University of Leicester

Faculty Member, Media and Communication

Lecturer In Media and Communication

College of Social Science

About

Research Interests

My research interests focus on the sociology of journalism and professional production of news media.  I am one of few scholars who has conducted ethnographic research into the production of news.  My past research has focused on differentiated news forms, tracing how their unique textual properties are ‘visualised’ - sometimes contested and changed  - and then physically ‘shaped’ into news representations by news teams. This has revealed the interplay between the news form, imagined audiences and institutional discourses and constraints and their importance in determining the general possibilities and limitations placed on the presentation of various representations and news access opportunities. To date, I have studied BBC Newsround, Channel 4 News and more recently the UK and US television news ecologies. Additionally, my recent writing (with Smith Maguire) has discussed media professionals acting as ‘cultural intermediaries’ in and between media industries. 

I am also interested in the news reporting of conflicts and risks; having conducted research into the news coverage of environmental problems, I retain an interest in the construction of environmental news agendas, access opportunities and representations in the news over time.  Yet, also of interest is the news manufacture of 'social problems' and the news reporting of issues such as immigration, terrorism and war etc.

Teaching and Supervision

I am the Course Director of the MSC Research in Media and Communications and coordinate the following modules:

    * MS7002 Processes and Structures in Mass Communication
    * MS7301 Analysing Media Outputs
    * MS2003 E-democracy and E-government

I contribute to the following modules:

    * MS7000 Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies
    * MS7027 News Management, Communication and Social Problems

Presently, I supervise the following PhD students (and projects):

    * Maya Al Habsi - Production study of Al Jazeera news
    * Ida Azra - Young people, news and political disconnection in Malaysia.
    * Shiv Satchit - Public Service Broadcasting in India
    *Kelechi Onyermaobi - Press Reporting of Nigeria's General Elections

I am interested to hear from prospective research students who wish to undertake research related to the following interests:

    * Journalists and the production of news media
    * News reporting of conflicts or risks (climate change,war journalism, immigration, protest etc)
    * Young people and news
    * Cultural intermediaries and the media

Professional Activities

As a media sociologist, I am also involved in two external roles.  First, I am the Communication and Media Section Editor for the Blackwell-Wiley International Journal, Sociology Compass (www.sociology-compass.com.) Second, I am the Convenor of the British Sociological Association Media Study Group ( http://www.britsoc.co.uk/specialisms/Media.htm ).  In addition to these activities, I am also a member of various professional associations including MECCSA, IAMCR, ECREA and the PSA Media and Politics Group.  I regularly give papers at conferences and was until recently the External Examiner for the Journalism Programme at the University of Worcester (- 2008)

Contact Information