Assessing glacier retreat and landform production at the ‘debris-charged’ snout of Kvíárjökull, Iceland

Iceland is a critical location for the study of glacier fluctuations and landform production in response to climate change due to its diverse glacial legacy and its archive of aerial photographs that provide accurately dated records of glacier retreat and landform evolution from 1945. This study focuses on Kvíárjökull, an outlet glacier of the Öræfajökull ice cap in southeast Iceland, recently classified as a ‘debris-charged glacier landsystem’. Digital photogrammetry was applied on five sets of aerial photographs from 1945 to 2003 in order to produce Digital Elevation Models from which measurements of morphometric change within the glacier snout and foreland were made. This analysis was combined with field assessments and geomorphological mapping to investigate the evolution of landforms from complex debris transport pathways and the impact of ice marginal dynamics on moraine evolution. The temporal pattern of retreat of Kvíárjökull correlates with fluctuations in air temperature with a lag of about 10 years compared to other Icelandic glaciers. Ice-marginal pushing during lateral fluctuations of the snout results in the construction of push moraine ridges and the destruction of controlled moraine derived from englacial debris concentrations. Accelerated snout retreat between 1998 and 2003 exceeded the rate of increase in air temperature and is attributed to the growth of proglacial and supraglacial lakes associated with high rates of backwasting. Backwasting of ice cores consumes ridges of high relief, thus, reducing the preservation of controlled moraine ridges. A model for the de-icing of ice-cored moraines is presented in which ice-cores remain in the landscape for up to 83 years after detachment from the glacier snout. A debris-charged glacier landsystem model is presented in which hummocky moraine complexes comprise three process-sediment-landform associations: chaotic hummocky moraine, with minor elements of linearity resulting from the stagnation of controlled moraine; heavily channelized moraine complexes; and, most prevalent, discontinuous push moraine ridges formed during ice-marginal pushing. A time series of five 1:10,000 geomorphological maps illustrates the evolution of this landsystem and provides an unprecedented record of cryospheric change

Myths about media studies: the construction of media studies education in the British press

This article examines the construction and representation of Media Studies education in the British press. Drawing on an empirical analysis of five years of newspaper coverage, it concludes that Media Studies has been predominantly represented and framed as a ‘soft’ or ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject, with over half (61.1%) the news stories analysed approaching it through this lens. It shows that the right of centre British press in particular promoted this understanding of Media Studies as a subject devoid of educational value and with low potential for employability, rather than a legitimate option for study. When themes could be approached from either a negative or positive viewpoint (such as employability prospects and subject value), more often than not the negative perspective dominated. This article argues that this perspective has been bolstered by these newspapers largely through their justification of government action and policy towards the subject, which is framed as a positive interjection and opportunity for protecting educational standards. Ultimately, we show that the British debate surrounding Media Studies has been informed by a top-down discourse of elite political and Conservative party sources, with a scarcity of oppositional or broader political representation – a landscape that frames Media Studies education as a delegitimized and worthless pursuit of study

Between a 'media circus' and 'seeing justice being done': metajournalistic discourse and the transparency of justice in the debate on filming trials in British newspapers

Public trust in the criminal justice system in England and Wales has been low since the 1990s, and accusations that the system is arcane, lacking transparency, soft on criminals, and removed from the society it serves are common. The government, together with many lawyers, journalists and experts, believe that lifting the ban on televising trials may enhance the transparency of the judicial system, and eventually lead to higher levels of public trust. Drawing on the most systematic content analysis of the coverage of this debate between 1984 and 2016, we analyse how this issue was debated in British national newspapers. In addition to examining how newspapers presented this policy debate, we also explore how the coverage discussed the impact that filming trials could have upon journalistic practice. Our analysis shows how metajournalistic discourse resorts to high-profile and celebrity cases when examining journalistic practice. Newspapers constructed this issue as a quandary between increasing the transparency of the judicial system, and the risk that justice would become sensationalised, ignoring key elements in the debate, and the role that journalists themselves may play in that process

