This study is of the coverage provided by the BBC Home and European Services of the Final Solution from the beginning of 1942 until VE-Day. In other words, from the beginning of industrialised murder of Jews in western, central and eastern Europe to the German surrender. It does not cover, except in the introductory chapter, the earlier stages of what became known as the Holocaust. Neither does it examine what happened once the war and the Final Solution had ended. Issues related to the impact of Final Solution and the ability of the BBC to react to it, such as antisemitism and the level of third-party influence over the BBC, are also examined. This is a history of both the British response to the Final Solution and the way in which one of the most important institutions of twentieth century Britain, the BBC, coped with the single most important story it has ever covered. It is found that there was a large amount of coverage by both the Home and European services. Taking the Home Service first, coverage was heavy at times when the British and Polish governments found themselves able to confirm the information coming out of Europe. The Home Service insisted throughout that it limit its coverage to news bulletins, for fear of increasing antisemitism within Britain. This, and much of the general reluctance to emphasis news of the specifically anti-Jewish nature of the Final Solution, grew out the belief that it was both wrong and counter-productive to assign any special significance to the plight of the Jews. The European Service was more flexible and broadcast a great deal of coverage. However its main overseers, the Political Warfare Executive, had a substantial say in what emerged. The political context of information about the Final Solution often made them reluctant to sanction broadcasting about it. Not all that could have been broadcast was.

On the 14th of November 1922, those with radios in the south of England tuned into the first broadcast of the newly formed British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Hidden away from public view in Marconi House, on The Strand in London, was the technology that converted the sound waves of the studio into radio waves, amplifying them so that they could reach across the ether into thousands of homes across the country. This technology was the 2LO transmitter, and this thesis traces its journey from this remote place to the national platform of the Science Museum nearly ninety years later. Engaging with a range of theories relating to object theory and material culture, this thesis initially considers 2LO as a representative of the BBC: rarely seen apart from by a privileged few yet facilitating a connection which eventually stretched across the UK. It then follows 2LO's removal from London to Brookman's Park in Hertfordshire and its transformation into a display piece that played a key role in the corporate image making of the BBC. It also explores the personal affection that this object inspired in many of those who worked with it, often saving it from near disaster until it came safely to the Science Museum in 2002. This thesis then goes on to look more closely at the physical object, tracing the marks of time on the materials that make up 2LO. Through this exercise, 2LO is literally rather than socially deconstructed, with issues of authenticity and the aesthetics of age being discussed. Through the use of ethnography and interview this thesis goes on to look at the role of 2LO within the Science Museum, and the conscious way in which cultural institutions shape narratives for the public. Across a range of institutional spaces 2LO's image has been shaped into that of an ‘icon of broadcasting history', and at present is destined for a multi-million pound gallery based on the history of communications. In closely following the life of a unique object, this thesis seeks to unpick our complex relationship with the ‘things' in our world, and the multiple narratives that can be weaved around even one piece of material heritage.

This thesis is a theoretical and methodological engagement with the extent to which the public-private dichotomy is an appropriate and effective framework within which to critically approach the history of broadcasting regulation in the UK. The critical literature on the subject tends to present a narrative of decline, from an ethos of public service and citizenship, which is presumed to have enabled the public sphere, to a neoliberal faith in market logic and consumer choice, which is accused of undermining it. Much of this discussion is theoretically weakened, however, by a lack of engagement with the relevant literatures, and by the reduction to unitary oppositions between commonsensical terms of what are actually protean distinctions between contentious concepts. Taking this claim as its starting point, the thesis will attempt to clarify the ambiguity of the key concepts of debate on broadcasting regulation, recognising the need for the complexification of distinctions rather than their simplification or abandonment. Although not arguing that the assumptions or conclusions in the dominant literature are incorrect, the aim of the thesis is nevertheless to move away from an approach that identifies public service broadcasting (PSB) with political citizenship and the public sphere, and to explore instead the ways in which the distinction between public and private, and that between citizens and consumers, has always been a negotiated and unresolved process. Consequently, critical engagement with theoretical debates on citizenship, consumption, neoliberalism and the public sphere, as well as with methodological debates on the critical and genealogical approaches to discourse analysis, will be undertaken as a first step towards a more theoretically-informed (and more critical) genealogical account of the history of broadcasting regulation.

