School of Social and Political Science

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A book by School of Social and Political Science (SPS) academic Professor Kate Wright received honours from international communications organisations for its important insights into Donald Trump and the state-media network Voice of America (VOA). 

‘Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America’, (Oxford University Press, 2024) examines why and how one of the world’s most important public service news networks became intensely politicised during the final months of the first Trump administration.

It uses rare interviews and an analysis of private correspondence and internal documents, drawn from Freedom of Information archives, to explain how the ‘firewall’ between government and editorial activity failed.

The book warns that VOA could easily be turned into a state-controlled network, targeting audiences in the US, as well as overseas. 

The book’s authors are Professor Wright, Professor Martin Scott from the University of East Anglia, and Professor Mel Bunce from City St George’s, University of London.  

It has received a number of prestigious international and UK awards: 

• Honourable mention and runner-up for the Best Book Award from the Journalism Studies Division of the International Communication Association (ICA). 
   
• Finalist and runner-up for the Tankard Best Book Award from the international Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). 
   
• Finalist for the UK’s Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Outstanding Achievement of the Year Award, the winner of which will be announced in September. 

Find out more about Politics and International Relations at SPS here.