HAROLD INNIS AND 'THE BIAS OF COMMUNICATION'

Fifty years after his death, Harold Innis remains one of the most widely cited but least understood of communication theorists. This is particularly true in relation to his concept of 'bias'. This paper reconstructs this concept and places it in the context of Innis' uniquely non-Marxist dialectical materialist methodology. In so doing, the author emphasises ongoing debates concerning Innis' work and demonstrates its utility in relation to contemporary analyses of the Internet and related developments.