Britain, Europe and the US, the author looks at the ways in which the popular press retains its appeal to local readerships by recombining aspects of its traditional rhetorical appeal.