This study investigated the potential of local radio as a source of agricultural communication in Ghana. The main thrust of the research was to investigate the levels of unaided recall and comprehension of agricultural radio messages among rural farmers. Eight experiments were conducted in eight rural communities. In all, 252 farmers were used as subjects for the experiments. The experiments investigated the effects of specific production and audience factors on unaided recall and message understanding. The survey involved the use of questionnaires to gather data through interviews with 365 farmers. Survey methodology was used to profile rural radio listeners in Ghana; and to glean insights into the sources of general and agricultural news for rural farmers, the farmers' radio listening behaviours, radio programme format preferences, and their levels of adoption of radio agricultural messages. Unaided recall and comprehension of broadcast news were found to be generally low. Two programming variables --- recaps of news items and repeat broadcasts --- demonstrated significant impact on farmers' recall and comprehension of radio agricultural messages. Item duration was found to be very potent in influencing memory recall. Younger farmers recorded significantly higher unaided recall and comprehension scores than older farmers; and farmers with higher education performed better in free recall and comprehension of broadcast messages than those with lower levels of education. The study found that radio is the most popular source of general and agricultural news to farmers. The farmers relied mostly on radio, extension agents and interpersonal communication for agricultural information. While the farmers reported that the extension agent was the most credible among all the sources of agricultural communication, they rated radio as the most reliable.

This thesis argues that the wartime broadcasts carried out by the Czechoslovak Government-in-exile in London during the Second World War constituted a performance of government in the absence of real executive or administrative power. Despite a ban on listening to foreign broadcasts in the German-occupied Protectorate and in Slovakia, the regular broadcasting slots offered to the exile government by their hosts at the BBC provided the strongest connection between the London Czechoslovaks and their audience at home. President Bend and his government exploited the possibilities offered by the medium of radio to establish their own authority and legitimacy before this audience, and to issue instructions to the population from exile. They presented listeners with an interpretation of Czechoslovakia as both a state and a nation which drew heavily on established narratives and tropes from the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) and the Czech National Revival of the nineteenth century. This interpretation offered useful historical parallels for conflict with Germany and alliance with Russia but left little room for the concerns expressed by Slovak representatives regarding a return to the shared state. The Czech-dominated focus of much of the government's broadcasting was reflected in the narrow ' and negative propaganda to Slovakia which failed to address existing issues in Czech-Slovak relations from the interwar period. Broadcasting to Subcarpathian Ruthenia, constituting the last contact between a Czechoslovak government and a region that was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1945, revealed a disorganised approach to the region and became increasingly inaccurate in its predictions of a shared future as the USSR exerted greater influence over Czechoslovak policy. The various practical and ideological constraints on the exile government, working for the recreation of Czechoslovakia from Britain and in increasing close alliance with the Soviet Union, significantly limited their propaganda and thereby compromised their wartime performance.

The thesis investigates community radio as a tool for development drawing on case studies of Nkhotakota and Mzimba community radio stations in Malawi. The thesis employs communication for development and ‘another’ development theories to help understand the role of community radio in development. The research aims are firstly, to investigate the extent and ways in which community radio is used as a tool for development through audience participation; and secondly to examine the extent to which communication for development in community radio in Malawi takes the form of participatory communication. Using the case study approach (Yin, 2009), the thesis specifically examines the functions of participation in development through community radio; whether community radio can encourage development through enhancing capabilities and participation even when people do not own and manage the stations; how radio listening Clubs (RLCs) help to expand people’s capabilities; and how the programming of community radio in Malawi is influenced by the agendas of development agencies. Arnstein’s (1969) ladder of participation and Carpentier’s (2011) minimalist and maximalist versions of participation are adopted as criteria for evaluating the different levels of participation in and through community radio. The findings show that community radio in Malawi firstly, affords ordinary people opportunities to participate in the media and in development projects and, secondly informs people about development initiatives from development agencies. Although these functions overlap, the thesis finds that community radio stations in Malawi concentrate more on the latter. The programming of the stations is influenced by the agendas of development agents who sponsor programmes thereby reducing opportunities for participation. However, although people’s participation in the media is low or reduced, there are other ways in which through the media, people can benefit, enhance their capabilities and through which development agencies can reach their goals. The thesis argues that the radio stations fit well with an approach to development related to building capabilities (Sen, 1992) because they sometimes give people resources to enhance their capabilities and sometimes act as partners with development agencies and government, facilitating a variety of development goals. The thesis concludes that community radio in Malawi enables capabilities although very rarely through fully-fledged participation.

Several times in the BBC’s history, from the 1920s to the 1960s, scientific organisations (mainly the British Association) and numerous eminent scientists attempted to influence the management of science broadcasting. These attempts usually consisted of visits by scientific deputations to the BBC to argue for the reorganisation of science broadcasting. The historical part of the thesis narrates the so-far unpublished story of these interventions at the BBC, drawing on archival primary sources. The thesis sets these interventions in their historical context, and also in the context of BBC science production. The historical context of science production at the BBC, described here, is another little researched and largely unknown topic. The interventions are shown to have been strikingly consistent over several decades. Scientists argued that the public should be better informed about science, and that the BBC had a duty to promote the public understanding of science. To facilitate this, scientists argued that science production should be centralised, and that scientists should be given significant control over science programme planning. The responses of BBC managers to these interventions are shown also to have been strikingly consistent. Managers reiterated the professionalism and competence of production staff, and presented evidence of the BBC’s commitment to science programming. The thesis draws on several bodies of scholarship in concert to gain theoretical insight into these interventions. Specifically, theoretical ideas relating to science communication, boundary work, and the construction of scientific authority give analytical purchase on the conduct of the scientists. Similarly, theoretical ideas on the nature of professionalism, public-service broadcasting, and the relationship of organisational structure to behaviour give insight into the conduct of BBC managers, and into the conduct of the scientists. This theoretical background shows how the resolution of the issue in 1964 served a strategic function for the BBC.

This thesis presents a cross-national comparison of Charles Dickens’s television adaptations produced across Western Europe (specifically by national broadcasters in France, Italy and Spain) with particular reference to the Public Service Broadcasting era. This was an important period for the development of European television and the reaffirmation of values linked to national identity after the events of World War Two. The thesis suggests that television adaptations contributed to the consolidation of forms of national identity in Western Europe, with each country applying its own version of the Public Service Broadcasting ethos. By focusing on the years 1962-1970 - when European TV networks produced many transpositions inspired by Charles Dickens’s writings - this work discusses how these adaptations contributed to the establishment of certain forms of national identity in the countries chosen for analysis. By doing do, it also aims to reinforce the importance of cross-national comparisons of European television histories, while arguing the necessity of expanding those analyses to use specific genres and broadcasts (in this case, adaptations) to illustrate the development of national broadcasters throughout the monopoly era. By using academic materials, newspaper and magazine reviews, television listings, and textual and contextual analysis, this work discusses how Spain, France and Italy, through the development of the adaptation genre and television itself, attempted to consolidate and reaffirm their own particular forms of national identity. I use Dickens’s adaptations as an example of how adaptations contributed to the dominance of PSB (and its frequently centralised notion of nationalism) in the countries selected for analysis. Rather than carrying out traditional ‘literary’ analysis of the adaptations, the thesis, therefore, examines them as television works, taking particular care to highlight how they reflect a specific nation, society and socio-political culture. In doing so, it attempts to provide the field of European TV studies - particularly in relation to that of adaptation history and Dickensian studies - with some much needed cross-national case-studies from a hugely important period of television history.

The mobile phone is a ubiquitous tool in today’s society, a daily companion for the majority of British citizens. The ability to trace a mobile phone’s geographic position at all times via mobile phone networks generates potentially sensitive data that can be stored and shared for significant lengths of time, particularly for the purpose of crime and terrorism investigations. This thesis examines the implications of the storage and use of mobile phone location data on individuals’ perceptions of privacy. The grounded theory methodology has been used to illustrate patterns and themes that are useful in understanding the broader discourses concerning location data relating to privacy, technology and policy-setting. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a substantive theory grounded in empirical data from interviews, mobile phone location tracking and a survey. This theory is specific to a particular area, as it maps the relationship between mobile phone location data and perceptions of privacy within the UK. The theory confirms some arguments in the literature that argue that the concept of privacy is changing with individuals' increased dependence on electronic communications technologies in day-to-day life. However, whilst individuals tend to hold a rather traditional picture of privacy, not influenced by technology and solely related to their own personal lives, scholars paint a picture of privacy that is affected by technology and relates to society as a whole. Digital mass data collections, such as communications data retention, are not perceived as privacy invasive by individuals. Mobile phone location data is not seen as related to a citizen's daily life but instead primarily as a crime investigation tool. A recognition and understanding of the divergence between the perceptions and definitions of privacy between individuals and the academic literature in relation to mobile phone location data is of relevance, as it should impact on future policies regulating the gathering, storage and analysis of personal data.

This thesis investigates if and how participatory communication can contribute to community resilience in a disaster context. Investigating a longitudinal case study of Radyo Bakdaw, a humanitarian radio station in the Philippines, I focus on two key areas of participatory communication: access to information and community inclusion. I use the concept of social capital in the forms of generalised reciprocity, accountability, mental wellbeing and relationship building as a tool to investigate community resilience. The rising impact of natural hazard-related disasters has seen a call by policy actors to build community resilience. While grey and academic resilience literature frequently mention communication, thorough understanding of it is often lacking, especially on the details of communication processes and their impact. This reveals the need for empirical academic research to contribute to a critical and more nuanced understanding regarding if and how participatory communication can build and strengthen community resilience. The thesis addresses this lack of detail and empirical research, by examining different types of participatory communication and how these may contribute to community resilience in a disaster context. My research is based on a longitudinal single case study of a humanitarian radio station, Radyo Bakdaw, in the Philippines. I use both qualitative and quantitative research methods, adopting an embedded research approach with participatory elements. The case study was researched during two field trips (lasting 10 and 12 weeks) to the Philippines after super typhoon Haiyan, one month and eight months after the typhoon made landfall. Ultimately, my thesis offers new and original evidence on where different types of participatory communication can and cannot contribute to characteristics of community resilience, and shows how participatory communication works in a humanitarian context. The thesis further provides an innovative framework of how to empirically investigate participatory communication in a humanitarian context.