Centre for Media Research
The CMR will provide an informed voice on contemporary matters of public concern, including the maintenance of national and regional cultures in the face of media globalisation, and will contribute to the public policy agenda in Northern Ireland, the UK and beyond. Thus the Centre seeks to enhance public discussion of the media through authoritative, evidence-based research on media regulation, strategies of support for local media production, and the study of different audiences, including questions of media literacy.
by Alexandra Cochrane
Alexandra Cochrane, PhD student based in the Centre for Media Research, School of Media, Film and Journalism, attended a seminar at the Digital Hub in Dublin on Youth, the Media and Democracy. Alexandra is researching the politics and economics of children's television programmes with Prof Maire Messenger Davies. Please find the report below:
by Alexandra Cochrane
Alexandra Cochrane, PhD student based in the Centre for Media Research, School of Media, Film and Journalism, attended a conference at the London Knowledge Lab on the sexualisation of children in the media. Alexandra is researching the politics and economics of children's television programmes with Prof Maire Messenger Davies.
by Alexandra Cochrane
Alexandra Cochrane, PhD student based in the Centre for Media Research, School of Media, Film and Journalism, visited the London Knowledge Lab to find out what research is being conducted into the children and media. Alexandra is researching the politics and economics of children's television programmes with Prof Maire Messenger Davies
by Alexandra Cochrane
Alexandra Cochrane, PhD student based in the Centre for Media Research, School of Media, Film and Journalism, attended a one-day conference at the University of Westminster on the future of preschool children's television programming.
Alexandra is researching rural and urban children's perceptions of television programmes with Prof Maire Messenger Davies.
by Phil Ramsay
Phil Ramsey, PhD student in the Media Studies Research Institute, School of Media, Film and Journalism is working with Dr. Robert Porter on issues of public service broadcasting policy.
He attended the recent Media and Ethics seminar at the University of Westminster and has been kind enough to write this report on proceedings:
Researchers from the CMR, from Cardiff University and from Bournemouth University, together with BBC staff, are researching in schools in Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland to find out what children and young people think of the news.
They particularly want to know what children think of the BBC children’s news show, Newsround,on daily at 5 pm on BBC1, as well as on the CBBC digital channel and online. Children aged 7 - 14 are being asked to think of ways they could make the news for children - including the websites - better. They’re also advising the BBC on what’s already good about Newsround.
As a result of the children’s efforts, it’s hoped that the BBC will have a better idea of the information needs of children round the country. Our pictures show pupils at Millstrand Integrated School in Portrush, with Kaity Mendes from Cardiff University and Professor Máire Messenger Davies from the Centre for Media Research, working on the children’s proposals, and using the BBC website.
Ideas from the children so far include: more information about the regions, including Northern Ireland; more time devoted to news stories; letting children speak for themselves about issues in news bulletins. Young people are particularly concerned about the environment and animal welfare; they also want stories about the government and business to be put in simpler language that they can understand. Watch this space for more advice from kids around the UK about how to improve the news...
This is also available on the right of this page in our policy paper fly-out menu.
To mark the publication of his new book- "Film and popular Culture in Northern Ireland: Cityscapes, Landscapes, Soundscapes", Martin McLoone will give a talk based on one of the chapters in the book.
This illustrated talk will look at how the increasing secularisation of Ireland over the last twenty years or so has been represented in a range of Irish films produced during the period. McLoone will consider in particular the way in which the parish priest- once the central figure of authority and social cohesion in Ireland- has been systematically humiliated, punished and pilliored in film after film. McLoone will look at a number of films in detail to explore how and why this change has come about.
The talk will be introduced by Professor John Hill (Royal Holloway, University of London) and afterwards the book will be launched at a wine reception hosted by the publishers, Irish Academic Press.
Seats are limited. Please call or email Sunniva/Sharon (+3531) 6795744 before midday 28/01/08 to reserve a place.
