Spies, Spin and the Fourth Estate British Intelligence and the Media

by Lashmar, Paul

• ISBN13: 9781474443081
• ISBN10: 1474443087
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2020-06-01
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

A former national security correspondent's groundbreaking account of the turbulent relationship between British Intelligence and the media

Combining his expertise as a national security correspondent and research academic, Paul Lashmar reveals how and why the UK media became more critical in its reporting of the Secret State. He explores a series of major case studies including Snowden, WikiLeaks, Spycatcher, rendition and torture, and MI5's vetting of the BBC - most of which he reported on as they happened.

Lashmar discusses the issues that news coverage raises for democracy and gives you a deeper understanding of how intelligence and the media function, interact and fit into structures of power and knowledge.

Author Biography

Paul Lashmar is Head of the Department of Journalism at City, University of London. He is a Reader in Journalism and written extensively about the world of spying, intelligence and terrorism for four decades. His research interests include investigative journalism, intelligence-media relations and organised crime. Paul has been an investigative journalist in television and print and on the staff of The Observer, Granada Television's World in Action current affairs series and The Independent newspapers. He has authored or co-authored a number of books including the textbook Online Journalism: The Essential Guide with Steve Hill (Sage, 2014).