New Books in Communications

Vanesa Rodríguez-Galindo, a cultural historian and expert in urban studies, delves into 19th-century Madrid's transformation. She discusses how modernization influenced visual culture, with advancements in print media reshaping identity and societal norms. The rise of illustrated periodicals dazzled readers, showcasing social interactions and urban life. Rodríguez-Galindo contrasts Madrid's adaptations to French influence while highlighting the city's unique identity. Engaging in public space and the role of migrants, she reflects on how the past resonates with today's digital connectivity and cultural imagery.

Andrea Kitta, an Associate Professor of Folklore at East Carolina University, dives into the intersection of contagion and folklore. She discusses the role of narratives in public health, arguing that storytelling is key to building trust. The conversation highlights the societal constructs of contagion, the stigmatization in patient-zero narratives, and the reflections of moral anxiety through vampires and zombies. Kitta also explores the implications of kiss-of-death legends and their gendered control, emphasizing the importance of vernacular beliefs in addressing contemporary health issues.

Dr. Joanne Kuai, a Research Fellow focused on digital journalism and AI’s societal impact, shares insights into how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism in China. She discusses the challenges reporters face with accountability and authorship in an increasingly automated landscape. Joanne highlights the differences in news distribution across various platforms and compares AI regulation strategies between China, the US, and EU. She emphasizes the importance of human accountability in AI systems and offers intriguing cultural recommendations.

From the United States to China and from Brazil to India, an authoritarian approach to news is spreading across the world. Increasingly, the media is no longer a check on power or a source of objective information but a means by which governments and leaders can propagate their versions of reality, however biased or false. In Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News (Columbia UP, 2025), Dr. Martin Moore and Dr. Thomas Colley show how states are battling to control and shape the news in order to entrench their power, evade scrutiny, and ensure that their political narratives are accepted. Combining in-depth analyses of seven countries with a compelling range of stories and characters from around the world, they demonstrate the unprecedented scale and scope of governments’ efforts to take control of the media. Dictating Reality details how Xi’s China, Putin’s Russia, Modi’s India, AMLO’s Mexico, Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Orban’s Hungary have all sought, in their different ways, to exploit news to manufacture alternative realities—and how their methods have taken hold in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other democracies. Combining keen analysis of contemporary world events with years of original research, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how authoritarian leaders use the media, why more and more people are living in different realities, and the ways democracy is under threat. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Dr. Muhammad Atique, an expert in Digital Governance and founder of Atique Mindscape Publishing, dives into the transformative power of algorithms in our daily lives. He discusses how these algorithms shape our newsfeeds and influence our critical thinking. Atique highlights the risks of confirmation bias and advocates for mindful media consumption. He also explores the future of jobs in the AI landscape and emphasizes the importance of digital literacy. Ultimately, he urges a balance between technology use and maintaining personal connections.

Tamar Mitts, an Associate Professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, dives deep into the precarious world of online extremism. She discusses how different moderation standards create safe havens for hate groups to organize and mobilize, revealing the tactical adaptations they employ to bypass detection. Mitts critiques the varied approaches democracies take in regulating extremist content and raises concerns about potential centralization risks in moderation practices. Her insights illuminate the delicate balance between combating hate and protecting free speech.

Rob Wells, a visiting associate professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, dives into the fascinating life of Willard Kiplinger, the founder of the groundbreaking Kiplinger Washington Letter. He discusses Kiplinger's unique position at the crossroads of finance and politics during the New Deal, and how his insightful journalism bridged these worlds. Wells also explores the complexities of unbiased reporting today, emphasizing the importance of transparency and media literacy, while reflecting on the entrepreneurial spirit that defined Kiplinger's legacy.

Nora Kenworthy, a Professor at the University of Washington, dives deep into the complexities of healthcare crowdfunding in her new book. She reveals how platforms like GoFundMe are reshaping access to medical care and exposing societal inequalities. Kenworthy discusses the narratives of deservingness that impact fundraising success and critiques the notion that crowdfunding democratizes charity. She also highlights emotional and social benefits of these campaigns while suggesting that they reflect broader systemic issues within healthcare.

A formal approach to anime rethinks globalization and transnationality under neoliberalism Anime has become synonymous with Japanese culture, but its global reach raises a perplexing question--what happens when anime is produced outside of Japan? Who actually makes anime, and how can this help us rethink notions of cultural production? In Anime's Identity: Performativity and Form Beyond Japan (U Minnesota Press, 2021), Stevie Suan examines how anime's recognizable media-form--no matter where it is produced--reflects the problematics of globalization. The result is an incisive look at not only anime but also the tensions of transnationality. Far from valorizing the individualistic "originality" so often touted in national creative industries, anime reveals an alternate type of creativity based in repetition and variation. In exploring this alternative creativity and its accompanying aesthetics, Suan examines anime from fresh angles, including considerations of how anime operates like a brand of media, the intricacies of anime production occurring across national borders, inquiries into the selfhood involved in anime's character acting, and analyses of various anime works that present differing modes of transnationality. Anime's Identity deftly merges theories from media studies and performance studies, introducing innovative formal concepts that connect anime to questions of dislocation on a global scale, creating a transformative new lens for analyzing popular media.Jingyi Li is a PhD Candidate in Japanese History at the University of Arizona. She researches about early modern Japan, literati, and commercial publishing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Maggie Gram is a writer, cultural historian, and designer. She leads an experience-design team at Google. She has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and Harvard University, and she has written for N+1 and the New York Times. She lives in New York. The Invention of Design: A Twentieth-Century History (Basic Books, 2025) Recommended Books: Henry Dreyfuss, Designing for People Dolly Alderton, Ghosts Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications