Prof Martin Scott wins Media Studies book of the year award
By: Communications
Professor Martin Scott has won the 2025 Monograph of the Year award from the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA), for 'Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and Voice of America' (Oxford University Press).
The MeCCSA Awards recognise outstanding research in the fields of media, communication, and cultural studies. Eligible outputs are those published/released in public domain in 2024 and nominated by peers.
This book, which Prof Scott co-authored with Prof Kate Wright (University of Edinburgh) and Prof Mel Bunce (City St George’s, University of London), examines how the Voice of America’s editorial independence was undermined during the first Trump administration.
The award judges described the book as a fascinating and important account of the way in which public service media have been captured by anti-democratic forces:
"It is a rigorous and scholarly text and is both empirically and theoretically driven. The monograph constitutes a timely intervention in its analysis of the current state of de-democratisation in the US and is a brave and important book."
Prof Scott said that he hoped this award would "raise the profile of the perilous state of press freedom around the world and of the need to take action to protect news organisations from political interference."
Find out more on the MeCCSA website.
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