UK riots 2011: Holding media to account after the riots

Study by University of Leicester sociologist examines media's impact on communities

2012-08-06

(Press-News.org) News outlets need to be held to account for their coverage of the English riots, a new report has argued.

Media and the Riots: A Call for Action, published today on the first anniversary of the riots, is the first report to examine the impact of the mainstream print and broadcast media's reporting on the communities most affected.

The report, written by Dr Leah Bassel of the University of Leicester's Department of Sociology, reflects the views of those who attended the Media and the Riots conference held by the Citizen Journalism Educational Trust and citizen journalism website The-Latest.com in November.

The conference brought young people and community members from riot-stricken areas face-to-face with reporters and members of the media. The report draws on views expressed by the 150 participants at the conference as well as the findings of recent reports, journalistic reporting and research.

It recommends holding the media to account, engaging with journalists, communicating with decision-makers, promoting citizen journalism and social media and ensuring access to journalism.

Dr Bassel said: "It is hard to be balanced when speaking about media coverage of the events of August 2011. We were all exposed to images of burning buildings, masked youths and shattered shop windows that repeatedly flashed across our screens and pages, and shaped the way we understood these events and our communities.

"There is a lot to say about what the mainstream media did wrong which this report explores in detail including how media coverage was stigmatizing, too moralising, overly reliant on official sources in reporting Mark Duggan's death, and may even have incited rioting by disinhibiting looters. What I want to insist on, though, is that when we take a closer look across different media there are opportunities as well as challenges.

"This is not just a report on what went wrong, but also identifies what needs to be done and who needs to do it. Media actors can be held to account and citizen journalists' stories can be heard more widely. We need to engage better with decision makers. And of course our journalists need to be more representative of society. Let's break the cycle of unhelpful coverage and let more voices be heard."

The report also features a foreword from Roy Greenslade, media commentator for the Guardian and Professor of Journalism at City University, London.

### Notes:

The report can be found at: http://www.the-latest.com/riots-and-media-report

An executive summary is available. To obtain one, please contact the press office at pressoffice@le.ac.uk or on 0116 252 2415.

For more information, please contact Dr Leah Bassel at lb235@leicester.ac.uk

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Vaginal delivery as safe as cesarean for most early preterm births

2012-08-06

Philadelphia, PA, August 6, 2012 – Vaginal delivery for early preterm fetuses presenting head first, or vertex presentation, had a high rate of success with no difference in neonatal mortality compared to cesarean delivery, a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports. For breech births, however, the failure rate of vaginal delivery was high and planned cesarean delivery was associated with significantly lower neonatal mortality. "Selecting a route of delivery at less than 32 weeks' gestation is a difficult clinical decision given ...

Tale of 2 scientific fields -- ecology and phylogenetics -- offers new views of Earth's biodiversity

2012-08-06

Patterns in nature are in everything from ocean currents to a flower's petal. Scientists are taking a new look at Earth patterns, studying the biodiversity of yard plants in the U.S. and that of desert mammals in Israel, studying where flowers and bees live on the Tibetan plateau and how willow trees in America's Midwest make use of water. They're finding that ecology, the study of relationships between living organisms and their environment, and phylogenetics, research on evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms, are inextricably intertwined. Results ...

Seeing through walls: Laser system reconstructs objects hidden from sight

2012-08-06

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2012—Inspired by the erratic behavior of photons zooming around and bouncing off objects and walls inside a room, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, and Rice University combined these bouncing photons with advanced optics to enable them to "see" what's hidden around the corner. This technique, described in a paper published today in the Optical Society's (OSA (http://www.osa.org)) open-access journal Optics Express (http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe), may one day prove invaluable ...

Vanderbilt researchers find proteins may point way to new prostate cancer drug targets

2012-08-06

Two proteins that act in opposing directions – one that promotes cancer and one that suppresses cancer — regulate the same set of genes in prostate cancer, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have found. The findings, reported recently in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, point toward potential drug targets and prognostic markers for prostate cancer. "We are trying to understand the molecular genetics of prostate cancer: what are the genes that are altered in human prostate cancer, and very importantly, how do they lead to cancer when they are changed?" ...

