According to the UK’s Office of Communications (OFCOM), television news ‘is important because it ... more According to the UK’s Office of Communications (OFCOM), television news ‘is important because it informs and educates citizens, helping them take part in the democratic process’ (OFCOM 2007c: 12). There are certainly good reasons why aspects of this proposition should be a norm to aspire to, but whether it is substantively a fact in the here and now is another question. As a norm to aspire to, effective participation in the democratic process (whether that is in periodic formal electoral politics and/or various other activities of persuasion and campaigning) requires knowledge, information and understanding of the issues involved and a grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of opposing arguments. The media in all its forms and at different scales of operation obviously play an important role in the quality and complexity of that knowledge, information and understanding. But we must suspend OFCOM’s assumption that television news (still one of the most important sources of news for the public) does this job of informing and educating effectively (from the point of view of adequately informing consent and/or dissent with this or that aspect of the social process). We must instead interrogate it. Our study unusually observed not just the daily television news bulletins but also the range of political discussion programmes that were available during the same period.
We have seen that the capacity for representative democracy to be representative of social intere... more We have seen that the capacity for representative democracy to be representative of social interests other than capital is on the decline. Therefore, the rationale for popular involvement in and representation through the political process is being eroded in the minds and actions of many social groups within Western democracies, including young people. After two world wars, the winning of the popular franchise laid the basis for the social democratic Keynesian welfare state in Europe and post-Roosevelt (and later after the black civil rights struggle) a similar if somewhat watered down social democratic model in the US. The establishment of the social democratic settlement in the UK after the Second World War had removed young people from exploitation in the labour market by providing universal state education and other welfare benefits. Phil Mizen argues that young people were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the post-war strategy of inclusion (Mizen 2004:17). In underscoring the break with this strategy of inclusion and universal support inaugurated by the new neoliberal dispensation, Mizen is arguably a little uncritical of the social democratic model. The welfare state was still a compromise between capital and labour after all and the state still undertook to mould the latter to the needs of the former through its various apparatuses, such as the education system (Willis 1977).
Television news is caught between and often combines two models of broadcasting: a patrician atta... more Television news is caught between and often combines two models of broadcasting: a patrician attachment to the formal institutions of ‘democracy’ with its formal, deferential ‘stuffy’ mode of address vs a more ‘human interest’, consumer orientated, celebrity focused and potentially (with BSkyB agitating for a change in broadcasting regulations) strongly editorialising news. These appear to be the choices open to viewers, choices shaped by the power of the state on the one hand and the market on the other. Some broadcasters think that to engage younger audiences, broadcasting needs to shift its centre of gravity from the patrician model to the market model (conceptualised as a shift from ‘hard’ news to ‘soft’ news). Yet while there is some evidence to suggest that young people have an interest in aspects of a soft news agenda, that evidence has to be interpreted carefully. For one thing, an attraction to a soft news agenda is shaped in a context in which the only other option is the austere patrician model. We should avoid falling into the trap of thinking that these are the only alternatives open to television news. The temptation to shift from hard news to soft would merely bring broadcasting even more into line with a world in which the language and culture of the market saturates everything. It would do little to empower audiences, inform audiences, give them access to a diverse range of voices and perspectives, problematise what is accepted as normal, challenge preconceived ideas and in general nourish critical faculties so that reason can prevail over some of the bizarre and irrational forces that currently shape political and economic life.
Are younger audiences interested in politics? Do they feel represented? Are media images and mess... more Are younger audiences interested in politics? Do they feel represented? Are media images and messages concerning young people relevant to their everyday lived experience? If not, what can be changed? There are a number of intersecting debates circulating in academic, political and broadcast arenas that have underpinned the research study discussed in this book. Concerns centre on young people’s apparent declining interest in the political process or at least traditional notions of ‘Westminster-based’ politics and fears that they are more likely to vote for reality TV contestants than in a general election (Lewis, Inthorn and Wahl-Jorgensen 2005). Yet as we discussed in Chapter 4, there is evidence that young audiences are interested in aspects of a mainstream news agenda (although not Westminster-based politics); that they also have a distinct set of interests that are particular to being young; that they are interested in ‘single issue’ politics (lobbying for change around interest-linked campaigns such as world poverty, the environment, animal rights), and that, yes, they are also inclined towards what might be called celebrity or entertainment news. We have also highlighted that young people tend to be criminalised within mainstream television news (see Chapter 5); yet ironically it is precisely these same marginalised audiences that represent the future survival of television news and within the broadcast industry there is considerable discussion about how best to attract and maintain these viewers.
