News & Journalism Research Group
The world of news and journalism is, like the media in general, in a period of great change. The spread of new information and communication technologies are having an impact on all aspects of the news production process, from the way reporters gather material for their stories, to the way news content is packaged and presented. There are changes too in the channels and outlets for news and in the way the established media organizations are responding to developments in the global market for news output. The News & Journalism Research Group brings together researchers to explore the impact of these changes on newsrooms, to ask questions about the consequences for the occupations connected with news production, to examine news content, and to study the audiences for news in local, national and global contexts. The group is directed by Julian Matthews
Who we are
Academic Staff
Graduate Research Assistants
PhD Students
Rahma Al Foori
Current Projects
Visual environmental communication (Hansen)
News access, news sources in the UK press reporting of climate change (Matthews)
News work as socially-situated practice (Dickinson, Matthews and Saltzis)
New media technologies and production (Saltzis)
Citizen journalism and the 'big society' (Campbell)
Press representations of Europe (Bain)
Disaster reporting (Tong)
Newspaper coverage of war (Taylor)
Audiences and news media consumption (Madianou)
The production of Al Jazeera television news (Al Habsi)
Recent Projects
Dickinson,R., Matthews,J., and Saltzis, K. (2013) Special Issue: New(s) Media Technologies and New(s) Work: Changing Journalistic Practices across Europe. International Communication Gazette. 75 (1).
'Caught in the frame: Frame analysis as contemporary media scholarship' - a one day symposium co-organised by the BSA Media Study Group and the News and Journalism Research Group and hosted at the University of Leicester on 19th September, 2012.
'Breaking news online: A study on the patterns of news story updates in UK websites', Saltzis, K. Paper to be presented at upcoming 'Future of News Conference' at the University of Cardiff, September 2011
‘New Communications and Demonstrations’ was a day symposium hosted at the University of Leicester on 13th July, 2011. The event organised by the British Sociological Association Media Study Group in collaboration with the News and Journalism Research Group at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester, brought together scholars from different disciplines with combined interests in the relationship between the media, protest and demonstration.
Mistakes and malpractice in journalism. (2010) Dickinson, R, 'Making up the news: journalists, deviance and social control in news production'
UK Review of the News Media 2010. Several research group members have been collaborating over the past few months to compile an overview of key developments, events and issues that have emerged during the past year relating to the UK news industry, its outputs and its audiences.
Theories of journalism as a situated social practice. Dickinson, R (2008) ‘Studying the Sociology of Journalists: The Journalistic Field and the News World’, Sociology Compass, Volume 2, Issue 5, September 2008, 1383-1399.
Why the sociology of journalism matters. Dickinson, R (2007) ‘Accomplishing Journalism: Towards a Revived Sociology of a Media Occupation’ Cultural Sociology July 2007 vol. 1 no. 2, 189-208.
Saltzis, K and Dickinson, R (2008) ‘Inside the changing newsroom: Journalists' responses to media convergence’, Aslib Proceedings, 2008, 60 (3), pp.216-228.
Interested in Doing a PhD?
Members of the research group would be interested in supervising research on a wide range of topics relating to news and journalism. Please follow the links above to individual members' web pages for a list of potential topics.
Interested in getting involved?
Please get in touch with Julian Matthews
