Menu Expand
The Mediated City

The Mediated City

Stephen Coleman | Nancy Thumim | Chris Birchall | Julie Firmstone | Giles Moss | Katy Parry | Judith Stamper | Jay G. Blumler

(2016)

Abstract

How does news circulate in a major post-industrial city? And how in turn are identities and differences formed and mediated through this circulation? This seminal work is the first to offer an empirical examination, and trace a city’s pattern of, news circulation.

Encompassing a comprehensive range of practices involved in producing, circulating and consuming ‘news’ and recognizing the various ways in which individuals and groups may find out, follow and discuss local issues and events, The Mediated City critiques thinking that takes the centrality of certain news media as an unquestioned starting point. By doing so, it opens up a discussion: do we know what news is? What types of media constitute it? And why does it matter?


'The volume's snapshot of a turbulent time provides valuable insights.'
Telecommunications Policy

'The authors have generated a valuable amount of new data and pose important questions about local media and democracy.'
3:AM Magazine

‘Drawing on a nuanced conception of what cities are and why they matter, The Mediated City takes seriously the idea that urban communication have shifted drastically in the digital age, but goes far beyond the usual polarized lamentations or celebrations of internet-era journalism. This is an important book.’
Chris Anderson, author of Rebuilding the News: Metropolitan Journalism in the Digital Age

‘Anyone who wants to understand how news can help inform citizens, sustain communities and enable democratic politics should read this book. It develops an original and powerful ecological approach to deliver a rich and nuanced analysis that will interest citizens, journalists and scholars alike.’
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford

'Probably the best study of local news I have ever read. The Mediated City is a fascinating investigation of one week in the news ecology of Leeds. Socially embedded, politically astute, economically concerned and policy aware – this is a sophisticated study of local news that reveals just how much people want it, how committed local journalists are to it and yet how often it is lacking in terms of the representation of voices from the communities it serves and the civic or political information and analysis it provides. A must-read for all journalism scholars.'
Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths


Chris Birchall is a lecturer in digital media at the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds.

Jay G. Blumler is an emeritus professor of public communication at the University of Leeds and emeritus professor of journalism at the University of Maryland.

Stephen Coleman is professor of political communication in the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.

Julie Firmstone is associate professor at the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.

Giles Moss is lecturer in media policy in the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.

Katy Parry is a lecturer in media and communication at the University of Leeds.

Judith Stamper is associate professor of broadcast journalism at the School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.

Nancy Thumim is a lecturer in media and communication at the University of Leeds.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Dedication v
Contents vii
Figures and tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
About the contributors x
Introduction: A new news ecology 1
Why study news ecologies? 4
How we studied a local news ecology 9
1. Making sense of/in the city 16
Communicating community 16
A place called Leeds 18
Leeds: a post-industrial city 21
The coexistence of past and future within the news ecology 27
2. A week in news 34
News content analysis: approach and sampling 35
Broadcast media content analysis: ‘And now for the news where you are’ 38
Reporting the local: celebrating culture and recording crime 41
Prominence of ‘story topics’ 44
Who gets to speak? 47
Reporting the political 51
Local print media analysis: ‘At the heart of Leeds’ 53
Representing a sense of local community 54
Campaigning against NHS reforms 59
Concluding observations 64
3. How citizens receive the news 66
News consumption 70
Preferences and evaluations: topics of coverage 75
Evaluation and appreciation 79
Retrospective assessments 81
After the news 82
Conclusion: a survey-based picture of the news ecology 85
4. How people make sense of the city 89
Local news as word-of-mouth 90
The uses of local media 98
5. The mainstream providers of local news 109
Who are the mainstream providers of local news? 109
At the chalkface: the editorial interviews 117
Preferred stories 118
Public purposes 120
The preferred voice 122
Audience 126
New media 128
From source to mainstream 130
Conclusion 139
6. Citizen news-makers and news practices 144
Mapping citizen news-makers 146
Newsworthiness 152
Citizen news practices 155
Citizen news-makers in the news ecology 157
Conclusion 162
7. ‘Down there in Chapeltown’ 164
Difference, distance, storytelling 165
What should news organizations do? 168
Unblocking the news ecology: new stories, new practices 173
8. Mediating democratic accountability: the case of the care home closures 182
What does public engagement actually mean? 183
What makes engagement successful? 187
More than lip-service – serious attempts to ensure successful engagement 191
Crisis, cuts and consultation 192
The press release/the council’s side of the story 193
The news story 194
Local journalism and engaging the public 197
The role of journalists in the news ecology 199
Citizens or spectators? 202
9. Local news: a different story 206
The news as social practice 209
The news as storytelling 213
Emergent practices in the news ecology 216
Thinking about local news ecologically 224
Appendix 1: Content analysis coding schema (with instructions for coders), discussed in Chapter 2 228
Appendix 2: Data for charts presented in Chapter 2 235
References 238
Index 247