This chapter explores how television news and discussion programmes represent the world of ‘forma... more This chapter explores how television news and discussion programmes represent the world of ‘formal’ politics, which is to say the world populated by a professional class of political ‘doers’ organised within political parties, who make and implement policies within institutions that are supposed to be representative of and responsive to the public. Within a representative democracy, every voter is theoretically equal. But in practice, political power is separated from economic power. Voters vote for the former. The latter is unelectable and largely unaccountable to citizens. The story of the rise of neoliberalism is the story of how political power has become ever more subordinated and integrated into the preferences and imperatives of economic power as the social democratic/welfare state structures developed in the middle of the past century are dismantled. Inevitably, this process affects the structure of politics and the representation of that structure to the public via the media. For example, the class of political ‘doers’ operate increasingly within new party-type organisations. In the social democratic period, parties had a traditional mass base of members and were orientated towards constructing a hegemonic constituency of voters; today these ostensibly ideology-free structures operate on a declining membership base and are internally structured to minimise debate and dissent and orientate themselves towards voters as consumers, selling technocratic solutions rather than espousing ideological differences with opponents (Mair 1997: 34–8).
The best available evidence suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics do not pose a widespread... more The best available evidence suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics do not pose a widespread risk to humans or the environment, except in small pockets. But that evidence is limited, and the situation could change if pollution continues at the current rate.
This volume showcases new approaches to studying public health in traditional and emerging media,... more This volume showcases new approaches to studying public health in traditional and emerging media, suggesting that we need more analyses that focus on the production of media and on power dynamics, as well as studies of audience reception of media messages. The collection asks a variety of questions about the role of media in analysing public health. Contributors ask who is influential in producing the stories we see in the press and on social media? Who benefits, and who is damaged, by media debates on health topics? They investigate the role of big business in seeking to shape public opinion and consumption in print and online media; how issues such as hand washing come to be framed over time by newspapers; how conflicts over immunisations get covered; how health promotion messages do their work and the positive role of online media in helping foster drug safety. Together, they reach the conclusion that since mass media is a crucial element of civic society, more in-depth understan...
Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean... more Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean in 2010 and ranked as the ninth country in the world for pollution of the marine environment. It is a postcolonial, oil rich country where plastic is cheap and widely available. Currently there is no government policy regulating single-use plastic products. Previous studies have identified university student residential areas as ‘hot spots’ for plastic waste. We used qualitative methods (focus groups and semi-structured interviews) to explore how students made sense of their single use plastics consumption (including ‘pure water’ plastic sachets) and analysed how young Nigerians interact with plastic waste. Students perceived plastic waste as malodorous, causing harm to human health and blighting environmental aesthetics. Students saw themselves as the cause of plastic pollution (as consumers) whereas plastic industries were framed positively as producers bringing progress and prosperit...
Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean... more Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean in 2010 and ranked as the ninth country in the world for pollution of the marine environment. It is a postcolonial, oil rich country where plastic is cheap and widely available. Currently there is no government policy regulating single-use plastic products. Previous studies have identified university student residential areas as ‘hot spots’ for plastic waste. We used qualitative methods (focus groups and semi-structured interviews) to explore how students made sense of their single use plastics consumption (including ‘pure water’ plastics sachets) and analysed how young Nigerians interact with plastic waste. Students perceived plastic waste as malodorous, causing harm to human health and blighting environmental aesthetics. Students saw themselves as the cause of plastic pollution (as consumers) whereas plastic industries were framed positively as producers bringing progress and prospe...
Reports of flooding are becoming more frequent in the UK media, and evidence from the UK Environm... more Reports of flooding are becoming more frequent in the UK media, and evidence from the UK Environment Agency indicates that ‘living with flooding’ will become commonplace rather than exceptional. This study is the first to adopt a critical discourse analysis approach to compare UK newspaper reporting of floods in the developed and developing world. We present our analysis of major flood incidents in Northern England and Chennai, India, in 2015. Our findings identify that UK newspapers not only give greater prominence to flooding events that are local but also frame differently those affected. Reports of floods in Northern England reinforced similarities and shared values between victims and assumed readers by drawing upon personal stories, emotions and suffering. By contrast, reports about floods in Chennai portrayed victims as anonymous ‘distant Others’, emphasising the drama of the incident rather than the plight of individuals. We argue that the newspapers’ approach to covering fl...
