Tom Nicholson: Gorila (2012) [Slovak]

“Kniha Toma Nicholsona je pokusom o sondu do stavu spoločnosti.

O otázkach, ktoré priniesla Gorila, nediskutovali len zasvätené elity, ale jednotlivé okolnosti spomínané v tomto materiáli rozoberali občania s nástojčivou potrebou dozvedieť sa viac o spise a jeho pozadí. V rámci verejnej diskusie politickí lídri nedokázali presvedčivo komunikovať a odpovedať na najdôležitejšiu otázku zo strany verejnosti. Príslušné orgány dodnes nepredložili dôveryhodné výsledky vyšetrovania. Vlažné reakcie politikov priniesli obrovskú aktivitu médií, ktoré sa kauze venovali. Celý proces sprevádzala neistota na strane novinárov.

Materiál Gorila by mal byť spravodajský spis, o ktorom – zatiaľ nemôžu svedčiť jeho autori a tvorcovia, lebo nie sú zbavení mlčanlivosti. Príbeh, ktorý budete čítať, je podávaný subjektívne, z pohľadu autora. Nie je len o samotnom údajnom spise Gorila, ale aj o tom, ako spis vznikol, ako s ním narábal autor a ako reagovali politici či polícia. Je to príbeh, v ktorom nájdete gaunerov aj pozitívne ohlasy.

Tom Nicholson rieši dilemy a opisuje svoju novinársku cestu za overovaním autenticity tohto materiálu. Robí štandardnú novinársku prácu a je na čitateľovi, aby posúdil, či ju odviedol kvalitne, alebo nie. Táto kniha nevie jednoznačne doložiť autenticitu spisu Gorila a nie je ani jej ambíciou o tomto čitateľa presvedčiť.”

Publisher Dixit, s.r.o., 2012
ISBN 9788097103910

spis Gorila, (záloha, TXT)
Od Fica do Fica (filmový dokument Zuzany Piussi, 80 min., 2012), režisérkin komentár

recenzia knihy (Tomáš Němeček, Lidové noviny)

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Wikipedia (English)
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Alexander R. Galloway: The Interface Effect (2012)

“Interfaces are back, or perhaps they never left. The familiar Socratic conceit from the Phaedrus, of communication as the process of writing directly on the soul of the other, has returned to center stage in today’s discussions of culture and media. Indeed Western thought has long construed media as a grand choice between two kinds of interfaces. Following the optimistic path, media seamlessly interface self and other in a transparent and immediate connection. But, following the pessimistic path, media are the obstacles to direct communion, disintegrating self and other into misunderstanding and contradiction. In other words, media interfaces are either clear or complicated, either beautiful or deceptive, either already known or endlessly interpretable.

Recognizing the limits of either path, Galloway charts an alternative course by considering the interface as an autonomous zone of aesthetic activity, guided by its own logic and its own ends: the interface effect. Rather than praising user-friendly interfaces that work well, or castigating those that work poorly, this book considers the unworkable nature of all interfaces, from windows and doors to screens and keyboards. Considered allegorically, such thresholds do not so much tell the story of their own operations but beckon outward into the realm of social and political life, and in so doing ask a question to which the political interpretation of interfaces is the only coherent answer.

Grounded in philosophy and cultural theory and driven by close readings of video games, software, television, painting, and other images, Galloway seeks to explain the logic of digital culture through an analysis of its most emblematic and ubiquitous manifestation – the interface.”

Publisher Polity, 2012
ISBN 0745662528, 9780745662527
170 pages

Review: McKenzie Wark (Public Seminar, 2015).

Publisher

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Stephen Harper: Beyond the Left: The Communist Critique of the Media (2012)

Attacking the cherished assumptions of liberal media criticism, Beyond the Left updates and recharges the Marxist critique of the media.

The ideological distortions of the conservative media, from Fox News to the Daily Mail, are widely acknowledged and often denounced among contemporary critics and commentators. But what if The Guardian newspaper and BBC news, in fact, constitute the most insidious forms of capitalist propaganda? In a wide-ranging and erudite polemic, Beyond the Left analyses capitalist news and current affairs media from a radical perspective. The book rejects the liberal and pluralist paradigms that often underpin critiques of the media, showing how media texts reflect and reinforce the material interests of the ruling class and arguing that the principal ideological menace today is posed not by the right wing, but by the left-liberal media, as it co-opts and obscures radical political positions and reinforces a range of mystifications, from anti-fascism and humanitarian war to green politics. Drawing on the work of radical media critics as well as the writings of revolutionary communist groups and considering the recent reporting of war, industrial action, immigration and the environment, Beyond the Left updates and recharges the Marxist critique of the media.

Publisher Zero Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing, 2012
ISBN 1846949769, 9781846949760
114 pages

review (Laura Cooke, Socialist Review)

publisher
google books

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