Simon Cottle

Offering an introduction to key research methods and approaches for the study of media and mass communications processes, this book starts with a discussion on how to select the right methods for the right research questions, before going on to outline the main methods and approaches for the study of: media organisations; the practices of media professionals; media content and representations; and media audiences. Drawing widely on examples from communications research literature, the authors describe the development and application of each method and the details of the steps involved, giving examples of research instruments as appropriate.

More journalists are being killed, attacked and intimidated than at any time in history. Reporting Dangerously: Journalist Killings, Intimidation and Security examines the statistics and looks at the trends in journalist killings and intimidation around the world. It identifies what factors have led to this rise and positions these in historical and global contexts. This important study also provides case studies and first-hand accounts from journalists working in some of the most dangerous places in the world today and seeks to understand the different pressures they must confront. It also examines industry and political responses to these trends and pressures as well as the latest international initiatives aimed at challenging cultures of impunity and keeping journalists safe. Throughout, the authors argue that journalism contributes a vital if often neglected role in the formation and conduct of civil societies. This is why reporting from ‘uncivil’ places matters and this iswhy journalists are often positioned in harm’s way. The responsibility to report in a globalizing world of crises and human insecurity, and the responsibility to try and keep journalists safe while they do so, it is argued, belongs to us all.

More journalists are being killed, attacked and intimidated than at any time in history. Reporting Dangerously: Journalist Killings, Intimidation and Security examines the statistics and looks at the trends in journalist killings and intimidation around the world. It identifies what factors have led to this rise and positions these in historical and global contexts. This important study also provides case studies and first-hand accounts from journalists working in some of the most dangerous places in the world today and seeks to understand the different pressures they must confront. It also examines industry and political responses to these trends and pressures as well as the latest international initiatives aimed at challenging cultures of impunity and keeping journalists safe. Throughout, the authors argue that journalism contributes a vital if often neglected role in the formation and conduct of civil societies. This is why reporting from ‘uncivil’ places matters and this iswhy journalists are often positioned in harm’s way. The responsibility to report in a globalizing world of crises and human insecurity, and the responsibility to try and keep journalists safe while they do so, it is argued, belongs to us all.

Disasters in today’s globalized world are becoming not only more frequent but, often, more catastrophic. The media play a critical role in communicating and making sense of these cataclysmic events. This book offers unique insights into how news media today make disasters culturally meaningful and politically important, drawing on cutting-edge theoretical work and recent examples. It looks at how globalization is affecting the meanings of disaster but also considers the continued relevance of nations and their citizens as interpretive frameworks. It examines how journalists’ witnessing of disasters is changing in response to new technologies, including social media, and how the ideal of objectivity might be challenged by new, more emotional and more compassionate forms of story-telling premised on an injunction to care. Ultimately, the book calls attention to the media possibilities for addressing disasters as global social, political, cultural and economic events in which we all have a stake.

Disasters in today’s globalized world are becoming not only more frequent but, often, more catastrophic. The media play a critical role in communicating and making sense of these cataclysmic events. This book offers unique insights into how news media today make disasters culturally meaningful and politically important, drawing on cutting-edge theoretical work and recent examples. It looks at how globalization is affecting the meanings of disaster but also considers the continued relevance of nations and their citizens as interpretive frameworks. It examines how journalists’ witnessing of disasters is changing in response to new technologies, including social media, and how the ideal of objectivity might be challenged by new, more emotional and more compassionate forms of story-telling premised on an injunction to care. Ultimately, the book calls attention to the media possibilities for addressing disasters as global social, political, cultural and economic events in which we all have a stake.

There have been many racially motivated murders in Britain in recent years that have received little media attention or public expressions of concern. The 1993 murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence, a black student, proved to be very different. Through time and growing media interest, the name of Stephen Lawrence became a potent symbol and catalyst for change. This particular killing prompted widespread re-examination of questions of (in)justice, cultural identity, and continuing racism in British society, and it eventually initiated processes of institutional reflexivity, including government policies targeting institutional racism within Britain's most powerful organizations of state and civil society. This book examines the media's role in performing the Stephen Lawrence case over the ten-year period since Lawrence's murder. Developing the framework of mediatized public crisis, this book carefully examines how and why the British and international media turned the Stephen Lawrence case into a watershed moment with potentially transformative effects. To understand this, we need to attend to the expressive possibilities of symbols and journalism forms, the dynamics and contingencies that inhere within both politics and narrative, as well as the strategic interventions of involved interests and identities. This important book provides new insights into how and why the media report and, occasionally, perform issues of race in ways that can unleash moral forces for social change. Includes many newspaper images from the British press; a list of racially motivated murders from 1970 to 2003; a detailed chronology of the Stephen Lawrence case; and the Macpherson recommendations and social reforms.

* What are the latest developments in the production, representation and reception of media output, produced by, for or about ethnic minorities?* What informs the questions media researchers ask and pursue when examining the mass media and ethnic minorities?* What are the principal forces of change currently shaping the field? There are few media issues more pressing, or potentially more consequential, than the representation of ethnic minorities. This authoritative text therefore brings together leading international researchers who have examined some of the latest processes of change (and continuity) informing the field of ethnic minorities and the media. Numerous studies of 'race', racism and the mass media have been conducted in the past. However, both the media landscape and the cultural field of ethnic minorities are fast changing, and this book addresses the recent developments which have threatened to outpace our ability to map, understand and intervene in processes of change. Presented in an accessible style, this book provides the reader with an overview of the very latest research findings and informed discussion. It opens with an introductory essay which maps recent approaches to the field, followed by substantive chapters which are structured thematically to address key processes of change such as media representations, media production, and cultures of identity.

Mass Communication Research Methods provides a systematic and comprehensive introduction to the key research methods and approaches used in the study of mass communication and media. Originating from the internationally renowned Leicester Centre for Mass Communication Research, this book offers an indispensable guide for students in a wide range of courses, including communications, media and cultural studies, and other social science disciplines that offer students the opportunity to research mass communication and media issues. Beginning with a clear and cogent discussion of the principles behind good research, including the key question of how to select the right methods for individual research questions, the authors go on to explore in a thorough and systematic fashion a range of different methods and approaches. From the study of media organizations and the practices of media professionals to media content, representations, and audiences, the development and application of each method is described in depth and the steps involved clearly outlined. Examples of research instruments are given where appropriate, and in each case references for further reading are provided. Mass Communication Research Methods is the definitive companion, reference, and source for everyone involved in mass communication research.