No cause for celebration: the rise of celebrity news values in the British quality press

In their study of news values in in the British press Harcup and O’Neill (2001) noted that celebrity was one of the redefinitions of the ‘taxonomy of news values for the twenty-first century’. At the time, Harcup and O’Neill made no judgement about the changes in news values in their redefinition, nor did their research focus on the relative importance and potency of certain news values in the hierarchy of news. Using celebrity case studies from recent decades in the British ‘quality’ press, this article seeks to do just that, demonstrating that the pervasiveness and volume of coverage of celebrity has risen exponentially over 30-plus years. Celebrity/entertainment news values would appear to have risen much higher up the hierarchy of news, guaranteeing extensive coverage if combined with other news values such as surprise and bad news. The findings give rise to a wider debate and concerns about the colonisation of celebrity news and dumbing down in so many areas of British journalism, and the implications for the public and educators

From Hunky Heroes to Dangerous Dinosaurs: Journalism-union relations, news access and press coverage in the 2002-3 British Fire Brigades Union dispute

Using the UK Fire Brigades Union dispute of 2002-3 as a case study, this paper assesses current union-journalism relations and briefly outlines the FBU’s campaign to access the news agenda. Using quantitative methodology, it analyses the dispute coverage in the UK national press. While there are some opportunities that unions can exploit, such as 24-hour news and live broadcasts, newspaper analysis indicates that national press coverage generally favoured government and other elite sources as primary definers. While the FBU was given at least equal space to put its case in nearly half of all articles, certain sections of the press seemed impervious to any amount of public relations activity: five out of the nine papers analysed – the Mail, Express, Telegraph, The Times and the Sun – reveal coverage heavily loaded against the union, with the Times and Sun giving negligible space to the union viewpoint and choosing to use overwhelmingly hostile sources, narratives and opinions. It concludes that, in line with the findings of previous studies by the Glasgow University Media Group, public relations and media strategies have limited impact, at least in the UK press

A sporting chance for women? Exploring gender imbalance on the sports desks of UK national newspapers

Sports journalism has traditionally been seen as a male domain, and a number of researchers suggest that this tradition has not changed (Strong, 2007) . Sports reporters in the United Kingdom remain predominantly male, and despite increasingly more women having entered sports journalism since the women’s movement of the 1970s, the number of women sports writers remains relatively low (Franks, 2013; Chambers et al, 2004). In recent years there has been some considerable progress regarding the visibility of women in broadcast sports journalism and in particular the London Olympics in 2012 was a watershed for UK broadcasting, but there are still very few women sports writers in the UK newspaper industry, and sports journalism remains a largely male-dominated area in countries all over the world. (Hardin & Shain, 2005

Female politicians in the British press: The exception to the ‘masculine’ norm?

As educators of journalists we are concerned with some of the most fundamental questions about the relationship between the media and democracy, and this we argue, is gendered. Through content analysis and interviews we look at the ways in which women MPs are represented in the British Press. We show that the way in which they are reported (or ignored) positions them as dierent from the ‘male norm’ and this in turn has consequences for the ways in which democratic politics is written about by journalists and experienced by female MPs. A press rep-resentation of women that sometimes serves to suggest politics is a ‘man’s game’, where women are regarded as the aberrant, exception to the rule, can alienate women representatives and likely future candidates. This in turn may have negative consequences for the democratic process, whereby women voters feel unrepresented in Parliament and turn away from political engagement

What Is News? Galtung and Ruge revisited

This study aims to shed light on the news selection process by examining the news values currently operational in British newspapers. The study takes as its starting point Galtung and Ruge's widely cited taxonomy of news values established in their 1965 study and puts these criteria to the test in an empirical analysis of news published in three national daily UK newspapers. A review of Galtung and Ruge's original study as well as a wider review of related literature is provided. The findings of the news content analysis are used to evaluate critically Galtung and Ruge's original criteria and to propose a contemporary set of news values

Declassing the Academy

© 2022 Intellect Ltd. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1386/jclc_00001_2Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Women Politicians in the UK Press: Not seen and not heard?

