“News Cabaret”: Live Journalism and Theatre “Making Human Contact Again with the News Agenda”

Abstract

At a time of political polarisation, social fragmentation and continuing mistrust in journalism, the practice of “live journalism” is flourishing. The practice aims to reconnect audiences and rebuild trust in news organisations through interactive events in public spaces. The authors of this paper experimented with a new format of putting news on stage involving both journalists and actors using theatrical and comic techniques to tell exclusive, unpublished stories in a show called News Cabaret. This article explores the reactions of the audience and participants to the event. The show consisted of eight dramatic pieces of journalism involving verbatim theatre techniques, stand-up comedy, sketches, monologues, songs, masks and improvisation. Discussions between cast, crew and audience took place during and after the show. We adopted a Reflective Practitioner Case Study approach and analysed surveys, recordings, observations and interviews. Our research suggests that using actors and theatrical devices to deliver content did not detract from quality journalism and resulted in some unexpected positive outcomes. The audience reported that the event challenged them to think and prompted some action, albeit limited. Results show that such events could be useful to revitalise journalism practice, challenge social and political norms and re-engage hard-to-reach audiences