Jean Seaton is Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster in London. She is co-author (with James Curran) of the classic text Power Without Responsibility, (now in its fifth edition), and has recently been appointed as the official historian of the BBC in the 1980s.

Recent articles

When the media reports wars or disasters, why are death tolls announced before bodies are counted? And what does this do to our democracy? Jean Seaton, author of “Carnage and the Media”, dissects the numbers game.

The British experience shows that the public service model can offer a foundation of excellence across the broadcasting spectrum – as well as keeping us all honest. The story of Independent Television News reveals how commercial invention and imaginative regulation once worked in concert. Can they do so again?