BOOK
The Mediated City
Stephen Coleman | Nancy Thumim | Chris Birchall | Julie Firmstone | Giles Moss | Katy Parry | Judith Stamper | Jay G. Blumler
(2016)
Additional Information
Book Details
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 |