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Under-investment in public service journalism has led to growing interest in the possibility of philanthropic support for the sector. Though long associated with non-profit journalism in North America, there is little tradition of philanthropy in UK journalism. This paper explains how recognition of public interest journalism as charitable can be achieved through more constructive interpretations of the existing law. Despite its initially conservative response, the Charity Commission has recently taken important steps towards recognising defined forms of journalism as charitable under the existing law. This paper reviews the democratic imperatives fulfilled by public interest journalism which justify such developments; and seeks to demonstrate how this framework for defining public interest journalism aligns with the public benefit requirement in charity law, opening up the possibility of new forms of charitably funded 'public benefit journalism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the mid-2000s, a sudden surge in the use of mobile phone footage by national and international broadcasters was widely anticipated as the precursor to a revolutionary change in the generation and dissemination of news. In the wake of events such as the London bombings of 2005, user-generated content bureaux and hubs were established by major media organizations from the British Broadcasting Corporation and CNN to Al Jazeera while new software and hardware was developed. The potential for covering virtually any news development from at least one of the world's seven billion mobile phones suggested a whole new phase of broadcast journalism was imminent. This study of news bulletins by three United Kingdom-based broadcasters – Channel 4, the BBC and ITV – establishes a new methodology for the identification of mobile phone content in broadcasting. It also finds that a decade later, mobile phone footage has not lived up to its early potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst burgeoning literature on citizen journalism, we still know relatively little about how and why genuinely marginalised groups seek to use this form of reporting to challenge their exclusion. In this article, we aim to address this gap by analysing two UK citizen journalism initiatives emanating from The Big Issue Foundation, a national homeless organisation, and Access Dorset, a regional charity for disabled and elderly people. These case studies are united by the authors’ involvement in both instances, primarily through designing and delivering bespoke citizen journalism education and mentoring. Based on over 40 hours of interviews with participants of the workshops and 36 hours of participant observation, we analyse the challenges participants faced in their journey to become citizen journalists. This included: low self-esteem, physical health and mental wellbeing, the need for accessible and adaptable technology, and overcoming fear associated with assuming a public voice. We also analyse marginalised groups’ attitudes to professional journalism and education, and its role in shaping journalistic identity and self-empowerment. Whilst demonstrably empowering and esteem building, our participants were acutely aware of societal power relations that were seemingly still beyond their ability to influence. Those who are marginalised are, nevertheless, in the best position to use citizen journalism as a conduit for social change, we argue—though challenges remain even at the grassroots level to foster and sustain participatory practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, a new wave of hyperlocal community news websites has developed in the United Kingdom (UK), with many taking advantage of new opportunities provided by free open-source publishing platforms. Given the trend in the UK newspaper industry towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles, it is perhaps understandable that policy-makers have shifted their gaze to these sites. This article examines the viability of hyperlocal news services with a particular focus on those that are independently owned and managed. Such operations often have a longevity that sits in contrast to a number of failed attempts by major media organisations to operate in the hyperlocal space. Yet many of the business models that underpin these sites seem precarious, often benefiting from a degree of self-exploitation. Drawing on 35 interviews with hyperlocal news publishers from across the UK, this article argues that publishers draw upon a civic discourse in order to make sense of their practice. This framing may limit the potential to develop economic sustainability and risks alienating policy-makers keen to work with an idealised “fictive” hyperlocal entrepreneur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scholars often study isolated media effects using one method at one time point in one country. We seek to generalise the research in this area by examining hundreds of press-worthy events across dozens of countries at various points in time with an array of techniques and outcome measures. In particular, we merge a database containing thousands of events with five waves of the European Social Survey to conduct analyses across countries and individuals as well as within countries and for specific respondents. The results suggest that there is an impressive degree of heterogeneity when it comes to how citizens react to political developments. Some events generate significant opinion changes when groups of individuals who are 'treated' are compared with 'control' cases. However, other events produce modest or even null findings with methods that employ different counterfactuals. Thus, findings of both strong and weak media effects that scholars have uncovered over the years could be a function of methodological choices as well as context-specific factors such as institutional arrangements, media systems, eras, or event characteristics. Data limitations also make some research designs possible while they preclude others. We conclude with advice for others who wish to study political events in this manner as well as discussion of media effects, broadly construed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Leeds City Council in the United Kingdom as a case study, we analyse comparatively the changing role of local journalism in the public communications and engagement strategies of local government. Drawing on over 20 semi-structured interviews with elected politicians, Council strategists, mainstream journalists, and citizen journalists, the article explores perceptions of the mainstream news media's role versus new modes of communication in engaging and communicating with citizens. We evaluate the Council's perceptions of its online and offline practices of engagement with different publics, and focus in particular on their interactions with journalists, the news media, and citizen journalists. The article considers how moves towards digital modes of engagement are changing perceptions of the professional role orientations of journalists in mediating between the Council and the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost every one of the popular protest movements that have sprung up in the past couple of years in different parts of the world has taken to the Internet in a big