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This paper explores news media discourse about care.data: an NHS England programme of work for amalgamating and sharing patient data from primary care for planning and research. It was scrapped in 2016 after three years of public outcry, delays and around 1.5 million opt-outs. I examine UK news media coverage of this programme through the 'fire object' metaphor, focusing upon the visions of purpose and value it inspired, the abrupt discontinuities, juxtapositions and transformations it performed, and the matters of concern that went unheeded. Findings suggest that, in care.data's pursuit of a societal consensus on NHS patient data exploitations, various visions for new and fluid data flows brought to presence narratives of transforming the NHS, saving lives, and growing the economy. Other realities and concerns that mattered for certain stakeholders, such as data ownership and commercialisation, public engagement and informed consent, commitment and leadership, operational capabilities, and NHS privatisation agendas, remained absent or unsettled. False dichotomies kept the controversy alive, sealing its fate. I conclude by arguing that such failed programmes can turn into phantom-like objects, haunting future patient data schemes of similar aspirations. The paper highlights the role news media can have in understanding such energetic public controversies., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 health communicators around the globe have had to reach, urge, and persuade individuals and communities to adopt appropriate health protective behaviors. They have used a mix of communication channels, including outdoor media and public signage which are the focus of this paper. Drawing on a comparative linguistic landscape analysis, this paper critically examined the amount, content, and prominence of Covid-19 signage in Hackney, a London borough severely hit by the first wave of the pandemic. Having analyzed 1288 signs collected between May and July 2020, we found significant differences in Covid-19 signage between deprived and less deprived areas. These differences (e.g., in messaging about staying at home) have created inequalities in access to Covid-19 related health information and guidance. We also explored the changes in Covid-19 signage over time and the tailoring of risk and health messages to minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using as a case study examples from a range of Lincolnshire newspapers, the article examines the emergence of sports journalism at a local level. Towards the end of the 19th century, provincial newspapers’ content was becoming increasingly local in orientation as attempts were made to distinguish themselves from the cheap, popular national dailies. With the growth of commercialised leisure and professional sport, increasing coverage within the local press became devoted to the reporting of such activities. The article examines the development of sports journalism between 1870 and 1914, a period of significant change within the provincial press. The work of several historians such as Richard Holt and Dave Russell have suggested that the coverage of sports news within the local newspaper played a part in forging local and regional identities: this article will assess the degree to which an analysis of the Lincolnshire press supports this argument. Increasingly, the identity of local press titles was, to an extent, shaped and defined through their sports coverage. This enabled newspapers to distinguish themselves from neighbouring rivals. The article will examine the ways in which local sports reporting competed with or complemented that appearing within the popular national press and the specialist sports papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the many planning reforms underway, including the increasing emphasis on public participation, and the many high-profile issues to which planning can be linked, it is an important time to reflect on the media image of planning and planners. This paper draws on the results of a survey of newspaper coverage in British national and local papers in 2003-04 to illustrate how planning and planners are being represented and framed in the media. The results of the survey suggest a frequently stereotypical and critical image in the national print media, with more of a focus on planning in action in the local press. A similar survey of the professional journal Planning suggests a mismatch in public and professional images of planning. Taken together, these results give cause for concern as to how planning is represented in the public press and it is argued that such 'planning pessimism' highlights the need for greater attention to media representations of planning and planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of media reactions to the BBC Television Panorama programme, Behind Closed Doors’ and to set this in the context of interviews with care staff about their reflections on publicity about poor practice in the care sector.Design/methodology/approach This paper reports on an analysis of media reactions to recent exposé of abuse in social care in England and data from an interview-based study of care workers. The interviews were analysed to consider the impact of such media reports on staff and to explore their views of action that might be need to be taken about care failings.Findings There are mixed reactions to exposé of poor care on television and to the debates that precede and follow their broadcast. Debates occur in print and on television, but also in social media. The particular exposé of care home practices by the Panorama programme, Behind Closed Doors, led to debate in