Blogging on the ice: Connecting audiences with climate-change sciences

Scientists working in Antarctica have recognized the need to counteract problems associated with mainstream media's treatment of the climate-change crisis. For this reason, several of them have assumed the role of citizen journalists in order to report on the effects of global warming first-hand. More specifically, they have chosen to communicate directly with the general public through official or personal blogs. In so doing they are capitalizing on the way the Internet is changing science news and journalism. This article draws on an analysis of more than 50 Antarctic blogs published during the International Polar Year (2007-08), as well as data from e-interviews with a broad selection of bloggers, in order to examine how scientists 'on the ice' act as citizen journalists. The article explores the idea of citizen journalism as education and the extent to which the scientists achieve an unmediated form of communication through their blogging efforts. It concludes by suggesting this new form of citizen journalism, beyond raising people's awareness of the climate-change crisis, also signals an important way in which mainstream environmental reporting can be reinvigorated. © 2013 Intellect Ltd Article

Live Blogging and Social Media Curation: Challenges and Opportunities for Journalism

Blogging and social media’s contribution to a realignment of the relationship between journalists and their audiences is discussed by Einar Thorsen in Live Blogging and Social Media Curation. Journalists are facing challenges to preserve traditional standards, such as verification of information and sources, whilst also capitalising on the opportunities afforded by the immediacy, transparency and interactive nature of online communication. Thorsen analyses these issues through two case studies: one focuses on ‘live’ blogging and elections, and a second looks at the role of social media in the Arab Spring. He demonstrates how journalists face new challenges in relation to social media curation, whilst the emergent forms and practices also present a wealth of opportunities

Student Wiki Pages: Online collaboration in a networked environment

This chapter is concerned with student collaboration and ‘peer-support’ pedagogy as facilitated by online learning environments. Specifically the chapter discusses the use of wiki tools as part of the e-learning strategy in a first year BA (Hons) Communication and Media unit at Bournemouth University. The pedagogical aim here is to assess students’ ability to work effectively in a computer-mediated environment by applying interpersonal communication skills taught in the unit, whilst fostering a professional engagement with the unit’s theoretical foundation and facilitating student-centred learning. The Student Wiki Pages is an educational strategy that encourages students to develop active learning, media literacy and scholarship at the start of their degree programmes, providing a solid underpinning for their future studies. Collaboratively producing a wiki means students have to be self-reflexive and critically evaluate their own notes from lectures and set readings on a weekly basis. Drawing on evidence from 2010/2011, the chapter will demonstrate how the Student Wiki Pages helped inspire students’ commitment to learning by analysing five core areas where student performance improved. Practical complexities of assessing collaborative learning will be evaluated, together with a discussion on how to manage student expectations in relation to grading and feedback

Routinisation of Audience Participation: BBC News Online, Citizenship and Democratic Debate

Leading up to the 2010 UK general election, Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, stressed the importance of the Corporation’s ability ‘to provide a strong and independent space where the big debates can take place, free from political or commercial influence’. ‘In this public space,’ he continued, ‘everyone can have access to the lifeblood of healthy democratic debate – impartial news and information’. Affirming the importance of BBC Online, Thompson described it as ‘being a cornerstone of what the BBC should be about’ (Thompson, 2010). As with previous elections, one of the key strategic priorities for the BBC’s Election 2010 website was to help inform the citizenry about the campaign and empower voters to make an informed choice. In the most traditional sense, this was achieved through the BBC’s journalism and a series of rich background features – e.g. guidance on voting procedures, MPs and parliamentary politics, and comparisons of party manifestos. The BBC election websites have also featured experimentation with various forms of audience engagement, exemplified by different interactive features on the BBC micro websites for the 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 UK general elections. This has traditionally been anchored in the Corporation’s public service commitment to facilitating ‘civic engagement’ and providing ‘democratic value’ to British citizens (see also Thorsen et al., 2009, Thorsen, 2010, 2011, Allan and Thorsen, 2010). The BBC’s news website was incredibly popular during the 2010 election according to visitor statistics. On results day, May 7, BBC News Online had 11.4 million individual users, breaking the previous record set on November 5, 2008, for the election of Barack Obama as US President (Herrmann, 2010). Comparing this to 2005, the number of unique visitors to the BBC’s election site on results day, May 6, was 3 million taking the overall BBC News Online total to 4.3 million (Ward, 2006:17). This demonstrates a near three-fold increase in individual users from one election to the next and indicates that whilst the internet might not be perceived as having had a significant impact on the election outcomes, the BBC has certainly had a considerable impact on citizens’ online activities. Based on a larger study into BBC’s election websites involving interviews, observations and textual analysis, this chapter will examine how audience participation had by 2010 become a routinised part of the Corporation’s newsroom. It will begin by providing an historical overview of how public access programming has developed within the BBC and its influence on how the Corporation has sought to facilitate participatory spaces online. Following a discussion of online participatory spaces on the BBC’s election websites, it will offer a critique of how these are operationalized internally. It will argue that despite converged newsroom practices, the scale of the BBC’s operations means facilitation of civic engagement is fragmented between competing stakeholders within the Corporation each with their own routinised practices and perception of its value. This tension has a dramatic effect not only on the dialectic relationship between BBC journalists and its audiences, but also on the type of ‘public space’ the Corporation is able to foster and by extension the empowerment of citizens to engage in ‘healthy democratic debate’

Cryptic journalism: News reporting of encryption.

