The media and community perception

Public perceptions• Media platforms reflect, shape and channel public debates

over and perceptions of:1. How social issues are articulated

Identification of problems, their causes and solutions2. The identification of communities who experience these

issues Community membership, characteristics and interests

3. The structure of society What counts as community empowerment, who gets what,

where, when how and why and who decides• Communities at risk of experiencing social problems such

as poverty are not participants in these debates

Perception of social problems

• Poverty is presented as dehumanised and lacking contextPeople experiencing poverty featured in 13% of news

reports covering UK poverty Statistical evidence was only used in 24% of reportsGroups at higher risks of poverty (e.g. women, disabled

people, the unemployed) are reported on less often than other groups

In most cases no description is made of people in poverty: “Poverty is largely anonymous in British society”

• (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, “The media, poverty and public opinion in the UK” 2008)

Perceptions of communities• Communities in poverty are defined by

others• Appear as victims or perpetrators of

politicised social problems• Knife crime

Statistical jump in teenage deaths in London 2007 (26) and 2008 (30)

Long-term decline: 17 deaths per year 2000-2006, 13 deaths in 2009

Led to £100m police funding and extra powers including stop and search, lifting of blanket anonymity for 16/17 year old offenders

Major political rows between Labour and Conservatives

Perceptions of power

• Newspapers are under serious financial pressure Local newspaper revenues have fallen 29% in real terms since 2004 Savings are made through reducing the number of journalists and

cutting down on time-intensive investigative journalism

• There are more press officers (47,800) working in Britain than journalists (45,000) 80% of broadsheet news reports contain rewrites of wire copy (e.g.

Reuters, the Press Association) or press releases (Nick Davies 2008)

• Decisions that affect communities are not scrutinised ‘Work Programme’ presented as community empowerment by DWP Privatisation through role of multinational ‘prime contractors’ and

past impact on unemployed downplayed

Unblocking communication

• Systematic exclusion of communities from the media• Not merely due to lack of capacity or ‘social capital’• Vested political interests benefit from this exclusion• How do we unblock communication?

1. The exclusion isn’t total – good communication tactics can help community groups air their voice, especially in the local media

2. Scope for alternative media that challenges and investigates power and reflects the real stories of communities

Local media• Important decisions affecting communities (regeneration, crime,

services) are made at local levels• Rowntree study: while less likely to report on poverty, when the

local media does it is more likely to be “both humanised and politicised”

• Organisations providing media training:– Community magazines (e.g. Salford Star, Manchester Mule)– Charities (MediaWise Trust)– PR companies sometimes offer pro bono media training. Use the Big

Society!– Free online resources: Institute for Race Relations has an excellent

guide• Don’t forget the capacity for local stories to get picked up by

the national press

Humanise issues

• Parents fighting againstoutsourcing of Sure Start• Council wants to convertto targeted service for the“needy”• Parent turns narrative around and asks, “Who is

needy?” Describes how the service being public and there for all the community helped her back to health

• Campaign still ongoing and building support

Limits of local media

• Can win positive coverage in commercial press but tends towards superficial

• Lacks ability to carry out independent investigations and challenge dominant perceptions of housing, crime, regeneration

• Increasingly monopolised: 5 largest media groups have 72% of the market 37% of local authorities have one publication cornering 90%

of the market Buying points declining 23% per year and absent in many

estates (OFT, 2009)

Role for alternative media

• Appetite for investigative journalism MP’s expenses scandal Salford Star

• To be effective, journalism must be engaged and critical People aren’t stupid and have their own information

networks. Speak to them! Follow the money, hunt down resources and how they’re

used Campaigning angle, be on the side of people challenging

power

Challenges for alternative media

• Funding for non-profit media there, but shrinking due to cuts

• Local authorities and other institutions provide funding but will cut if journalists bite the hand that feeds them

• Digital divide: many communities lack the internet• High publication standards: people won’t read black

and white photocopies• Lack of outlets: independent outlets disappearing and

public spaces shrinking

Questions

1. Can independent local journalism be self-sustaining? Networks of reporters Bureau of Investigative Journalism, NUJ, Red Pepper Funding for training: Media Trust?

2. Is there a danger of campaigning journalism crossing the line into lecturing communities? Avoid party-politics (i.e. criticise them all!) Reflect what people are actually saying, not what you’d like

them to3. What issues should it focus on? What approach

should it take to them?