New Hampshire leads nation in percent tree cover

2012-08-06

SYRACUSE. N.Y, August 6, 2012 – Tree cover in the nation's Lower 48 states covers 659 million acres, more than one-third of the nation, according to a U.S. Forest Service study of national tree cover and impervious surfaces. New Hampshire leads the nation in percent tree cover (89 percent), followed by Maine (83 percent) and Vermont (82 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota has the lowest percent tree cover (3 percent), followed by Nebraska (4 percent) and South Dakota (6 percent). Using aerial photograph interpretation of circa 2005 imagery, U.S. ...

A new line of defense: Researchers find cattle vaccine works to reduce E. coli O157:H7

2012-08-06

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A commercial vaccine for cattle can effectively reduce levels of E. coli by more than 50 percent, a Kansas State University study has found. The vaccine is also effective using two doses instead of the recommended three doses, which can help cut costs for the beef industry. David Renter, associate professor of epidemiology, is the principal investigator on a project that researched the effectiveness of products used to prevent the shedding of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle. The research appears in a recent online version of the journal Vaccine and helps ...

New approaches needed for uncovering, identifying, and treating buried chemical warfare material

2012-08-06

WASHINGTON — The current approach for identifying and destroying buried chemical munitions and related chemical warfare materials uncovered during environmental remediation projects is neither reliable enough nor has the capability to efficiently tackle large-scale projects, says a new report from the National Research Council. An alternative or modified approach is needed to remediate the Redstone Arsenal and other such projects on active and former U.S. Department of Defense sites and ranges. Additionally, the report recommends that the Office of the Secretary of Defense ...

Off-label drug use common, but patients may not know they're taking them, Mayo finds

2012-08-06

Aug. 6, 2012 ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Many people have probably heard of off-label drug use, but they may not know when that applies to prescriptions they are taking, a Mayo Clinic analysis found. Off-label drug use occurs when a physician prescribes medication to treat a condition before that use has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In a newly published article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers pose and answer 10 questions about off-label drug use. "Since the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate the practice of medicine, off-label drug ...

Airborne technology helps manage elephants

2012-08-06

Washington, D.C. – For years, scientists have debated how big a role elephants play in toppling trees in South African savannas. Tree loss is a natural process, but it is increasing in some regions, with cascading effects on the habitat for many other species. Using high resolution 3-D mapping, Carnegie scientists have for the first time quantitatively determined tree losses across savannas of Kruger National Park. They found that elephants are the primary agents—their browsing habits knock trees over at a rate averaging 6 times higher than in areas inaccessible to them. ...

Empa X-ray expert 'decodes' diesel soot

2012-08-06

Soot particles are dangerous – there is nothing new in this knowledge. But what is it that makes fine particulates dangerous? Is it only diesel soot from vehicle engines? Does the danger also come from wood-burning stoves in holiday chalets? Or even from grease-laden fryer fumes from the restaurant around the corner? For a long time, these questions have been a hard nut for science to crack. Indeed, fine soot particles were collected in filters and their chemical components were analysed. Yet the question remained: what precisely is the source of the danger? Is it the soot ...

Health data for 57 million people in England show changing patterns of heart diseases before, during and after the pandemic

Cutting balloon treatment prior to stent placement comparable to intravascular lithotripsy for patients with calcified coronary artery disease

Novel sirolimus-eluting balloon appears noninferior to conventional therapies for treatment of in-stent restenosis

Nearly half of US workers don’t know work experience could count toward a degree, according to University of Phoenix survey

Super-high-pressure non-compliant balloons for treatment of calcified coronary lesions noninferior to intravascular lithotripsy

Saudi Native Dr. Hani K. Najm named next vice president of the American College of Cardiology

Getting steps in one long walk a day cuts risk of death and CVD better than multiple short walks

[Press-News.org] UK riots 2011: Holding media to account after the riots
Study by University of Leicester sociologist examines media's impact on communities

UK riots 2011: Holding media to account after the riots

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: