Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century: A National Newspaper Study of England and Wales

By the end of the twentieth century, Freemasonry had acquired an unsavoury reputation as a secretive network of wealthy men looking out for each other's interests. The popular view is of an organisation that, if not actually corrupt, is certainly viewed with deep mistrust by the press and wider society. Focusing particularly on the role of the press, this book investigates the transformation of the image of Freemasonry in Britain from respectability to suspicion. Through this examination a number of related social trends are addressed, including the decline of deference, the erosion of privacy, greater competition in the media, the emergence of more aggressive and investigative journalism, the consequences of media isolation and the rise of professional Public Relations.

Author: Paul Calderwood
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 05/22/2013
Pages: 378
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.57lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9781409454335

About the Author
Paul Calderwood graduated in History from the University of Leicester and subsequently spent his working life in journalism and public relations. More recently, his work has been featured in The Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, the leading academic journal in this field. For his paper on Freemasonry and Architecture in Twentieth-century Britain, he was awarded the Norman B Spencer Prize by Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the premier lodge of Masonic research, in 2010, and, in the following year, he received the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Goldsmiths, University of London for his thesis on the history of Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth-century Britain.