In light of Edward Snowden’s global surveillance disclosures, this article examines news discourses about online communication security and surveillance circumvention practices. It analyses 1249 news reports mentioning encryption in The Guardian and The New York Times, covering a three-year period from June 2012 to June 2015 (one year before and two years after the Snowden revelations). Whilst there was a marked increase in the volume of news articles mentioning encryption post-Snowden, the context in which encryption is discussed has since shifted from an initial emphasis on “surveillance” towards “security” issues. However, the research found that greater news coverage of encryption did not necessarily mean an increase in depth of coverage, with most mentions of encryption vague and non-descript. In terms of source usage, the research finds an emphasis on private corporations in both publications analysed. This is problematic when many of the organisations allowed to speak on encryption were those accused of colluding with the US and UK Governments to aid covert mass surveillance—the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and so forth—thus providing them with a platform to exonerate themselves from the accusations. This contradictory depiction of communication security serves the status quo and prevents advancement of the “encrypted by default” communication practice called for by Snowden. This, by extension, has serious implications for both journalistic freedom and civil liberties since it helps to perpetuate the ability of nation states and corporations to conduct indiscriminate mass surveillance

News, Citizenship and the Internet: BBC News Online's Reporting of the 2005 UK General Election

This thesis considers the importance to democracy of online spaces where citizens can engage in dialogue on issues of public concern. Specifically, it evaluates the BBC's news and features provision on its website dedicated to the 2005 UK Parliamentary General Election, entitled Election 2005. Particular attention is given to sections such as the Election Monitor, the UK Voters' Panel and Have your say, to which people were encouraged to submit their views and comments for posting. Given the leading status of BBC News Online in the UK (the remit for which is defined, in part, by its Royal Charter obligation to provide a public service), it is vital to examine the Election 2005 website and its role in the democratic process. The principal aim of this thesis is to analyse the ways in which BBC News Online deployed its website to facilitate spaces for citizens to engage in dialogue during the 2005 UK General Election. To achieve this aim, the thesis makes use of web dialogue analysis, which is a method proposed and defined for the purpose of this project. The case study is divided into three chapters: the first dealing with online news in which citizen voices were found to be marginalised; the second concerning different genres of online feature articles, wherein citizen voices was the most prominent source; and the third focussing on sections where people were encouraged to submit comments. Through analysing the nature of source utterances (quotations and paraphrases), and comments submitted to debate sections, the thesis found little dialogue taking place in any of the sections on the BBC's Election 2005 website. It argues this was caused by a) the deliberate intention of BBC staff to discourage dialogue, and instead facilitate a 'global conversation', b) the manual process used to publish comments to the site, and c) people being at the time unaccustomed to participate in any meaningful debate using online forums. In this way, the thesis seeks to contribute to a developing area of scholarship concerned with news media representations of national elections, online journalism and citizenship

Reporting Suicide Worldwide: Media Responsibilities

Guidelines, training and ethical issues raised by the latest review of research about the impact of media coverage on suicidal behaviour

Voices from Nepal: Lessons in Post-Disaster Journalism

Shortly before noon on 25 April 2015, Nepal witnessed its worst natural disaster in 80 years: a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that flattened entire villages and killed thousands. Before the nation could catch its breath, a major aftershock ripped through the country on May 12, killing thousands more. Nearly 9,000 Nepalis died in the tremors. Some 500,000 buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. Voices from Nepal is a look at the days after. Based on in-depth interviews with reporters, editors and other communicators, the first section of this book maps the challenges that Nepali journalists faced, and outlines best practices for future scenarios. The second section contains original journalism that focuses on the lived experiences of Nepalis. Through in-depth features and personal stories from survivors, it tells the story of a post-disaster society. “An excellent reference for journalists who could face future disasters.” —CHRISTIAN MANHART UNESCO Kathmandu “This publication gives us insights into the role of Nepali journalists and how they worked after the 2015 earthquake. I believe this helps prepare us better in future if a similar situation occurs.” —GOVINDA ACHARYA Federation of Nepali Journalist

UK Election Analysis 2015: Media, Voters and the Campaign

Featuring 71 contributions from leading UK academics, this publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2015 UK General Election from the cutting edge of media and politics research. Published 10 days after the election, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the campaign, including research findings or new theoretical insights; to bring readers original ways of understanding the election. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to fan studies, journalism studies to advertising