According to the UK’s Office of Communications (OFCOM), television news ‘is important because it ... more According to the UK’s Office of Communications (OFCOM), television news ‘is important because it informs and educates citizens, helping them take part in the democratic process’ (OFCOM 2007c: 12). There are certainly good reasons why aspects of this proposition should be a norm to aspire to, but whether it is substantively a fact in the here and now is another question. As a norm to aspire to, effective participation in the democratic process (whether that is in periodic formal electoral politics and/or various other activities of persuasion and campaigning) requires knowledge, information and understanding of the issues involved and a grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of opposing arguments. The media in all its forms and at different scales of operation obviously play an important role in the quality and complexity of that knowledge, information and understanding. But we must suspend OFCOM’s assumption that television news (still one of the most important sources of news for the public) does this job of informing and educating effectively (from the point of view of adequately informing consent and/or dissent with this or that aspect of the social process). We must instead interrogate it. Our study unusually observed not just the daily television news bulletins but also the range of political discussion programmes that were available during the same period.
We have seen that the capacity for representative democracy to be representative of social intere... more We have seen that the capacity for representative democracy to be representative of social interests other than capital is on the decline. Therefore, the rationale for popular involvement in and representation through the political process is being eroded in the minds and actions of many social groups within Western democracies, including young people. After two world wars, the winning of the popular franchise laid the basis for the social democratic Keynesian welfare state in Europe and post-Roosevelt (and later after the black civil rights struggle) a similar if somewhat watered down social democratic model in the US. The establishment of the social democratic settlement in the UK after the Second World War had removed young people from exploitation in the labour market by providing universal state education and other welfare benefits. Phil Mizen argues that young people were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the post-war strategy of inclusion (Mizen 2004:17). In underscoring the break with this strategy of inclusion and universal support inaugurated by the new neoliberal dispensation, Mizen is arguably a little uncritical of the social democratic model. The welfare state was still a compromise between capital and labour after all and the state still undertook to mould the latter to the needs of the former through its various apparatuses, such as the education system (Willis 1977).
Television news is caught between and often combines two models of broadcasting: a patrician atta... more Television news is caught between and often combines two models of broadcasting: a patrician attachment to the formal institutions of ‘democracy’ with its formal, deferential ‘stuffy’ mode of address vs a more ‘human interest’, consumer orientated, celebrity focused and potentially (with BSkyB agitating for a change in broadcasting regulations) strongly editorialising news. These appear to be the choices open to viewers, choices shaped by the power of the state on the one hand and the market on the other. Some broadcasters think that to engage younger audiences, broadcasting needs to shift its centre of gravity from the patrician model to the market model (conceptualised as a shift from ‘hard’ news to ‘soft’ news). Yet while there is some evidence to suggest that young people have an interest in aspects of a soft news agenda, that evidence has to be interpreted carefully. For one thing, an attraction to a soft news agenda is shaped in a context in which the only other option is the austere patrician model. We should avoid falling into the trap of thinking that these are the only alternatives open to television news. The temptation to shift from hard news to soft would merely bring broadcasting even more into line with a world in which the language and culture of the market saturates everything. It would do little to empower audiences, inform audiences, give them access to a diverse range of voices and perspectives, problematise what is accepted as normal, challenge preconceived ideas and in general nourish critical faculties so that reason can prevail over some of the bizarre and irrational forces that currently shape political and economic life.
Are younger audiences interested in politics? Do they feel represented? Are media images and mess... more Are younger audiences interested in politics? Do they feel represented? Are media images and messages concerning young people relevant to their everyday lived experience? If not, what can be changed? There are a number of intersecting debates circulating in academic, political and broadcast arenas that have underpinned the research study discussed in this book. Concerns centre on young people’s apparent declining interest in the political process or at least traditional notions of ‘Westminster-based’ politics and fears that they are more likely to vote for reality TV contestants than in a general election (Lewis, Inthorn and Wahl-Jorgensen 2005). Yet as we discussed in Chapter 4, there is evidence that young audiences are interested in aspects of a mainstream news agenda (although not Westminster-based politics); that they also have a distinct set of interests that are particular to being young; that they are interested in ‘single issue’ politics (lobbying for change around interest-linked campaigns such as world poverty, the environment, animal rights), and that, yes, they are also inclined towards what might be called celebrity or entertainment news. We have also highlighted that young people tend to be criminalised within mainstream television news (see Chapter 5); yet ironically it is precisely these same marginalised audiences that represent the future survival of television news and within the broadcast industry there is considerable discussion about how best to attract and maintain these viewers.