England about the potential role of covert cameras in care homes. The interviews revealed that while care staff are affected by scandals in the media about social care, they do not necessarily focus on themes that the media stories subsequently highlight. Overall some are disenchanted while others have ideas of what needs to change to improve practice. Care staff consider that there remain problems in raising concerns about practices and some staff feel unable to stay in workplaces where they have made complaints.Research limitations/implications The care workers interviewed may not be representative of the sector and they may have wished to provide socially acceptable answers to the researchers. Practice was not observed.Practical implications Local Safeguarding Adult Boards may wish to develop a communications strategy to deal with requests for reactions to media reports locally and nationally. Safeguarding practitioners may wish to prepare for increased referrals following media coverage of poor care in their areas. They may later be able to use media reports to discuss any local differences of interpretation over matters such as prosecutions for abuse. Trainers and educationalists may wish to clarify the importance given by care providers to raising concerns, the ways in which difficult conversations can be held, and the protections available to whistle-blowers or those raising concerns – with local examples to provide assurance that this is not mere rhetoric.Originality/value Television reports of problems with social care attract wide media interest but the authors know very little about how care workers respond to depictions of their work and their occupational grouping. This paper links media and expert commentator reactions to television exposé with data acquired from interviews with those on the frontline of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: This paper explores current concerns and practice related to older people dying alone in Intensive Care Units, care homes, and at home through media discussions during the Covid-19 pandemic and before. It addresses the historically-situated concept of a good death and a bad death and suggests why dying alone, whether completely alone or without significant others physically present, may be considered a bad death., Methods: As evidence for collective fears about dying alone, we explored the treatment of these deaths in media using headline examples from the US New York Times and the English Guardian newspaper from the 19th century through Sept. 2020., Results: A search of the New York Times located 39 articles with either lonely dying or lonely death in the headline. The Guardian had 25 articles with use of the term, but unlike the New York Times, no obituaries were included. Although the deaths profiled were deemed unusual, deaths by suicide were only minimally classed as dying alone. The condition of dying alone is represented as a stigmatised death. Themes addressed: 1) dying alone is a nonnormative event; 2) this death matters; and 3) where people die alone, societies should honour the death and learn from it., Discussion and Implications: Contemporary dying involves conditions for which we are unprepared as a society. We seldom address our civic obligations to each other. Few people have discussed their wishes about their preferences in dying and whether and how they want to be accompanied at their death, if possible. This is an invisible constraint of modern healthcare. Because of limited discussions and preparation, these deaths may lead to disenfranchised grief for the mourners. Cultural and societal responses to lonely dying are important in easing the emotional burden of dying alone, helping individuals prepare for this possibility and better integrating death with the life course. Recommendations include inclusion of accompaniment/nonaccompaniment at death as part of advance care planning and mitigation if this condition occurs. It is essential for individuals to find their own still point of acceptance within competing societal narratives of privileging the self in dying alone and the value of social connection., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Problem: Despite clinical guidelines and policy promoting choice of place of birth, 14 Freestanding Midwifery Units were closed between 2008 and 2015, closures reported in the media as justified by low use and financial constraints., Background: The Birthplace in England Programme found that freestanding midwifery units provided the most cost-effective birthplace for women at low risk of complications. Women planning birth in a freestanding unit were less likely to experience interventions and serious morbidity than those planning obstetric unit birth, with no difference in outcomes for babies., Methods: This paper uses an interpretative technique developed for policy analysis to explore the representation of these closures in 191 news articles, to explore the public climate in which they occurred., Findings and Discussion: The articles focussed on underuse by women and financial constraints on services. Despite the inclusion of service user voices, the power of framing was held by service managers and commissioners. The analysis exposed how neoliberalist and austerity policies have privileged representation of individual consumer choice and market-driven provision as drivers of changes in health services. This normative framing presents the reasons given for closure as hard to refute and cultural norms persist that birth is safest in an obstetric setting, despite evidence to the contrary., Conclusion: The rise of neoliberalism and austerity in contemporary Britain has influenced the reform of maternity