Irish Film Institute (Dublin)
6:30 pm
20th December was the deadline for all responses to the major Ofcom review of children's public service broadcasting in the UK, to which University of Ulster academics both contributed and responded. A co-ordinated response from a group of academic researchers who have carried out research on children and media was prepared and submitted to Ofcom by Prof. Máire Messenger Davies: this group included Cary Bazalgette, former Chief Education Officer at the British Film Institute: Professor David Buckingham, London University Institute of Education; Professor Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics; Professor Jeanette Steemers, University of Westminster; Dr. Cindy Carter, Cardiff University; Professor Stuart Allan, University of Bournemouth.
Professor Messenger Davies is liaising with colleagues on this issue at the Meccsa (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) Conference at Cardiff University between 9th and 11th January, 2008. Academics want to encourage government and policy makers to draw on their expertise on the subject of children, young people and the media. Anyone who is concerned about the future of quality children's media should go to the SavekidsTV website - savekidstv.org.uk and sign their petition. You can also read the responses to the Ofcom review at Ofcom.org.uk.
No 5, in the Media Policy Briefing Papers series,
from the Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster,
Autumn 2007, ISSN 1748-0175, is launched!
Coinciding with the publication this week (October 3rd 2007) of the British regulator Ofcom’s major review of children’s television, ‘The Future of Children’s Television Programming’, the Centre for Media Research launches its latest Policy Document: ‘Public service broadcasting, global media and the rights of children.’ Reflecting a worldwide concern about the decline of the kind of home-grown programming which enables children to relate to and understand their own cultures, this Policy Document (no 5 in the series), also includes a special supplement on issues raised at the 5th World Summit on Children and Media, held in Johannesburg in March 2007. The CMR was part of an all-Ireland representation – and information about specific Irish contributions is given in the document by Marion Creely, of RTE, a member of the Summit’s organising committee.
UK children’s programming has been widely praised as a model in other parts of the world, but it could face what one producer called a ‘cataclysmic’ collapse, if steps are not taken to protect indigenous production. Ofcom’s review pointed out that, although children have never had so much children’s programming available to them, increasing six-fold from 20,000 hours in 1998 to 113,000 hours in 2006, only 17% of programmes broadcast in 2006 were from the UK. Programming made in the UK and broadcast for the first time on a UK channel, only accounted for around 1% of total hours. Ofcom want to initiate a public debate on these issues, responses required by December 20th.
The Ofcom report also includes a review of the academic literature on children’s television, by Professor Máire Messenger Davies, Director of the Centre for Media Research, downloadable here, which gives further information about the international academic debate surrounding these issues.
If you would like a hard copy of the Policy Document or if you want more information about the CMR and their activities and publications, please contact Sally Quinn.
"Professor Messenger Davies, a lifelong researcher, commentator, critic and keen viewer of television, with a special interest in young audiences, discusses the cultural, social and historical importance of the medium..."
Congratulations to Professor Máire Messenger Davies, the Head for the CMR, who delivered her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on Thursday (01/03/07) entitled "In Praise of Television".
The lecture was a well versed, informative and in part, humorous look at television as a positive medium of communication, culturally, socially and historically and as the most important form of mass media.
An audience comprising of friends, family, esteemed colleagues and members of the CMR attended and were shown clips of pivotal shows that illustrated the positive effects of some television shows that, contrary to popular criticism, re-inforce family values, teach our children awareness of the world around them and unite people by disarming issues such as sectarianism, if only temporarily, with humour.
Informative, thought-provoking and light-hearted, congratulations once again to Máire and thanks to all who attended.
Research methods are becoming an increasingly important requirement for students of all kinds. But many students, particularly those in the humanities, struggle with concepts drawn from the social sciences and find quantitative and statistical information inaccessible and daunting. Nonetheless, such concepts are found in nearly all areas of society, from market research and opinion polls to psychological studies of human behavior. This book aims to provide a simple guide to the process of conducting research in the humanities, with special reference to media and culture, from the planning stage, through the data gathering, to the analysis and interpretation of results: 'Planning it', 'doing it' and 'understanding it'.
The book aims to show how students' own choice of research topic can be refined into a manageable research question and how the most appropriate methodologies can be applied.
Each section draws on actual examples from research that the authors and their students have conducted. Topics covered include: choosing a research question and method; instrument design and pilot data; practical procedures; research with children; looking at statistics; and interpretation of results.
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Media Policy Papers