This chapter explores how television news and discussion programmes represent the world of ‘forma... more This chapter explores how television news and discussion programmes represent the world of ‘formal’ politics, which is to say the world populated by a professional class of political ‘doers’ organised within political parties, who make and implement policies within institutions that are supposed to be representative of and responsive to the public. Within a representative democracy, every voter is theoretically equal. But in practice, political power is separated from economic power. Voters vote for the former. The latter is unelectable and largely unaccountable to citizens. The story of the rise of neoliberalism is the story of how political power has become ever more subordinated and integrated into the preferences and imperatives of economic power as the social democratic/welfare state structures developed in the middle of the past century are dismantled. Inevitably, this process affects the structure of politics and the representation of that structure to the public via the media. For example, the class of political ‘doers’ operate increasingly within new party-type organisations. In the social democratic period, parties had a traditional mass base of members and were orientated towards constructing a hegemonic constituency of voters; today these ostensibly ideology-free structures operate on a declining membership base and are internally structured to minimise debate and dissent and orientate themselves towards voters as consumers, selling technocratic solutions rather than espousing ideological differences with opponents (Mair 1997: 34–8).
The best available evidence suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics do not pose a widespread... more The best available evidence suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics do not pose a widespread risk to humans or the environment, except in small pockets. But that evidence is limited, and the situation could change if pollution continues at the current rate.
This volume showcases new approaches to studying public health in traditional and emerging media,... more This volume showcases new approaches to studying public health in traditional and emerging media, suggesting that we need more analyses that focus on the production of media and on power dynamics, as well as studies of audience reception of media messages. The collection asks a variety of questions about the role of media in analysing public health. Contributors ask who is influential in producing the stories we see in the press and on social media? Who benefits, and who is damaged, by media debates on health topics? They investigate the role of big business in seeking to shape public opinion and consumption in print and online media; how issues such as hand washing come to be framed over time by newspapers; how conflicts over immunisations get covered; how health promotion messages do their work and the positive role of online media in helping foster drug safety. Together, they reach the conclusion that since mass media is a crucial element of civic society, more in-depth understan...
Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean... more Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean in 2010 and ranked as the ninth country in the world for pollution of the marine environment. It is a postcolonial, oil rich country where plastic is cheap and widely available. Currently there is no government policy regulating single-use plastic products. Previous studies have identified university student residential areas as ‘hot spots’ for plastic waste. We used qualitative methods (focus groups and semi-structured interviews) to explore how students made sense of their single use plastics consumption (including ‘pure water’ plastic sachets) and analysed how young Nigerians interact with plastic waste. Students perceived plastic waste as malodorous, causing harm to human health and blighting environmental aesthetics. Students saw themselves as the cause of plastic pollution (as consumers) whereas plastic industries were framed positively as producers bringing progress and prosperit...
Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean... more Nigeria is reported as having released up to 0.34 million tonnes of plastic debris into the ocean in 2010 and ranked as the ninth country in the world for pollution of the marine environment. It is a postcolonial, oil rich country where plastic is cheap and widely available. Currently there is no government policy regulating single-use plastic products. Previous studies have identified university student residential areas as ‘hot spots’ for plastic waste. We used qualitative methods (focus groups and semi-structured interviews) to explore how students made sense of their single use plastics consumption (including ‘pure water’ plastics sachets) and analysed how young Nigerians interact with plastic waste. Students perceived plastic waste as malodorous, causing harm to human health and blighting environmental aesthetics. Students saw themselves as the cause of plastic pollution (as consumers) whereas plastic industries were framed positively as producers bringing progress and prospe...
Reports of flooding are becoming more frequent in the UK media, and evidence from the UK Environm... more Reports of flooding are becoming more frequent in the UK media, and evidence from the UK Environment Agency indicates that ‘living with flooding’ will become commonplace rather than exceptional. This study is the first to adopt a critical discourse analysis approach to compare UK newspaper reporting of floods in the developed and developing world. We present our analysis of major flood incidents in Northern England and Chennai, India, in 2015. Our findings identify that UK newspapers not only give greater prominence to flooding events that are local but also frame differently those affected. Reports of floods in Northern England reinforced similarities and shared values between victims and assumed readers by drawing upon personal stories, emotions and suffering. By contrast, reports about floods in Chennai portrayed victims as anonymous ‘distant Others’, emphasising the drama of the incident rather than the plight of individuals. We argue that the newspapers’ approach to covering fl...