services, in particular the closure of midwifery units. Justifications given for closure silence other narratives, predominantly from service users, that attempt to present women's choice in terms of rights and a social model of care., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background The evidence on public health interventions has traditionally focussed on a limited number of costs and benefits, adopted inconsistent methods and is not always relevant to the UK context. This paper develops a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach to overcome these challenges. Methods A document review and stakeholder consultation was used to identify interventions and the criteria against which they should be assessed. The interventions were measured against these criteria using literature reviews and decision models. Criteria weights were generated using a discrete choice experiment. Results Fourteen interventions were included in the final ranking. Taxation was ranked as the highest priority. Mass-media campaigns and brief interventions ranked in the top half of interventions. School-based educational interventions, statins and interventions to address mental health problems ranked in the bottom half of interventions. Conclusions This paper demonstrates that it is possible to incorporate criteria other than cost-effectiveness in the prioritization of public health investment using an MCDA approach. There are numerous approaches available that adopt the MCDA framework. Further research is required to determine the most appropriate approach in different settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the public debate surrounding assessment in English education and presents evidence of the misuse of public data from national tests. Statistics generated by pupil assessments in schools and colleges in England are argued to be subject to misinterpretation by the media and policy makers. The discourse tends either to be sensationalist—for example, raising public anxiety by claiming falling standards—or politically charged—for example, where the incumbent government is criticised by its political enemies for pursuing failing policies—rather than being framed by objective and purposeful interpretations. Examples are provided to illustrate how interpretations by the media and policy-makers can be strikingly at odds with how the figures should properly be read. The paper analyses the propriety of these interpretations and makes suggestions as to how a more cautious approach to the use of results in the public sphere can be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police forces in England and Wales in recent years have attempted to improve the ways in which they communicate. This results from a number of converging pressures that include technological media developments and government and public pressures to provide reassuring policing services. The same media developments have had consequences for news organisations and their processes and practices of news gathering. In this context, the paper examines recent developments in police non-operational communications, explores the current dynamics of the relationship between crime reporters and their police sources and considers the implications for the 'shaping' of policing and crime news. Although the paper provides an examination of contemporary police-media relations, it also looks back to the work of Steve Chibnall whose 1970s research benchmarked police-media relations. Drawing on a national survey of police forces, together with data gathered from interviews with crime reporters and police communications managers, the paper concludes that although the police-media relationship is asymmetric in favour of the police, the practical dynamics of newsgathering ensure that police-media relations remain in a healthy tension; the shaping of policing news continues to be contested and negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to observe the investor relations (IR) process from the perspective of media sociologists. Design/methodology/approach – The focus of the piece is the changing role of the financial news media in equities markets. It is based on two lengthy periods of research into the part played by communications in investment in the London Stock Exchange. The research looked at three sets of participants and three stages of the communications process: financial public/IR and the IR function, financial journalists and news reporting, and professional investors and their evaluation processes. Much of the work involved semi-structured interviews with over 100 high-level participants. Findings – The findings suggest a slow decline in the importance of financial news media in the investment process. However, financial news also continues to play a significant role in trading in the city and can, at times, still have a powerful impact on investment patterns. Consequently, all sides – companies, IR practitioners, analysts and investment managers – continue to target and consume it. Originality/value – The paper introduces readers to theories and research methods used in the adjacent research field of media and communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the Digital Generations conference organized by the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, Institute of Education of the University of London, in London, England. The overall aim of the conference was to provide a state of the art gathering of research on the relationships between children, young people and the media. It brought together researchers from a range of academic disciplines. There were papers, symposia and workshops presented during the event tackling on a whole range of new media.