way to organize and express itself. Indeed activists have proved extraordinarily adept in the use of the social media. There is a paradox in the way that growing numbers of people are using the products of consumerism to try and combat the power of the same global corporate capitalism that sells them these very tools and instruments of free counter-cultural production to begin with. This paradox has a history that this article brings back to mind, because one of the things about capitalism is that it not only creates the technologies employed in the mass media, but it cannot resist making consumer versions of the same gear - it is a simple question of maximizing the opportunities for consumption and profits - and the consequences are often contradictory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Television networks in many European countries have launched web participation channels in recent years, so that viewers can send a variety of news content. For some authors, they are a new form of "citizen journalism"; a more proper term for this concept, it is argued, seems to be "user generated content". This article deals with the essential aspects of this kind of participatory journalism in television websites, by analysing the initiatives of several television networks in Spain, Great Britain and France. It examines the nature of user generated content in those television websites case studies, and it enquires to what extent these initiatives can be regarded as "citizen journalism" and what kind of content they promote. Finally, it explores the challenges and opportunities posed by citizen journalism and user generated content to professional online television news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of news workers were laid off in the United Kingdom and North America in 2008-2009. While daily newspapers were particularly affected, labour cuts also hit broadcasters and news magazines. Popular commentary has often attempted to explain the cuts as a result of Internet competition, aging audiences for news and a slumping global economy. Optimists suggest the rise of new media practices such as blogging and citizen journalism have, despite the contraction of newsrooms, expanded the range of information and opinion available to citizens. This paper is an attempt to clarify what is an unquestionably chaotic moment in journalism. Our focus is the labour of reporting—the quotidian work of gathering information of public interest and packaging it into a story. The paper uses Pierre Bourdieu's field theory to contextualize the use of new media technologies by amateur and professional journalists in an attempt to understand the power relations that inform the work of reporting. We argue that labour rationalization in combination with the use of new technologies, shrinking audiences, 24-hour news cycles, and intensified hyper-commercialization is fundamentally reorganizing the division of labour in newsrooms. Importantly, we argue there is little empirical evidence to suggest that unpaid citizen journalists will replace the lost labour of reporting—the work of collecting information, synthesizing it and presenting it for public consumption via storytelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how national UK newspaper websites are integrating user-generated content (UGC). A survey quantifying the adoption of UGC by mainstream news organisations showed a dramatic increase in the opportunities for contributions from readers. In-depth interviews with senior news executives revealed this expansion is taking place despite residual doubts about the editorial and commercial value of material from the public. The study identified a shift towards the use of moderation due to editors' persistent concerns about reputation, trust, and legal liabilities, indicating that UK newspaper websites are adopting a traditional gate-keeping role towards UGC. The findings suggest a gate-keeping approach may offer a model for the integration of UGC, with professional news organisations providing editorial structures to bring different voices into their news reporting, filtering and aggregating UGC in ways they believe to be useful and valuable to their audience. While this research looked at UGC initiatives in the context of the UK newspaper industry, it has broad relevance as professional journalists tend to share a similar set of norms. The British experience offers valuable lessons for news executives making their first forays into this area and for academics studying the field of participatory journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While blogging as a form of computer-mediated communication has attracted a growing amount of academic investigation in recent years, the majority of such research has so far focused on the North American experience. 120 UK and US bloggers (equal numbers of men and women) were surveyed about their approaches to blogging, including blogging techniques, habits, motivations and rewards. At the same time, data was collected directly from respondents' blogs and by means of online tools (Technorati, Surfwax and The Truth Laid Bear). In addition, a blog related to the research was established, which gave the researcher first-hand experience of the challenges of blogging and also offered the opportunity for further data collection since the surveyed bloggers were invited to comment on the research as it was ongoing. While there was much that was similar in blogging on both sides of the pond, certain differences between UK and US bloggers were established, in particular relating to their aims in blogging; how the bloggers perceived blogging (for example, whether it was an IT-related product or more related to creative writing); and satisfactions gained from blogging. In addition, this research has highlighted the growth of a financial motivation for blogging. Research into the motivations of journal bloggers has so far focused on more indirect rewards such as influencing public opinion, sharing information with friends and family, and exercising creative skills. However, a large number of respondents, from both countries, indicated that one of their reasons for keeping a blog is the hope that it will generate income. Such financial recompense might come in the form of attracting new clients to an already established small business or new work or publishing opportunities. Bloggers might also be hoping to make money through the sale of advertising on their blogs. A few respondents could even be called 'professional' bloggers, supporting themselves entirely by their blogging. Such a financial motivation was particularly strong amongst women respondents, who may be looking for ways in which to generate income as an alternative to full-time employment outside the home. This paper is based on research conducted between September 2006 and May 2007 and supported by a research leave award from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the rise of community journalism in Great Britain as well as the launch of the magazine "Salford Star." One of the articles in the magazine encourages journalists to address the basic value and principles of traditional journalism in light of democratisation and social change. Also highlighted is David Harrison, who won at the Paul Foot Award in London, England, for his article on the Eastern European sex-slave trade.