Moving the Newsroom: Post-Industrial News Spaces and Places

Across the industry, we are seeing a wide-sweeping trend of newsrooms uprooting themselves: A.H. Belo, Gannett, MediaNews, Advance, Gate-House, Cox--small newspapers and large ones alike are listing their newsrooms for sale. Everyone from the private owners of the Syracuse Media Group, to the owners behind the Boston Herald, has moved buildings. This is a countrywide, size-wise trend1 that begs the questions: Is this just one more slap in the face for newsrooms now at their lowest staffing levels since the 1970s? Is it one more sign in line with the circulation declines and revenue slides that signals the inability of newsrooms to get their financial models right? Or perhaps, instead, there is another story to tell here, one embedded with the opportunity to think about a physical move as a way to shed the past and look forward to the future of news through tactile readjustment

Are newspapers heading towards post-print obscurity? A case study of The Independent’s transition to online-only

With print circulations in decline and the print advertising market shrinking, newspapers in many countries are under pressure. Some—like Finland’s Taloussanomat and Canada’s La Presse—have decided to stop printing and go online-only. Others, like the Sydney Morning Herald, are debating whether to follow. Those newspapers that have made the switch often paint a rosy picture of a sustainable and profitable digital future. This study examines the reality behind the spin via a case study of The Independent, a general-interest UK national newspaper that went digital-only in March 2016. We estimate that, although its net British readership did not decline in the year after it stopped printing, the total time spent with The Independent by its British audiences fell 81%, a disparity caused by huge differences in the habits of online and print readers. This suggests that when newspapers go online-only they may move back into the black, but they also forfeit much of the attention they formerly enjoyed. Furthermore, although The Independent is serving at least 50% more overseas browsers since going online-only, the relative influence on that growth of internal organizational change and external factors—such as the “Trump Bump” in news consumption—is difficult to determine

The Midlife Crisis of the Network Society

The network society is moving into some sort of middle age, or has at least normalized into the daily set of expectations people have for how they live their lives, not to mention consume news and information. In their adolescence, the technological and temporal affordances that have come with these new digital technologies were supposed to make the world better, or least they could have. There was much we did not foresee, such as the way that this brave new world would turn journalism into distributed content, not only taking away news organizations’ gatekeeping power but also their business model. This is indeed a midlife crisis. The present moment provides a vantage point for stocktaking and the mix of awe, nostalgia, and ruefulness that comes with maturity.Ope

Walking Forwards with Moral Injury: Narratives from Ex-serving Australian Defence Force Members

Military personnel can be exposed to events such as killing or human suffering that can breach or violate their core moral frameworks. The breaching or violation of one's core moral framework can create moral trauma-often termed "moral injury." Moral injury has gained increased attention during the last decade due to its links to military suicide. The core characteristics of moral injury have not yet reached a universal consensus but can include deep feelings of shame, guilt, distrust, anger, and self-condemnation. Few studies have focused on moral injury in Australia. This paper is one of several published from a larger PhD study. The purpose of this paper is to understand participants' experiences of moral injury. Analysis of the data revealed the overarching theme-walking forwards with moral injury-describing participants' experiences of living with a moral injury and how they navigated and made meaning of their experience. From this overarching theme, three sub-themes emerged: (a) meaning-making and moral injury, (b) narratives of transformation, and (c) leading the charge. The study found that to continue "walking forwards" a transformation of identity was needed. The transformation happened when an understanding of the meaning underpinning identity occurred, and when validation and reconciliation of the experience were achieved. These findings enhance knowledge of the mechanisms needed to better support veterans living with moral injury in Australia. Outcomes from this work may assist clinicians or those working with military veterans in providing more appropriate care to those experiencing moral injury

