Here’s something I didn’t know before a different local (self-funded) journalist told me; Each council has to produce spreadsheets of all invoices over £500. They need to publish these quarterly but I never knew of this requirement. Two things strike me about local reporting, which can be applied to most situations: there is legislation that …
Author Archives: Joanna
Looking at access to prominence
[Citations are from Media Amnesia by Laura Basu] Concentration of the media has been accompanied by an ‘obliteration of a left and social democratic tradition in the press’ (Golding and Middleton 1982 — Images of Welfare: Press and Public Attitude to Poverty: 217). This happened in three ways: the death of individual titles the deradicalisation …
Information decay and methodology — agenda setting
My topic is “what is the effect of social media on local political participation and knowledge, compared to local and national mainstream media”. One way to explore this was to measure the different effects. I published a few stories within the following types of media: social media alone (including blogs) social media and local media …
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Fake news and streetlights
Citizen journalists are often hampered by lack to official information and delays with freedom of information requests. Social media often gets blamed for fake news and councils’ comms teams are often the first to blame newspapers and social media for fake news. One example FOI request is useful at showing how communications and statements can …
Fake News and authority
Local news doesn’t have a ‘fake news’ issue so it was surprising to go to a Points West filming news anniversary and see them invite along someone from Cardiff University (they have an excellent media department) and Kerry-Anne Mendoza from the Canary to talk about the fake news issue. Fake news is usually associated with …
Following up on literature and trolling
As mentioned in one of my previous articles, the mayor has a declared policy of ‘not engaging’ with the ‘trolls’, which doesn’t seem to include not calling people trolls, as he is alleged to have done. He has allegedly called activists or people who write opinion pieces in local media, trolls in public meetings, and …
Sea-lioning and relationships — part I
The benefit of having access to the newsdesk is that when the council want to, they provide a quick response. Various FOIs of the internal workings of the council press team show that they can provide replies quickly.
Information and sources
One reason given to me by an editor of a regional magazine for why he couldn’t publish my article about the mayor’s faith advisor was that it was too complicated for their readers.
Citizen journalism and authority
Local ‘deviant’ news issues might be safer from censorship from multi-million/billion platforms than national ‘deviant’ issues. What makes it tough for local issues to reach a wider readership might also protect them from being made completely invisible.
Harassment of local and citizen journalists
In 2019, the mayor is recorded as having bullied and criticised and been quite rude to journalists in the chamber. These journalists were employed by the local press however, and therefore had some support. After one of the worst occasions regarding a journalist’s use of the word ‘tip’ rather than recycling waste centre [check wording], …
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