The normalization of surveillance and the invisibility of digital citizenship: media debates after the Snowden revelations

Based on an analysis of newspaper and blog coverage of the Snowden revelations and their aftermath, our study demonstrates that newspapers normalize surveillance by highlighting concerns over national security and focusing on surveillance of elites, and minimize the attention given to the mass surveillance of citizens. By contrast, blogs allow more critical discussions relevant to digital citizenship, enabling debates on civil rights and privacy. This article argues that if conventional media limit debates relevant to digital citizenship, blogs may provide a space that contests and makes visible the key problems scantly evident in newspapers. We suggest research on digital citizenship in mediated debates should focus on how political subjects are silenced, as well as the emerging spaces where this silence can be broken

Transformations through Twitter: The England riots, television viewership and negotiations of power through media convergence

The growth and widespread use of social media is altering the viewing experience for some television audiences quite considerably. Viewers are increasingly integrating social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook into their TV-watching experience to collectively discuss programmes and live TV events as they happen. In sum, viewers are watching television with their laptops or mobile devices at hand, seemingly in an effort to transform their experience into a social, or community event (Makice, 2009). This paper will examine this growing intersecting media landscape of television and social media, considering the consequences of increased audience involvement within this convergence. Analysing the Twitter-led engagement of viewers of Channel 4’s 2011 Street Riots: The Live Debate, this study illustrates how Twitter is being used by television audiences and networks surrounding the live broadcast of a programme. I show how the viewing audience uses Twitter to express their views on issues within the debate and also on the show itself, the importance of “liveness” (Auslander 2008) and the extended tweeting audience, and how information and knowledge is circulated, in form of “collective intelligence” (Lévy, 1997). I argue that we can see these processes resulting in a change in viewership for many individuals, subsequently influencing the ways in which audience and programmes engage with each other

Tracing textual poachers: reflections on the development of fan studies and digital fandom

In 1992 Henry Jenkins’ influential work, Textual Poachers, was published, which contributed towards igniting the establishment of the fan studies field of research and re-morphing previous restrictive depictions of media fans. This article traces the work’s influence on my own steps as an early career researcher in the field and how it shaped my ideas and approach to scholarship. Speaking more broadly, it assesses the current state of the fan studies field, and how things have developed since Jenkins’ text was released. I reflect on what general fluxes, concerns and dimensions are currently with us, through a lens of the themes raised in Textual Poachers, most especially surrounding the development of technology and social media, methods in the field and fans’ relations with texts, assessing to what degree we have moved forward, or remained in stasis within fan studies scholarship. This study argues that technological advances have impacted on and shaped four key, often interconnected, areas of fandom and enquiry: (1) communication, (2) creativity, (3) knowledge and (4) organizational and civic power. Overall, this article shows how Textual Poachers is an invaluable source to measure the field and landscape of fandom, and determine the extent to which it has seemingly leaped forward

Surveillance normalization and critique: News coverage and journalists’ discourses around the Snowden revelations

In the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s leaks about “bulk data collection” by the NSA and GCHQ, questions about mass surveillance have come to the forefront of public debate. This paper, based on (a) a comprehensive content analysis of newspaper coverage, and (b) interviews with journalists covering stories related to surveillance in the UK, outlines a key tension between journalists’ self-understandings and practices which has profound consequences: On the one hand, we suggest, media coverage contributes to normalizing surveillance by emphasizing concerns about national security and stressing the surveillance of elites, to the detriment of an interest in the gathering of “bulk data” on populations. On the other hand, journalists, though acknowledging national security concerns, are frequently critical of and resistant to the extent, nature and necessity of mass surveillance. Our paper suggests that despite journalists’ desire to communicate the complexities of mass surveillance, the structural constraints of their professional practice - in particular their reliance on official sources – make it difficult for reporting to move beyond the legitimating discourses provided by these official sources