Lifestyle Intervention with or without Lay Volunteers to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes in People with Impaired Fasting Glucose and/or Nondiabetic Hyperglycemia:A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance:  Nearly half of the older adult population has diabetes or a high-risk intermediate glycemic category, but we still lack trial evidence for effective type 2 diabetes prevention interventions in most of the current high-risk glycemic categories. Objective:  To determine whether a group-based lifestyle intervention (with or without trained volunteers with type 2 diabetes) reduced the risk of progression to type 2 diabetes in populations with a high-risk glycemic category. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study was a parallel, 3-arm, group-based, randomized clinical trial conducted with up to 46 months of follow-up from August 2011 to January 2019 at 135 primary care practices and 8 intervention sites in the East of England. We identified 141 973 people at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, screened 12 778 (9.0%), and randomized those with a high-risk glycemic category, which was either an elevated fasting plasma glucose level alone (≥110 and <126 mg/dL [to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0555]) or an elevated glycated hemoglobin level (≥6.0% to <6.5%; nondiabetic hyperglycemia) with an elevated fasting plasma glucose level (≥100 to <110 mg/dL).Interventions A control arm receiving usual care (CON), a theory-based lifestyle intervention arm of 6 core and up to 15 maintenance sessions (INT), or the same intervention with support from diabetes prevention mentors, trained volunteers with type 2 diabetes (INT-DPM). Main Outcomes and Measures:  Type 2 diabetes incidence between arms.Results:  In this study, 1028 participants were randomized (INT, 424 [41.2%] [166 women (39.2%)]; INT-DPM, 426 [41.4%] [147 women (34.5%)]; CON, 178 [17.3%] [70 women (%39.3)]) between January 1, 2011, and February 24, 2017. The mean (SD) age was 65.3 (10.0) years, mean (SD) body mass index 31.2 (5) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), and mean (SD) follow-up 24.7 (13.4) months. A total of 156 participants progressed to type 2 diabetes, which comprised 39 of 171 receiving CON (22.8%), 55 of 403 receiving INT (13.7%), and 62 of 414 receiving INT-DPM (15.0%). There was no significant difference between the intervention arms in the primary outcome (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; 95% CI, 0.77-1.7; P = .51), but each intervention arm had significantly lower odds of type 2 diabetes (INT: OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.34-0.85; P = .01; INT-DPM: OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.96; P = .033; combined: OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38-0.87; P = .01). The effect size was similar in all glycemic, age, and social deprivation groups, and intervention costs per participant were low at $153 (£122). Conclusions and Relevance:  The Norfolk Diabetes Prevention lifestyle intervention reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes in current high-risk glycemic categories. Enhancing the intervention with DPM did not further reduce diabetes risk. These translatable results are relevant for current diabetes prevention efforts

Effects of the Norfolk diabetes prevention lifestyle intervention (NDPS) on glycaemic control in screen-detected type 2 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this recordAvailability of data and materials: The dataset used in this publication is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Background The purpose of this trial was to test if the Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study (NDPS) lifestyle intervention, recently shown to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes in high-risk groups, also improved glycaemic control in people with newly diagnosed screen-detected type 2 diabetes. Methods We screened 12,778 participants at high risk of type 2 diabetes using a fasting plasma glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). People with screen-detected type 2 diabetes were randomised in a parallel, three-arm, controlled trial with up to 46 months of follow-up, with a control arm (CON), a group-based lifestyle intervention of 6 core and up to 15 maintenance sessions (INT), or the same intervention with additional support from volunteers with type 2 diabetes trained to co-deliver the lifestyle intervention (INT-DPM). The pre-specified primary end point was mean HbA1c compared between groups at 12 months. Results We randomised 432 participants (CON 149; INT 142; INT-DPM 141) with a mean (SD) age of 63.5 (10.0) years, body mass index (BMI) of 32.4 (6.4) kg/m2, and HbA1c of 52.5 (10.2) mmol/mol. The primary outcome of mean HbA1c at 12 months (CON 48.5 (9.1) mmol/mol, INT 46.5 (8.1) mmol/mol, and INT-DPM 45.6 (6.0) mmol/mol) was significantly lower in the INT-DPM arm compared to CON (adjusted difference −2.57 mmol/mol; 95% CI −4.5, −0.6; p = 0.007) but not significantly different between the INT-DPM and INT arms (−0.55 mmol/mol; 95% CI −2.46, 1.35; p = 0.57), or INT vs CON arms (−2.14 mmol/mol; 95% CI −4.33, 0.05; p = 0.07). Subgroup analyses showed the intervention had greater effect in participants  65 years old; p = 0.007). The use of oral hypoglycaemic medication was associated with a significantly lower mean HbA1c but only within the INT-DPM arm compared to CON (−7.0 mmol/mol; 95% CI −11.5, −2.5; p = 0.003). Conclusion The NDPS lifestyle intervention significantly improved glycaemic control after 12 months in people with screen-detected type 2 diabetes when supported by trained peer mentors with type 2 diabetes, particularly those receiving oral hypoglycaemics and those under 65 years old. The effect size was modest, however, and not sustained at 24 months. Trial registration ISRCTN34805606. Retrospectively registered 14.4.16National Institute for Health Research (NIHR

