Centralising citizenship for media reform : local news audiences of Brexit
(2017) MKVM13 20171Media and Communication Studies
- Abstract
- The primary aim of this thesis is to critically examine news media as a resource for political engagement. A secondary aim is to demonstrate the importance and vitality of qualitative audience research to studies of news and democracy and wider democratization of society alongside media reform. For a contextualised approach to civic engagement, local news audiences of Wales were interviewed on their engagement pre and post Brexit. The thesis places importance on centralising the citizen in research. While the tendency of news to centralise voices of politicians and elites on democratic issues, over societal stakes, is reflected in audiences. Translated into a news of hostility and partisanship over narrative and information, audiences... (More)
- The primary aim of this thesis is to critically examine news media as a resource for political engagement. A secondary aim is to demonstrate the importance and vitality of qualitative audience research to studies of news and democracy and wider democratization of society alongside media reform. For a contextualised approach to civic engagement, local news audiences of Wales were interviewed on their engagement pre and post Brexit. The thesis places importance on centralising the citizen in research. While the tendency of news to centralise voices of politicians and elites on democratic issues, over societal stakes, is reflected in audiences. Translated into a news of hostility and partisanship over narrative and information, audiences critically assess the role of the news in Brexit. A model of a media-political debate which is elitist, ignoring and denying citizen interests, is met with critical and frustrated audiences. The representation of the political is considered and demonstrated in this thesis as a resource in engagement. Where knowledge and discursive resources were missing, engagement, narrative, decision making and debate were compromised. Elite representations of news were combined with citizens contextualised perception of inequality and corruption. News is heavily
implicated in the cultural dimensions of citizenship, this representation was pervasive in many areas of civic culture. Through discursive processes, audiences are found to both politicise and moralise issues of news
in democracy, aligning with normative projects of media regulation. Audiences both adopt and resist the consumerist insinuation of media and regulatory practices, vocalising the aspects of consumerism which have eroded their civic culture, in trust, enjoyment and engagement of news
and politics. Exemplified by the findings, audience research is supported as a critical method in engaging with news and democracy. Combining audience’s cognitive entitlements with discursive use of representation, in emphasising the news as a resource, allows the citizen to become the primary object of enquiry. In bridging qualitative audience studies to the process of political engagement, citizenship is centred and becomes a resource for media reform. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8906800
- author
- Lopez-Smith, Isabella LU
- supervisor
-
- Annette Hill LU
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- News, Audience, Media, Reform, Citizen, Discourse, Brexit, EU Referendum, Wales, UK, Citizenship, Power, Regulation, Engagement, Resource, Political Communication, Democracy
- language
- English
- id
- 8906800
- date added to LUP
- 2017-08-21 08:59:42
- date last changed
- 2017-08-21 08:59:42
@misc{8906800,
abstract = {{The primary aim of this thesis is to critically examine news media as a resource for political engagement. A secondary aim is to demonstrate the importance and vitality of qualitative audience research to studies of news and democracy and wider democratization of society alongside media reform. For a contextualised approach to civic engagement, local news audiences of Wales were interviewed on their engagement pre and post Brexit. The thesis places importance on centralising the citizen in research. While the tendency of news to centralise voices of politicians and elites on democratic issues, over societal stakes, is reflected in audiences. Translated into a news of hostility and partisanship over narrative and information, audiences critically assess the role of the news in Brexit. A model of a media-political debate which is elitist, ignoring and denying citizen interests, is met with critical and frustrated audiences. The representation of the political is considered and demonstrated in this thesis as a resource in engagement. Where knowledge and discursive resources were missing, engagement, narrative, decision making and debate were compromised. Elite representations of news were combined with citizens contextualised perception of inequality and corruption. News is heavily
implicated in the cultural dimensions of citizenship, this representation was pervasive in many areas of civic culture. Through discursive processes, audiences are found to both politicise and moralise issues of news
in democracy, aligning with normative projects of media regulation. Audiences both adopt and resist the consumerist insinuation of media and regulatory practices, vocalising the aspects of consumerism which have eroded their civic culture, in trust, enjoyment and engagement of news
and politics. Exemplified by the findings, audience research is supported as a critical method in engaging with news and democracy. Combining audience’s cognitive entitlements with discursive use of representation, in emphasising the news as a resource, allows the citizen to become the primary object of enquiry. In bridging qualitative audience studies to the process of political engagement, citizenship is centred and becomes a resource for media reform.}},
author = {{Lopez-Smith, Isabella}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Centralising citizenship for media reform : local news audiences of Brexit}},
year = {{2017}},
}