Journalism, media critique and online publics

ended

CritJourn will examine how journalism is critiqued online and how journalists experience these critiques. Public critiques of journalism seem to have become more visible than they have ever been in the past. In particular, critiques of the legitimacy of mainstream media representations - from different ideological perspectives - have become an everyday feature of public discourse about journalism on digital platforms like Twitter. Drawing on my established international profile as a critical communication, media and journalism researcher, the overarching aim of this project will be to develop new concepts for understanding how journalism is critiqued, and how journalists negotiate and experience media critique, by different online publics. This research is timely and important because it will illuminate our understanding of the relationship between journalism and online culture in a political moment where the bonds that have historically sustained the relationship between journalism and the public have been weakened. The overarching aim will be supported by 4 specific objectives, 2 conceptual and 2 empirical. The conceptual supplements will put communication, media and journalism research into conversation with, first, interdisciplinary debates about the nature of critique and, second, radical democratic theories about the nature of ideological conflict. The first empirical element will undertake a (quantitative and qualitative) critical discourse analysis of how UK journalists and media institutions are critiqued on Twitter. The second will interview journalists in Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and UK about their experiences of media critique. The fellowship incorporates a training programme appropriate to my career profile. It will significantly advance my research programme, facilitate and extend my reintegration within EU research networks and boost my chances of getting a senior academic position in Europe on completion.