Cyberspace and gay rights in a digital China: queer documentary filmmaking under state censorship

Owing to China’s austere censorship regulations on film media, directors of films and documentaries engaging with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themes have struggled to bring their work to domestic attention. Working outside of the state-funded Chinese film industry has become necessary for these directors to commit their narratives to film, but without approval of China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, these artists have had little chance of achieving widespread domestic distribution of their work. However, advancements in new media technology and Web 2.0, ranging from digital video formats to Internet-based distribution via social media networks and video-hosting platforms, provide opportunities for Chinese audiences to access films and documentaries dealing with LGBT themes. This empirical study assesses how production, promotion and consumption of queer documentary films are influenced by the development of social media within Chinese cyberspace. Through close readings of microblogs from Sina Weibo this study combines analysis of contemporary research with digital social rights activism to illustrate contemporary discourse regarding film-based LGBT representation in China. Finally, the study comments on the role that documentary filmmaking plays in China’s gay rights movement, and discusses the rewards (and challenges) associated with increased levels of visibility within society

Alfabetización digital y el futuro del periodismo

Nikki Usher (Profesora Asociada, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) es autora de dos libros fundamentales en el campo de los estudios del periodismo contemporáneo: Making News at The New York Times (2014), una etnografía a la sala de redacción de uno de los medios más influyentes en Occidente, e Interactive Journalism: Hackers, Data, and Code (2016), obra que explora y discute las intersecciones entre la producción noticiosa y las nuevas tecnologías. En la conferencia que dio en la escuela de Periodismo de la Universidad Finis Terrae el 19 de agosto del 2019 y que Comunicación y Medios publica en exclusiva, la autora reflexionó sobre los desafíos que representa para los periodistas del siglo XXI la alfabetización digital y el carácter decisivo de esta en los cambios comunicacionales, políticos y sociales. En otras palabras, ¿cómo es que los periodismos emergentes permiten “comprender y criticar el rol de las tecnologías digitales” en nuestras vidas? En vez de ahondar en el diagnóstico sobre la crisis del periodismo y el rol e identidades de este en la actualidad, la autora explora diversos horizontes que los periodistas pueden abrir en un ecosistema digital y convergente

Alfabetización digital y el futuro del periodismo

Nikki Usher (Profesora Asociada, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) es autora de dos libros fundamentales en el campo de los estudios del periodismo contemporáneo: Making News at The New York Times (2014), una etnografía a la sala de redacción de uno de los medios más influyentes en Occidente, e Interactive Journalism: Hackers, Data, and Code (2016), obra que explora y discute las intersecciones entre la producción noticiosa y las nuevas tecnologías. En la conferencia que dio en la escuela de Periodismo de la Universidad Finis Terrae el 19 de agosto del 2019 y que Comunicación y Medios publica en exclusiva, la autora reflexionó sobre los desafíos que representa para los periodistas del siglo XXI la alfabetización digital y el carácter decisivo de esta en los cambios comunicacionales, políticos y sociales. En otras palabras, ¿cómo es que los periodismos emergentes permiten “comprender y criticar el rol de las tecnologías digitales” en nuestras vidas? En vez de ahondar en el diagnóstico sobre la crisis del periodismo y el rol e identidades de este en la actualidad, la autora explora diversos horizontes que los periodistas pueden abrir en un ecosistema digital y convergente