On 19 October 1988 British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd imposed unprecedented peacetime restrictio... more On 19 October 1988 British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd imposed unprecedented peacetime restrictions on broadcasting. The banning of direct interviews with eleven Irish organisations including Sinn Fein, a legal political party with elected councillors and an MP at Westminster, was widely condemned. We report research which documents the effect of the restrictions of British TV news.
Katarina Dimitrijevic / KraalD
ABSTRACT: Plasticized
We live in a plastic debris society, as i... more Katarina Dimitrijevic / KraalD
ABSTRACT: Plasticized
We live in a plastic debris society, as in the first decade of the twenty-first century, plastic production has quadrupled in comparison to the previous one. Recycling of used Plastic Limited informs that over one and half million tons of mixed household plastic packaging is disposed of in landfill each year in the UK only (RECOUP, 2012). There is now compelling evidence to show that humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife has pushed the planet into a new geological epoch, the “Anthropocene”. From the scientific axiom, the new term acknowledges current human dominance of biological, chemical and geological processes on Earth. Currently, the planets oceans form the largest global landfill and are the most vulnerable unprotected eco-system on Spaceship Earth (Fuller, 1963). Contemporary marine research has revealed that synthetic polymers are toxic pollutants and they are spread throughout all the planets oceans. Right now, 269,000 tons of plastic composed of 5.25 trillion particles are afloat at sea (Eriksen, et al., 2014). The plastic trash that flows into the ocean originating from the United States and Europe is due to urban and coastal litter rather than the mishandling of collected waste (Cassouto, 2015). The United Nations joint group of experts on the scientific aspects of marine pollution (GESAMP) estimated that land-based sources account for up to 80 percent of the world’s marine pollution, 60 percent to 95 percent of which is plastic debris. Transposed by wind, the majority of land-littered waste ultimately ends up at the ocean. As the society I/We ***have created the place and space for the birth of the new environ-bio layer, named the “Plastisphere” (Zettler, et al., 2013). How can we transgress the surplus-driven consumer culture? Perhaps in taking on the seemingly valueless discarded plastic; in transposing plastic things into a floating objects and 3D installations. Plasticized, KraalD land installation can reveal how disposed materiality can contain a dimension for spaces of possibility, creating new values and even hope for a Global and Planetary 21st century de-pollution. Thus, it feels as a personal imperative call, to all human collective that in order to raise new planetary paradigm, I/We need to start fundamentally transposing the way we design, manufacture, distribute, consume and dispose in our toxic futures. I trash therefore We are.
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ABSTRACT: Plasticized
We live in a plastic debris society, as in the first decade of the twenty-first century, plastic production has quadrupled in comparison to the previous one. Recycling of used Plastic Limited informs that over one and half million tons of mixed household plastic packaging is disposed of in landfill each year in the UK only (RECOUP, 2012). There is now compelling evidence to show that humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife has pushed the planet into a new geological epoch, the “Anthropocene”. From the scientific axiom, the new term acknowledges current human dominance of biological, chemical and geological processes on Earth.
Currently, the planets oceans form the largest global landfill and are the most vulnerable unprotected eco-system on Spaceship Earth (Fuller, 1963). Contemporary marine research has revealed that synthetic polymers are toxic pollutants and they are spread throughout all the planets oceans. Right now, 269,000 tons of plastic composed of 5.25 trillion particles are afloat at sea (Eriksen, et al., 2014).
The plastic trash that flows into the ocean originating from the United States and Europe is due to urban and coastal litter rather than the mishandling of collected waste (Cassouto, 2015). The United Nations joint group of experts on the scientific aspects of marine pollution (GESAMP) estimated that land-based sources account for up to 80 percent of the world’s marine pollution, 60 percent to 95 percent of which is plastic debris. Transposed by wind, the majority of land-littered waste ultimately ends up at the ocean.
As the society I/We ***have created the place and space for the birth of the new environ-bio layer, named the “Plastisphere” (Zettler, et al., 2013). How can we transgress the surplus-driven consumer culture? Perhaps in taking on the seemingly valueless discarded plastic; in transposing plastic things into a floating objects and 3D installations. Plasticized, KraalD land installation can reveal how disposed materiality can contain a dimension for spaces of possibility, creating new values and even hope for a Global and Planetary 21st century de-pollution. Thus, it feels as a personal imperative call, to all human collective that in order to raise new planetary paradigm, I/We need to start fundamentally transposing the way we design, manufacture, distribute, consume and dispose in our toxic futures.
I trash therefore We are.