Copyright of Educación XX1 is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The general public regard mass media as their main source of information about mental illness. Psychiatrists are reluctant to engage with the media. There is little understanding of why this is the case. Aims: The paper looks to explore attitudes of mental health clinicians and the media towards one another. Method: Media and mental health clinicians in the southwest of England completed self-report surveys. Results: Of 119 questionnaires returned 85 were mental health clinicians and 34 media professionals. Both groups agreed that stigma is a major issue and clinicians have a key role influencing media portrayal of mental illness. The media view their reporting to be more balanced than clinicians and lack awareness of clinician mistrust towards them. Those clinicians with media training (13%) felt significantly more comfortable talking to media and significantly less mistrustful of them. Clinicians who had experience of working with media felt more comfortable doing media work. Only 15% of media professionals had received mental health awareness training. Conclusions: Media training and experience are associated with an increased willingness of mental health professionals to engage with the media. Reciprocal awareness training between media and mental health professionals may be a simple intervention worth pursuing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reflects on policy developments and debates in England in relation to child protection and safeguarding over the past twenty years. It argues that the period from the early 1990s to late 2008 saw policy change in significant ways. The state developed a much broader focus of concern about what constituted risk to children and what the role of professionals should be in relation to this; increasingly, the emphasis was upon ‘safeguarding’ rather than ‘child protection’. However, the period since late 2008 has not only seen the focus shift more centrally to child protection, but there has been a renewed official priority given to social work. These developments have been given an added impetus with the election of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition government in May 2010. The paper concludes by considering the current state and possible future directions for child protection and safeguarding in England and the role of social work in this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing from debates in economic geography on relational and organisational proximity as a substitute for geographical proximity, the paper explores characteristics of knowledge transfer in London's recorded music industry through an examination of organisational connections on local and global scales. The paper demonstrates that knowledge transfer within the industry occurs simultaneously across multiple geographical scales, with certain organisational connections facilitating the transfer of tacit knowledge across organisational boundaries. However, the paper argues that these connections do not offer the same scope for trust as is afforded by frequent face-to-face contact and therefore offer only a partial substitute for geographical proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is inspired by an outbreak of pulmonary tuberculosis in the British East Midlands city of Leicester in 2001. In an era characterized by unprecedented advances in Western medical science an event of this kind might appear surprising. It challenges the feeling of wellbeing held in many Western countries, particularly in relation to diseases that appear both temporally and spatially distant. The paper examines how the event was reported in regional and national newspaper media and considers the significance attached to scale in the interactions between experts, the media and the public. In our analysis we mobilize a particular reading based on two biological metaphors, the membrane and the gene. We use this reading to reconsider the connectivity between disease, nation and identity in a world that is increasingly fluid, mobile, anxious and uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the 1711 Scottish version of the English journal "The Tatler," and the works of its editor, Robert Hepburn. It was in the first decades of the eighteenth century that a news network can be seen meaningfully to emerge between Scotland and England. In Scotland, the manufacture of literary periodicals responded more quickly than the manufacture of newspapers to the need to accept 1707 as a watershed in the relationship between Scotland and England. A 1711 Scottish version of "The Tatler" will show how an exchange of values, values associated with serial publication, the publication of current affairs, and moral immediacy, was established.

