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We predict a riot? Public order policing, new media environments and the rise of the citizen journalist

We predict a riot? Public order policing, new media environments and the rise of the citizen journalist
We predict a riot? Public order policing, new media environments and the rise of the citizen journalist
This article explores the rise of ‘citizen journalism’ and considers its implications for the policing and news media reporting of public protests in the twenty-first century. Our research focuses on the use and impact of multi-media technologies during the 2009 G20 Summit Protests in London and evaluates their role in shaping the subsequent representation of ‘protest as news’. The classic concepts of ‘inferential structure’ (Lang and Lang, 1955) and ‘hierarchy of credibility’ (Becker, 1967) are re-situated within the context of the 24–7 news mediasphere to analyse the transition in news media focus at G20 from ‘protester violence’ to ‘police violence’. This transition is understood in terms of three key issues: the capacity of technologically empowered citizen journalists to produce information that challenges the ‘official’ version of events; the inclination of professional and citizen journalists to actively seek out and use that information; and the existence of an information-communications marketplace that sustains the commodification and mass consumption of adversarial, anti-establishment news.
citizen journalism, g20, hierarchy of credibility, ian tomlinson, inferential structure, news media, police violence, public protests
0007-0955
1041-1059
Greer, Chris
544ce8d8-b66d-4493-8b5b-05f619b2b3a6
McLaughlin, Eugene
06b690de-55d8-4167-9b81-3564463e40bc
Greer, Chris
544ce8d8-b66d-4493-8b5b-05f619b2b3a6
McLaughlin, Eugene
06b690de-55d8-4167-9b81-3564463e40bc

Greer, Chris and McLaughlin, Eugene (2010) We predict a riot? Public order policing, new media environments and the rise of the citizen journalist. British Journal of Criminology, 50 (6), 1041-1059. (doi:10.1093/bjc/azq039).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores the rise of ‘citizen journalism’ and considers its implications for the policing and news media reporting of public protests in the twenty-first century. Our research focuses on the use and impact of multi-media technologies during the 2009 G20 Summit Protests in London and evaluates their role in shaping the subsequent representation of ‘protest as news’. The classic concepts of ‘inferential structure’ (Lang and Lang, 1955) and ‘hierarchy of credibility’ (Becker, 1967) are re-situated within the context of the 24–7 news mediasphere to analyse the transition in news media focus at G20 from ‘protester violence’ to ‘police violence’. This transition is understood in terms of three key issues: the capacity of technologically empowered citizen journalists to produce information that challenges the ‘official’ version of events; the inclination of professional and citizen journalists to actively seek out and use that information; and the existence of an information-communications marketplace that sustains the commodification and mass consumption of adversarial, anti-establishment news.

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More information

Published date: November 2010
Keywords: citizen journalism, g20, hierarchy of credibility, ian tomlinson, inferential structure, news media, police violence, public protests
Organisations: Social Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 338237
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/338237
ISSN: 0007-0955
PURE UUID: a4f85bd3-eb48-4ad9-8d2b-119d9250f2af

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Date deposited: 11 May 2012 08:58
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:03

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Contributors

Author: Chris Greer
Author: Eugene McLaughlin

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