Panel 6: Journalism and Social Responsibility
Chair: Prof Stuart Allan
The press as perpetrators of childhood bullying and suicide
Ann Luce, University of Cardiff
bullying, suicide, children, press
The conception of children in society is one of a weak, naïve and innocent being. Based on these adult perceptions, oppression of children is common. Social constraints in the day-to-day lives of children are common. But it is the social constraints during the school day that cause the most problems. Oppression in school leads to bullying, which can ultimately lead to suicide. But where do these adultist ideas come from? The press. The way the press reports on children’s issues, frames stories about children, places stories on its pages about children all set a greater agenda for how adults view children. Thus, the role the press plays in the continuation of childhood bullying and suicide is one that must be viewed and studied carefully.
A case study of HIV/AIDS reporting in Zimbabwe
Forward Maisokwadzo, University of the West of England, Bristol
media and poverty eradication, HIV, AIDS and HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS reporting
Southern Africa is home to nearly two-thirds of those living with HIV/AIDS globally. And Zimbabwe is one of those countries in Southern Africa.
It is widely agreed that a free press plays a key role in sustaining and monitoring a healthy democracy, as well as in contributing to greater accountability, good governance and economic development. The media can play an important role in tackling HIV/AIDS pandemic- both by giving voice to those most affected by the pandemic, and by holding international and national policy makers to account.
This case study will interrogate print media coverage of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe. It will analyse news coverage of HIV/AIDS by two British newspapers and two Zimbabwean newspapers.
Related research has examined news coverage of HIV/AIDS in Britain and US, with a particular emphasis on the early years when the primary definitions of the crisis were established (see Allan: 2002). While some studies have examined the dynamics of news production, for example, show how the day-to-day imperatives of making HIV/AID ‘newsworthy’ occurs in relation to a diverse array of institutional constraints. Research into how journalists frame HIV/AIDS similarly helps to disclose the strategies by which different news actors, some of whom were stakeholders with vested interests, seek to advance their definition of the situation (see Murray 1991; Lupton 1994; Miller et al. 1998: Eldridge 1999).
In the case of Zimbabwe, the only significant research carried out related to this study was a report produced by Panos (2005) entitled Reporting AIDS: An analysis of media environments in Southern Africa.
Only limited comparisons have been made between print media coverage around the world, and very little has been done looking at media coverage of issues relating to international development in western media. Of the studies that have been done including those mentioned above, none have disaggregated their analysis to look at specific themes such as HIV and AIDS, nor have they looked at critical issues such as stigmatizing language, voice, homophobic, racism, representation and visibility of people most affected. Due to the increased linkages between HIV/AIDS and TB, my research will also attempt to identify the amount of media coverage of TB and in what ways the reporting is relating to HIV/AIDS especially in Zimbabwe.
My research study will draw from a baseline content (quantitative and qualitative) analysis to explore the role of the media in promoting informed public debate and accountability in regards to HIV/AIDS. I will examine which sources and voices presented in the print media, how are they portrayed and the extent of critical questioning of key issues raised.
Media representations of body weight, rethinking the concept of obesity
Jepther Ukachukwu, Loughborough University
obesity, media representation, ideal body weight (size zero), aesthetics
Obesity is news. Media interest in obesity and related body weight issues has steadily grown in salience as a news and documentary issue, almost now to the point of obsession. In recent years such research as has been done on media and obesity has concentrated on how the media may influence the public and policy agenda on obesity and on how responses to the issue are articulated through a media-constructed aesthetic ideal of body weight and size. But what is obesity? I shall argue in this paper that in much of the existing research there is a lack of adequate conceptualisation of the meaning of obesity. This often leads to confusion in the use of terms like ‘obesity’ and ‘overweight’, and often relies on unannounced evaluative baselines such as that of ‘ideal weight’. There is no consistency in the use of various gradations of conceptual meaning, such as ‘morbidly obese’ or ‘extremely overweight’. I shall argue that the inadequate conceptualisation of obesity in media research matches the confusion of meaning in media constructions of obesity. I shall illustrate this with reference to various British newspaper stories concerning obesity and related body weight issues and try to suggest ways forward in the research towards greater conceptual clarity.
Panel 1: Imperialism and Globalisation
Panel 2: Online Citizens and Democracy
Panel 3: Television Audiences
Panel 4: Mediating Identity 1
Panel 5: Reporting the Conflict
Panel 6: Journalism and Social Responsibility
Panel 7: Sexual Representations in Cinema
Panel 8: Popular Culture
Panel 9: Still Image
Panel 10: Branding, Advertising and Corporate Cultures
Panel 11: Film and Theatre
Panel 12: Alternative Film
Panel 13: Feminism, Gender and Identity
Panel 14: Fan Culture and Online Audiences
Panel 15: Public Service Broadcasting and Radio
Panel 16: Design for Screen
Panel 17: Uses of Music and Sound in Film
Panel 18: Mediating Identity 2
Panel 19: Citizens, Interaction and the Public Interest |