Background: The Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) in England is a public-private partnership involving voluntary pledges between government, industry, and other organisations to improve public health by addressing alcohol, food, health at work, and physical activity. This paper analyses the RD physical activity (PA) pledges in terms of the evidence of their potential effectiveness, and the likelihood that they have motivated actions among organisations that would not otherwise have taken place. Methods: We systematically reviewed evidence of the effectiveness of interventions proposed in four PA pledges of the RD, namely, those on physical activity in the community; physical activity guidelines; active travel; and physical activity in the workplace. We then analysed publically available data on RD signatory organisations' plans and progress towards achieving the physical activity pledges, and assessed the extent to which activities among organisations could be attributed to the RD. Results: Where combined with environmental approaches, interventions such as mass media campaigns to communicate the benefits of physical activity, active travel in children and adults, and workplace-related interventions could in principle be effective, if fully implemented. However, most activities proposed by each PA pledge involved providing information or enabling choice, which has limited effectiveness. Moreover, it was difficult to establish the extent of implementation of pledges within organisations, given that progress reports were mostly unavailable, and, where provided, it was difficult to ascertain their relevance to the RD pledges. Finally, 15 % of interventions listed in organisations' delivery plans were judged to be the result of participation in the RD, meaning that most actions taken by organisations were likely already under way, regardless of the RD. Conclusions: Irrespective of the nature of a public health policy to encourage physical activity, targets need to be evidence-based, well-defined, measurable and encourage organisations to go beyond business as usual. RD physical activity targets do not adequately fulfill these criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe and analyse results from an empirical study designed to provide insight into factors facilitating and/or inhibiting the emergence of the much-heralded 'informed patient' and its sociological equivalent, the 'reflexive patient' or 'reflexive consumer'. In particular, we seek to examine the relationship between information and empowerment in a healthcare context and assess the significance of the Internet in mediating this relationship. The paper draws on data from interviews with 32 mid-life women concerned to know about HRT for the relief of menopausal symptoms. Having analysed these women's 'information practices', we conclude that constraints on the emergence of the informed patient identity exist within both patient and practitioner communities and within the space occupied by both in the medical encounter. In particular, in this paper we identify a tension caused by the emphasis on 'information for choice' in the informed patient discourse which itself obscures the potential conflict between lay and expert/medical knowledges in the clinical encounter.

New medicines represent exciting possibilities to individual patients for improved futures through reduced morbidity, as well as the potential for disappointment where promised outcomes are not forthcoming. For healthcare systems these technologies can enable enhanced effectiveness as well as spiralling costs, depending on value-for-money offered. Amidst uncertainty over efficacy and pricing, institutions such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have been set up to regulate the cost-effectiveness of new products. The increased transparency of this new regulation, combined with inescapable uncertainties, leads to the heightened politicisation of decision-making and an insidious subjectivity beneath a veneer of rational-bureaucracy. This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding the influence of hope within such contexts. Conceptualised here as ideological, affective and prone to lapsing into trust, hope is considered to shape the lifeworld-background of regulatory decisions and mask uncertainty around effectiveness. These processes challenge regulator legitimacy and effectiveness within polycentric regimes, through the distortion of communication and the manipulation of blame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wave of rapid "corporatisation" of transnational media system in the world, the question of the social responsibility of the press has come to the forefront of the debate over the professional responsibilities of the media. However, many media organisations in the Western and developing countries have been working to execute the functions of a responsible media in meaningful ways. Guardian News and Media, the publisher of The Guardian and The Observer in London, is a media organisation that initiated an innovative social audit process in monitoring all aspects of the media organisation's activities. Even though the challenge of implementing press responsibility in transitional and developing countries such as Bangladesh is complex, the Bengali daily Prothom-Alo in Dhaka has undertaken activities that were motivated by a particular view of the role of media in the society. This paper examines and compares the social responsibility approaches taken by the Prothom-Alo in Bangladesh and The Guardian in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings of a survey of women's magazines and the internet looking at the extent to which images of babies reinforce or undermine safe infant care advice to reduce the risk of cot death. All images of babies printed in all issues of nine magazines over an eight-month period during 2009 to 2010 were reviewed. The review also included the first 20 pages of a Google search of UK sleeping babies conducted on one day in 2011. In total, 559 images were