This article asks questions about the ways in which female politicians are depicted in press coverage. Previous research has explored the ways in which female politicians are constructed as ‘other’ from the male politician norm (Van Zoonen, 2006), where ‘men were taken to stand for the whole human population’ (Gill, 2007a: 9). Other work has shown that coverage emphasises their appearance (Garcia-Blanco and Wahl-Jorgensen, 2011) or femininity (Harmer and Wring, 2013). But there has been less research on the visibility of women in politics in our media: women not only need to be involved in politics, they need to be seen to be doing political work. Through analysis of British press coverage using samples from the last 20 years, we examine the relative visibility of women MPs compared to men, the extent to which their voice is heard, and the context of the coverage. We argue this may well contribute to deterring women from taking part in Parliamentary politic

Insights into the professional learning of physics teachers: an examination of Novice teachers’ experiences of transition

This thesis explores the overarching question: “How can we enhance physics teacher professional learning in Ireland?” The rationale for this thesis stems from the persistent low numbers of students studying physics and the low number of physics teachers in secondary schools. Professional Learning and Transition Theory underpin the conceptual and theoretical assumptions of this research and a qualitative paradigm encompasses the data collection methods and analytical strategy. This research adopts a case study methodology to examine the experiences of teachers as they transition from being a pre-service teacher to a newly qualified teacher and engage in professional learning opportunities. Findings from the pilot study presented in this thesis, suggest approaches to enhance teacher professional learning that are focussed on collaborative learning, creative planning, reflective practice and diversity and inclusion. Two case studies with novice physics teachers explore ways to enhance initial teacher education by gaining a deeper understanding of how they experience the transition from pre-service teacher to newly qualified teacher. Support through collaborative networks, developing a teacher identity, managing expectations and reflective practice are some of the recommendations that this thesis presents, to promote a successful adaptation and a gradual transition into the teaching profession

Little to Hope and Much to Fear: radical education and the working class

© 2021 The Author. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article engages with the question of a radical political education from the perspective of a global working class. It explores what form such an education would take and why such an education is central to the creation of a new society. Situating the discussion within a Marxist framework it argues that while it is possible for education to bring about social change a radical political education can only take place outside of the institutions of formal education. It explores the ways in which neoliberalism with the support of the middle class makes an education in the pursuit of justice and the liberation of the working class increasingly difficult. It does not provide any definitive answers but rather offers the possibility of a critical engagement with the questions it raises.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

New Values and Selectivity in the Construction of News: Commentary on Peer-Reviewed Published Research Articles

This Commentary critically appraises my body of work over 15 years, the starting and end points being an exploration of the news values underlying the selection of news carried out 15 years apart, via various case study research articles that examine the type and quality of news that audiences receive. This body of work interrogates – from a range of perspectives – the ways in which some voices are privileged in the press, others are marginalised, while still others are absent in the news. I explore these issues from the perspective of the selection of news, through news values and source selection; how journalists develop those values and use sources to shape the news; the manner in which labour disputes are reported and trade union officials and members are legitimised or delegitimised; the extent to which celebrities are adopted and promoted in the news; how the views and achievements of women politicians are reported; and whether women have made headway in sports news, both in terms of the coverage of women athletes and in sports writing. The Commentary contextualises this body of work within both critical theoretical perspectives and rapid cultural, technical and social changes to situate the nine publications submitted for the degree to make clear the coherent nature of my inquiries. In this research I have maintained a contemporary analytical approach that suggests that the processes by which sources are chosen and news is selected undermines the plurality of voices in the press; that previous understandings of news values are outdated and that news values change over time and need to be revisited; that independent reporting is limited and a great deal of news relies on press subsidies with vested interests; and that ideological factors are frequently being played out in the news we receive. All of these findings have negative implications for the range and quality of our news. My findings have contributed to national and international debates about the news media, including an All-Party Parliamentary Report into Women in Parliament, challenged taken-for granted views about the news we receive and questioned the quality and bias of our news. The research has been disseminated nationally and internationally at leading conferences and in international journals and books, and in press articles, and is widely cited