Artificial Intelligence and Media Power: New Book by Zvezdan Vukanović Published in the USA

(Zvezdan Vukanović, Artificial Intelligence and the Recentralization of the Global Media Economy: Beyond Disruption. Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan - Springer Nature, 2026. 820 pages)

The professor's new, eighteenth book Zvezdan Vukanovic, assistant director of the Center for Tele-Information at Columbia University in New York and member of the board of directors of the International Academy of Media Management at Chicago's Northwestern University in Qatar, former president of the CANU Young Scholars Center, professor at universities in Vancouver, Toronto, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, was recently published by the New York publisher Palgrave Mamillan and the German Springer Nature.

Initial reactions from reviewers and the media indicate that this is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary work that is globally perceived as an intellectual feat, an impressive, masterful, excellent, encyclopedic scope; an ambitious and comprehensive book; a work that defines the framework of an entire field, an indispensable reading for academics and corporate executives, undoubtedly becoming an indispensable reference point for future research into the impact of artificial intelligence on the media.

The publisher has included Vukanović's book in the SpringerNature Link database, which is accessible to 50 million readers, including three million professors from 15.000 international universities and executives from the most important global media corporations. In the first two weeks, over a hundred university and corporate libraries purchased Vukanović's book, including over 1.500 readers of the digital edition of the book, so the publisher in New York has already decided to publish a second edition of the book for next year. The book is available on two leading global Internet portals, Google Books and Amazon books, as well as on the Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Nature portals. The book can be accessed at: https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/ai-and-the-recentralization-of-the-global-media-economy/53182830

Eli Noam, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York, member of the American Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum, former member of the Oxford Internet Institute, and the US President's Advisory Committee on Information Technology George W. Bush senior The review points out that in this timely, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and future-oriented book, Vukanović has shown how artificial intelligence is reshaping media industries, organizations, and products on a global scale, while simultaneously advancing conceptual frameworks for understanding the new dynamics of media power. Everett Denis, professor emeritus at Northwestern University in Chicago and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, expressed the view that this masterful and comprehensive study of the effects and influence of artificial intelligence on the global media environment represents an extraordinary intellectual feat and makes a significant and timely contribution to scientific research in the field of media economics and management. Jonathan Zittrane, professor of Internet and international law and intellectual property at Harvard and director of the Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, a former professor at Oxford, New York, and Stanford, notes that rather than dwelling on the simple question of whether AI will “save” or “destroy” the media, Vukanović details how AI and the media have already become intertwined. This book goes beyond simplistic media headlines and examines how the media, viewed from the outside, appear increasingly fragmented and democratized, while in their internal structure, control is concentrated within just a few multi-layered technological assemblies. For policymakers, industry leaders, scholars, and anyone who cares about whose hands media power is actually increasingly in, this is a sobering and useful guide. Robert G. Pikar, professor emeritus at the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford, says that Vukanović's new book shows how artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape established content distributors - publishers, networks, channels and studios - by redistributing power and control and displacing them outside of these traditional infrastructures. With a wide range of topics and insightful insights, this book is an essential read for executives and anyone seeking to understand artificial intelligence and strategic responses to it.

Lev Manovich, presidential professor at the Center for Graduate Studies at the City University of New York, emphasizes that Vukanović's book precisely shows how artificial intelligence lowers the barriers to content creation while simultaneously raising structural barriers to competition in large-scale business - and why those who control the entire infrastructure ultimately control the entire system.

Hoze van Dajk, Distinguished Honorary Professor at Utrecht University, former President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Arts (KNAW), believes that Vukanović's book is a must-read for anyone who wants to delve into the magic of artificial intelligence and understand how it is changing the very concept of intelligence. Kristof Mejnel, president of the German University of Digital Sciences in Berlin, emphasized in his review that Vukanović's book is an impressive and excellently written work in which the author encyclopedically considers how artificial intelligence is transforming, reorganizing, and recentralizing the global media economy. Stuart Cunningham, Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Universities of Queensland and Canberra, and a Fellow of the Royal Australian Academy of Humanities, believes that Vukanović has made an exceptional contribution to the deeply divided world of critical analysis and commentary seeking a clearer understanding of the impact of generative artificial intelligence on media and society.

Steven Wildman, professor emeritus at Michigan State University and former chief economist of the Federal Communications Commission, notes that Professor Vukanović's new book is impressive in its scope and ambition and represents an intellectual feat: it examines the impact of artificial intelligence on almost every component of the various value creation systems in the media, and then explores the implications for the media sector as a whole and media governance, and that it will undoubtedly become an indispensable reference point for future research on the impact of artificial intelligence on the media.

Professor Emeritus, University of North Texas at Dallas, Alan Albaran believes that Professor Vukanović's book stands out as a significant achievement focused on the future and indicates how artificial intelligence will fundamentally restructure the global media industry. Professor Andreas Kaplan, one of the world's leading experts and recognized authorities and futurologists of the digital age, author of the book "Virtual Universe - Unleashing the Potential of the Metaverse", pointed out that Vukanović's book, with its broad scope and in-depth analysis, defined the parameters of the expansion, concentration and consolidation of data models and platforms as new mechanisms for controlling access to culture, media reporting and capital.

Joshua Gans, a professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto, notes that Zvezdan Vukanović masterfully deconstructs the paradox of the media era powered by artificial intelligence. By viewing “code as capital,” Vukanović provides an indispensable, theoretically rich guide to navigating today’s consolidated algorithmic media landscape. Mike Virt, dean emeritus and professor emeritus of journalism and media at the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, says this book is a groundbreaking work and a must-read for media scholars, policymakers, and business strategists. The insights presented in this work are of fundamental importance and will guide research and thinking about artificial intelligence in media for years to come. Gillian Doyle, Professor of Media Economics at the University of Glasgow, suggests that by considering the adoption of AI through the prism of industry structure and governance systems, Zvezdan Vukanović’s book comes at the right time and contributes to both theoretical and empirical research. At a time of intense debate about the value and wider significance of AI, it offers a comprehensive and insightful analysis of how its ever-deepening integration into media systems can foster greater fragmentation while reinforcing the centralisation of power. John Oliver, media advisor to the British Parliament in London, points out that the strength of this book lies in its extraordinary interdisciplinary breadth. Offering a unique intellectual architecture, it rightly views artificial intelligence not only as a technological change but also as a powerful political-economic instrument. It is a timely consideration of the ways in which artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping media capitalism.

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