reviewed. A substantial proportion of images depicted unsafe situations, in particular side and prone sleeping and sleeping indoors with the head covered by a hat or other covering. There was a dearth of images of babies sleeping in the feet-to- foot position or with a dummy, both of which are included in FSID/Department of Health guidelines on reducing the risk of cot death. The findings are discussed in the context of health visitors' and other community practitioners' work and current government cuts in resources, and suggestions are made to respond to the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media education forms part of the National Minimum Curriculum of England, Malta and Germany. Teacher training courses differ greatly in how teachers are prepared to teach media education. In this paper we shall investigate the attitudes of a sample of teachers trained in England, Malta and in Germany towards their perceived importance of media education and the teachers' preparedness to teach the subject. This preliminary study had a sample of 132 participants, 33 teachers from England, 47 from Germany and 52 teachers from Malta. The tool used to collect data was an online questionnaire. The results show that teachers taking part in this study were not given enough training, or any training at all to be able to teach media education with the result that they do not feel sufficiently prepared to teach the subject. It is suggested by the authors that media education becomes a compulsory component of the initial teacher training courses as well as advanced training for teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent writing on the professions has given little consideration to the state's potential for threatening a professional formation. This paper argues that the reorganization of probation officer training in England and Wales is an instance of state-led de-professionalization. The process of problematizing the issue and the steps taken to try and mobilize public endorsement for radical policy change are traced, as are the counter-moves of groups attempting to maintain the existing training arrangements. This illuminates two aspects of contemporary public debate in the UK. First, it demonstrates the impact of the requirement that public sector organizations and occupations show ‘enterprise’ by successful self-promotion. Second, the episode is located within Habermas's concept of the public sphere, in which participation itself - let alone any possibility of achieving the desired outcome - now appears to depend upon relative resources and on attracting the attention of influential news media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on the biennial conference of the International Association of Media and History at the University of Leicester in England on July 16, 2003. Comment on the lecture entitled In the Spirit of Orwell: Night Shift and the Problems of Political Filmmaking in the UK, by Tony Price; Information on Nick Cull's interview with Gerry Anderson on his life and work as creator of the cult British television science fiction series "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons"; Remarks on the presentation of Rawan J. Al Damen on "Expulsion in the Memory of Children": An Oral History of Children on the West Bank Palestinian Territories.

Introduction: In 2020 England moved to an opt‐out deceased donation law. We aimed to investigate the views of a mixed stakeholder group comprising people with kidney disease, family members and healthcare practitioners towards the change in legislation. We investigated the expected impacts of the new legislation on deceased‐donor and living‐donor transplantation, and views on media campaigns regarding the law change. Methods: We undertook in‐depth qualitative interviews with people with kidney disease (n = 13), their family members (n = 4) and healthcare practitioners (n = 15). Purposive sampling was used to ensure diversity for patients and healthcare practitioners. Family members were recruited through snowball sampling and posters. Interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Three themes with six subthemes were identified: (i) Expectations of impact (Hopeful patients; Cautious healthcare professionals), (ii) Living‐donor transplantation (Divergent views; Unchanged clinical recommendations), (iii) Media campaigns (Single message; Highlighting recipient benefits). Patients expected the law change would result in more deceased‐donor transplant opportunities. Conclusions: Clinicians should ensure patients and families are aware of the current evidence regarding the impact of opt‐out consent: expectations of an increased likelihood of receiving a deceased‐donor transplant are not currently supported by the evidence. This may help to prevent a decline in living‐donor transplantation seen in other countries with similar legislation. Media campaigns should include a focus on the impact of organ receipt. Patient or Public Contribution: Two patient representatives from the Kidney Disease Health Integration Team, Primrose Granville and Soumeya Bouacida, contributed to the content and design of the study documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing social science interest in the potential for images to facilitate access to embodied experience, this study re-examines the relative value of visual and verbal methods in body-oriented research. Taking one lead from Kyrölä's (2016) idea of body image as the relationship between representation and corporeality, and another from Gendlin's (1993, 1995, 1997) methods for attending to and articulating from pre-reflective experience, we develop a method that juxtaposes words and images to explore the role of pre-reflective understanding on body image among teenage girls. The study highlights both an influencing role for pre-reflective understanding in body image and the availability of pre-reflective understanding to participants. While recognising persistent challenges in communicating embodied experience, we propose a method for engaging