Introduction

In a 1993 article in the Journal of Communication, leading critical political economists Eileen Meehan, Vincent Mosco, and Janet Wasco argued that developments in capitalism, the media, and the academy required a “rethinking” of political economy (Meehan et al., 1993). Global capitalism was in the midst of post-Soviet economic restructuring, and Reagan-era re-regulation had given rise to giant, transnational media conglomerates. The static, descriptive models of neoclassical economists failed to explain these developments (if they attempted at all), and postmodernists seemed content with describing people's playful appropriation of media and culture. Meehan et al. argued a critical political-economic intervention was needed, but this, too, would require some “rethinking.”