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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]

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]

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.

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 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]

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]

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]

The article focuses on the history of advertising in newspapers in London, England between 1650 and 1750. It may be approached from at least three directions. First, there is the history of advertising per se; in this respect subsequent general histories have made little advance on Henry Sampson's pioneering work published almost a century ago. Blanche B. Elliott in A History of English Advertising has covered fresh ground in her examination of the advertisement sheets in the late seventeenth century, but has barely touched upon the much larger subject of advertising in newspapers proper during the period under review. The historians have concentrated somewhat superficially on the evident humor, quaintness, and evocativeness of many of the advertisements and have almost entirely neglected any quantitative analysis. Secondly, advertising may be considered as part of the history of journalism, a legitimate approach when one appreciates that by 1750, 75% of space in some dailies was being devoted to advertisements. Thirdly, the advertisements may be studied as a source for literary, economic, and social history.

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]

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.

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]

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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]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge 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.)

Numerous critical analyses have already established the profoundly gendered nature of normative body ‘ideals’ and weight-management practices in Western cultures. Such studies have, amongst other things, elucidated how body dissatisfaction, ‘dieting’ and other weight-loss practices are discursively constituted as both feminised and feminising. Critiquing the over-determined normativity of thinness as a key index of femininity, these analyses have also highlighted how fatness, as abjected flesh, is equated with the feminine and how, in the context of an alleged ‘obesity crisis’, ‘fat’ men, as well as women and children, risk stigmatisation. An emergent research literature now explores men’s engagement with body ‘ideals’, weight management and ‘body projects’ more generally. This article builds on that work, exploring the negotiation of embodied masculinities in the weight-related talk of men who risked being labelled ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’. Drawing on interviews (N = 37), the study illustrates how ‘big’ men attempted to shield their threatened masculine identities by contrasting their own bodily bigness, corporeal concerns and embodied practices with those of women and girls. Also attentive to sexualities, ethnicity and class, this article illustrates the context-specific, intersectional and contested nature of embodied masculinities and body projects in these ‘epidemic’ times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rates of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancy amongst the under-16s are causing increasing concern. There is limited evidence about the sexual behaviour and sex education preferences of this age group, especially of those from Black and minority ethnic groups. This study aimed to provide data on early heterosexual risk behaviour, and to examine preferences for the content and delivery of sex and relationships education (SRE), across ethnicity, gender and school year to inform priority setting and sex education strategies. A cross-sectional study of 3334 13–17-year-olds from 10 English urban and suburban secondary schools was conducted. Multivariate analysis was performed to examine the independent effect of demographic variables on sexual experience and preferences for sex education. A number of important differences in the sexual experience and condom use of males and females across the ethnic groups were identified. Differences in preferences for the content and delivery of sex education were also identified, particularly between male and female pupils. The findings indicate the potential for quite wide variation in sexual experience and preferences within school classrooms. The challenge for educators is therefore to develop SRE curricula that are inclusive within the constraints of school teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the public discourse concerning juvenile delinquency in 20th century England. Particular focus is given to how crime statistics influence public perception and the government's understanding of juvenile delinquency. An overview is presented contrasting England's local and national press's reporting on youth crime. An overview of crime in the working class East End of London, England, including victimization, property claims and theft, is provided. The author contends that youth crime in mid-20th century England was not a result of fundamental behavioral change of the youth and that the fear of juvenile delinquency should be treated as a historical phenomenon in its own right.

The effect of media coverage of the London terrorist attacks on 7 July 2005 on pregnancy outcome in mothers living in the North Western region of England was assessed. Pregnant women exposed to media coverage of these attacks had infants with mean birth weight lowered by 16 g and increased risks of a small and very small for gestational age infant (odds ratio 1:10 and 1:09, respectively). This small, but significant reduction in birth weight may indicate excess glucocorticoid exposure within the fetus, which could contribute to fetal programming and an increased likelihood of disease in adult life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era marked by the apparent saturation of terror and the ubiquitous mediation of all-things-past, the value of and the prospects for the remembering of terrorist attacks appear caught up in the velocity of the immediate circulation of media data and in the cyclical iterations of news images. Rather than these processes affecting a reduction or obliteration of memory, we discern how an interplay of individual and cultural frameworks is used for making sense of violent events in this environment through preliminary analysis of empirical work exploring the mediation and the commemoration of the 2005 London Bombings. We achieve this through cross-fertilizing psychological and media and cultural studies approaches via the concept of 'schema' to show how remembering is dynamically configured through socio-cultural practices and shifting media logics. In this way, we advocate a holistic approach to a 'new memory ecology', drawing upon the emergent field of 'memory studies'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Press coverage of crime and punishment was central to the development of mid-Victorian journalism and extensive coverage of murder trials and public executions was a staple of middle-class newspapers. This article explores the tensions between traditional frameworks for reporting “rituals of retribution”, class-based codes of civility and squeamishness, and the emergence of early modern styles of fact-based and empathic newspaper reporting in the handling by Lincolnshire newspapers of the first private execution in the county, in 1868, when journalists were enlisted as “witnesses” on behalf of the “public”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study investigation was undertaken to identify threats to the professional understanding of assessment error which arise from accounts presented within the education press. Through a predominantly qualitative analysis of articles published in a leading education newspaper, during 2002 and 2003, it explored how assessment agencies in England were represented as responding to allegations of error. A number of threats to professional understanding were identified; in particular, the overarching threat that media reports may help to construct, and to maintain, a mythical image of assessment as a process which can and ought to be free from both measurement inaccuracy and human error. The results highlighted an underlying tension between the need to increase public understanding (of assessment error) and the need to retain public confidence (in our assessment systems). It was concluded that assessment agencies need to develop approaches to enhancing the public and professional understanding of assessment error, to counteract potentially misleading images from media reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of this article aims to provide answers on the extent and linguistic purpose of the inclusion of the spoken word in early English news pamphlets. He shall also focus on where and why speech is found in corantos that were published between 1620 and 1642, and newsbooks that sold between late 1641 and 1660. As these early English news publications amount to millions of words no exhaustive analysis is possible, his intention then is to identify significant characteristics and trends in the use of spoken discourse.

This article examines the news coverage of the destruction of English dramatist and poet Ben Jonson's library in November 1623. Jacobean strictures regarding domestic news reporting meant that no news pamphlet recorded the wholesale destruction of the poet's library. Even in a city whose cultural life had been threatened by more than its reasonable share of large fires, there can be little doubt that such as catastrophic event afflicting such a famous figure would have been regarded as extremely newsworthy. One can only speculate, then, as to the full extent of the damage done to that monument to learning with its myriad monumental texts nearly a decade later in 1623.

This article focuses on English newsbooks and the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The newsbook Heads of Severall Proceedings in the Parliament of November, 1641, was published in London. Printed in small quarto, it consisted of a title page, a blank verso and six pages of text, which conveyed a scant chronicle of what had transpired in Parliament. A second issue of Heads of Severall Proceedings appeared on December 6, and with this, the first periodical to communicate domestic news in England had been born. Sixteen separate serials were in operation by January 1642, and the introduction that month of issue numeration and consecutive pagination from one week to the next, helped consolidate the concept of periodical news.