and working with embodied or pre-reflective experience in social science research by integrating the verbal and the visual in a specific way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of recent Managing Sport and Leisure commentaries have explored how COVID-19 is touching sport. Our commentary adds to these discussions by considering COVID-19, lockdown and (disability) sport. This is especially pertinent given the positioning of disabled people as particularly "vulnerable" in relation to current political discourse. Four key points of discussion are focused upon. First, we explore how the media has attended to issues concerning (disability) sport during lockdown. Second, consideration is given to how sporting and physical activity opportunities have been promoted during lockdown. Third, we focus on the notion of inclusion and explore the ways in which this has thrived during lockdown. Fourth, attention is given to community (disability) sport post-lockdown and what this may mean for disability sport. We conclude by arguing that the future legacy of lockdown and COVID-19 will tell us much about how disabled people have really been embraced within sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes to how police forces in England and Wales are working to manage their public image in an environment of heightened accountability and transparency are explored. The locus of control of information shaping the portrayal of the police in the news media is discussed, as is the impact of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. The findings from case studies of two police forces in the East Midlands are reported. The case studies indicate that, whilst police and media cooperation is not a new phenomenon, UK police forces are becoming increasingly proactive, strategic and professionalised in their use of the news media. For their part, the media are dependent on the news 'fed' to them on a regular basis by police press relations units. Nevertheless, thanks in particular to their use of the FOIA 2000, the media continue to play a role as independent watchdog and reporter of police activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English-language examinations of the history of the press often begin with the 1620s or the 1640s, when this new medium began to be more widespread in England. On the continent, however, around the year 1600 all the necessary technical, infrastructural and communication elements were already in place for the development of the modern newspaper. Book-printing techniques enabled the mass production of news reports; a regular relay post system, available to the general public, served the needs of a network of professional correspondents from around the world. The time was right for the first periodical news sheet, which appeared in Strassburg in 1605. The change from hand-copied to printed newspapers was of far-reaching significance, as the mass circulation of news gave regular publicity to the events and personalities of political life. By the 1620s a variety of newspapers were circulating in central Europe, and in the second half of the seventeenth century newspapers were the most widely read secular material. They provided a seedbed for the broadening political education which fostered the development of the Enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a chaotic period during the late 1640s in the wake of the English Civil War, when the Stationers' Co. was riven by serious internal disagreements over religious, political, and commercial matters. During these years authors from a range of religious and political backgrounds were relatively free to produce a large range of libelous, seditious, or scandalous items. The state responded angrily to the appearance of this material and finally managed to tame the press in the month after the passage of the draconian Printing Act of September 1649.

This study analyzed newspaper coverage of the 2012 London Paralympic Games by 8 Malaysian newspapers. Articles and photographs from 4 English-language and 4 Malay-language newspapers were examined from August 28 (1 day before the Games) to September 10, 2012 (1 day after the Games closing). Tables, graphs, letters, fact boxes, and lists of events were excluded from analysis. A total of 132 articles and 131 photographs were analyzed. Content analysis of the newspaper articles revealed that most (62.8%) of the articles contained positive reference to the athletes with a disability. There were equal numbers (39.1%) of action and static shots of athletes. More articles and photographs of Malaysian (58%) than non-Malaysian (42%) athletes with a disability were identified. Only 14.9% of the articles and photographs were related to female athletes with a disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual support is a key element of holistic care, and better healthcare professionals training and stronger strategic guidelines become urgent in light of health disasters and emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the aim of this study was to explore spiritual support provision within mass and social media and the websites of spiritual leaders, institutions and NHS chaplaincy units during COVID-19 in England, between March and May 2020. A scoping review design informed by Levac and colleagues' five-staged framework was adopted, and adapted with a multi-strategy search to scope the different domains of online sources. Results revealed that spiritual support for dying patients, their families, health care staff, spiritual leaders and chaplains, had to be drastically reduced, both in quality and quantity, as well as being provided via different technological devices or domestic symbolic actions. No mention was found of a central strategy for the provision of spiritual support. This study points to the importance of developing centralized strategies to prepare healthcare systems and professionals in relation to spiritual support provision, both routinely and during health disasters and emergencies. Further research will have to explore innovative practices, in particular the role of digital technologies, in spiritual support provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Javnost-The Public is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

