Three-D Issue 31: Quality journalism, internet and politics
Einar Thorsen
The farcical uncertainty and chaos caused by red lines, Parliamentary arithmetic and delinquent politicians is crippling the country in suspended animation over Brexit. Luckily this is not a Brexit issue of Three-D, as the contents would no doubt have been superseded by events by the time you read this… but Brexit is also impossible to ignore, as it provides a suffocating omnipresent backdrop to almost every decision being made or considered in the UK at the moment.
There are many other issues, however, that deserve our focussed attention – as outlined in Anita Biressi’s report on some of MeCCSA’s work since the summer. These include a range of consultations on HE policy and research funding for our subject areas. The importance of using our academic voices in response to public consultations / inquiries is also highlighted by Julie Firmstone in her piece responding to the Cairncross Review – the DCMS led consultation into ‘sustainable high quality journalism in the UK’. This is one of four articles that explore recommendations and potential ways forward from this review, which also highlight concerns about its terms of reference. That is, the extent to which the consultation is designed to solicit evidence to justify subsidising corporate news organisations that are failing both in serving citizens / public interest and ability to profit in a changing market.
In this issue we also devote a section to different aspects of digital communication and issues that arise when power and populism is left unchecked in new communicative spaces. The five articles illustrate a wide range of issues that call for not only regulatory responses, but our attention as scholars to help identify and provide evidence for such solutions.
Finally, regular readers of Three-D will notice a small, but important change in this issue: we are moving from a four to three column layout(!) This is designed to enhance readability as we continue to evolve the look of Three-D – and whilst this is a small change, it is the most significant design update in seven years…
If you would like to write for or advertise in the next edition of Three-D, please get in touch with me on ethorsen@bmth.ac.uk by end of March 2019. Suggestions for our website are also welcome.