Janet Harris

The Future of Journalism

Today journalism, as an industry and a profession, is characterised by ever-increasing turbulence and change, for better and for worse. Profound transformations affect every aspect of the instituti...Today journalism, as an industry and a profession, is characterised by ever-increasing turbulence and change, for better and for worse. Profound transformations affect every aspect of the institution, including the economic health of journalism, the conditions and self-understandings of its practitioners, its ability to serve as a watchdog on concentrations of power, its engagement with and relationship to its audience, and its future prospects. This emerging and dynamic ecology can be viewed as a unique constellation of challenges and opportunities. For these reasons, the fifth Future of Journalism conference, held in Cardiff on 10–11 September 2015, focused on the theme of Risks, Threats and Opportunities. The conference saw over 120 papers from around the world presented across 34 sessions, with keynote speeches from Dan Gillmor, Stephen Reese and Jean Seaton. This introduction briefly outlines some of these key risks, threats and opportunities, drawing on work presented at the conference, as well as insights from the field of journalism studies.

The Future of Journalism: Risks, threats and opportunities

Today journalism, as an industry and a profession, is characterised by ever-increasing turbulence and change, for better and for worse. Profound transformations affect every aspect of the instituti...

Gender, risk and journalism

The central concern of this paper is to address the question, “Is it more dangerous to be a woman journalist when reporting conflict”. Beck states “risk is the anticipation of the catastrophe—so it is existent and non-existent”. Is the contention that female journalists are more at risk, knowledge, or a construction of knowledge? Are editors and journalists who decide that women are more at risk merely anticipating a catastrophe? There is no certainty, of course, that women are more at risk, but the fear that they might be can prevent them from being sent to cover conflict, or force them to decide not to go to dangerous places. Certainly, an improvised explosive device or rocket fire does not distinguish between sexes. In many situations being female actually helps women journalist in conflict zones. In this paper we present findings from a survey of journalists who work in conflict zones and ask whether it is the job or the gender which is the most dangerous?

Introduction: the future of journalism: risks, threats and opportunities

Today journalism, as an industry and a profession, is characterised by ever-increasing turbulence and change, for better and for worse. Profound transformations affect every aspect of the institution, including the economic health of journalism, the conditions and self-understandings of its practitioners, its ability to serve as a watchdog on concentrations of power, its engagement with and relationship to its audience, and its future prospects. This emerging and dynamic ecology can be viewed as a unique constellation of challenges and opportunities. For these reasons, the fifth Future of Journalism conference, held in Cardiff on 10–11 September 2015, focused on the theme of Risks, Threats and Opportunities. The conference saw over 120 papers from around the world presented across 34 sessions, with keynote speeches from Dan Gillmor, Stephen Reese and Jean Seaton. This introduction briefly outlines some of these key risks, threats and opportunities, drawing on work presented at the conference, as well as insights from the field of journalism studies.For me, the most exciting problems design can grapple with are large, muddy, and important. This might sound strange from someone who spent 7 years in a dusty workshop, getting lost in the details of designing and building furniture. Over my time at AHO I have tried to explore how bridging disciplines and collapsing scales can help us to address wicked problems; how strategic, and yet small-scale and aesthetic, interventions can fuel change. Journalism is at the heart of several wicked problems. It is a critical part of a democratic society, and yet all of our interactions with it are personal and mediated through objects of one kind or another. It is at the same time both systemic and personal, macro and micro. At a public lecture at AHO this spring, Cameron Tonkinwise said “There are ways that objects enable transitions.” (Tonkinwise, 2018) I hope that the results of this project, in some small way, have done just that, and have illustrated the value of working with an unabashedly multidisciplinary approach. All photographs, illustrations and graphics by the author, unless otherwise noted. This document has been formatted for printing on newsprint, meaning that some colours may appear duller than intended. a note on language Throughout the course of this project I have struggled with how to describe the people who will ultimately be using future products and services. Users is a commonly-used word in both UX and service design processes, but doesn’t adequately reflect the relationship people have to news media and journalism. At the same time, reader, listener, and viewer are commonly used in media environments, but are tied to specific types of media, and, like user and consumer, fail to address an emerging two way relationship between the producers and consumers of content (content: another problematic term). The word prosumer has emerged as an attempt to represent a dual-natured user, but has not been widely adopted outside of DIY and maker spaces. While it might not seem so important, our language shapes how we as designers imagine and engage with people. This is all just to say that we will need to explore new terms to represent new and complex relationships between actors, across different types of media. For now, though, I’ll try to stick with user and reader, even if they fall short, and people aren’t actually reading anything.

Screening The Good Soldier

This volume marks the centenary of Ford Madox Ford’s masterpiece The Good Soldier . It includes groundbreaking work on the novel’s narrative technique, chronology, and genre; pioneering work on bodies and minds; eugenics; poison; and surveillance; and innovative comparative studies.