COVID-19 created a substantial set of challenges for health communication practitioners in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating entertainment-education (EE) campaigns. EE is a theory and evidence-based communication strategy that employs entertainment media for educational messaging. Here, we briefly review EE campaigns in response to previous health emergencies and present three cases of EE responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from leading global organizations (PCI Media, BBC Media Action, and Sesame Workshop). Responses ranged from adaptation and re-distribution of existing content to creating new content under social-distancing restrictions and utilizing transmedia. These cases demonstrate that EE initiatives responding to future pandemics may be well served by starting with existing infrastructure to quickly build capacity, support, and trust; working with partners to tailor programs to the local context; and continuing to focus on good storytelling while simultaneously considering evolving media formats and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of literature in representational studies reflects a deep professional concern over the negative effect of the role of the media in representing significant Others. Western media's coverage of an international event, in this case, a football competition, raises some ethical questions about the choice of specific lexical items and textual contents. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall's representation theory, this article examines how Turkey, a nation located on the semi-periphery of Europe, is represented in Western media outlets. By looking at the role that sections of the British sports press plays in their construction of the Turkish national identity, I evaluate the Euro 2016 and Euro 2004 reporting of the UEFA European Championship qualifying matches between Turkey and England. I apply a combination of lexical and narrative analysis, and I question the way that Turkey is represented in the British sport texts. The style and language used in the presentation of football games reveals that British media outlets are prone to present England's politically and economically powerful position, and its cultural superiority over Turkey. Findings also suggest that the discourse of the "West and the Rest" is alive in the modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental alienation was historically a term rejected by courts in England and Wales, but lawyers and social workers have noted an increase in the incidence of its use, possibly driven by campaign groups and media narratives. The two statutory services that provide independent social work advice to courts in England and Wales, respectively, on children's best interests in parenting disputes, have taken different approaches to developing practice guidance in response to concerns about the recent use of alienation terminology. A review of international research and domestic case law was undertaken as part of the development of guidance in Wales. This review revealed a dearth of reliable evidence on the concept of parental alienation, its prevalence, effects and measures for intervention. This article builds on that review and recent developments to discuss the progress being made in practice to counter myths about alienation and considers how best to support practitioners in resisting pressures to conform to these powerful narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To quantify associations between the success of smoking quit attempts and factors that have varied throughout 2007–2018 at a population level. Design time series analysis using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Exogeneous Input (ARIMAX) modelling. Setting and Participants: Data were aggregated from 54 847 past‐year smokers taking part in the Smoking Toolkit Study which involves monthly repeated cross‐sectional household surveys of individuals aged 16+ in England. Measurements The input series were: (1) attempts at smoking reduction using (a) e‐cigarettes and (b) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT); (2) use during a quit attempt of (a) e‐cigarettes, (b) NRT over‐the‐counter, (c) medication on prescription and (d) face‐to‐face behavioural support; (3) use of roll‐your‐own tobacco; (4) prevalence of (a) smoking and (b) non‐daily smoking; (5) tobacco control mass media expenditure; (6) expenditure on smoking; (7) smoker characteristics in the form of (a) high motivation to quit, (b) average age, (c) socio‐economic status and (d) cigarette consumption; (8) implementation of tobacco control policies; and (9) quit attempt rate. Findings The licensing of NRT for harm reduction was associated with a 0.641% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.073–1.209, P = 0.027] increase in the mean point prevalence of the success rate of quit attempts. For every 1% increase in the mean point prevalence of e‐cigarette use and use of prescription medication during a quit attempt, the mean point prevalence of successful quit attempts increased by 0.106% (95% CI = 0.011–0.201, P = 0.029) and 0.143% (95% CI = 0.009–0.279, P = 0.038), respectively. For every 1% increase in the mean expenditure on tobacco control mass media, the mean point prevalence of successful quit attempts increased by 0.046% (95% CI = 0.001–0.092, P = 0.046). Other associations were not statistically significant. Conclusion: In England between 2007 and 2018, licensing of nicotine replacement therapy for use in harm reduction, greater use of e‐cigarettes and prescription medications during a quit attempt and higher expenditure on tobacco control mass media were all associated with higher success rates of quit attempts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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