Enhancing journalistic legitimacy in public service media
Disinformation is a growing risk to the health of many democratic systems. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, this project will assess how leading UK public service media are counteracting it in news reporting.
Project Updates
Our ongoing research has been featured on LSE’s COVID-19 blog, The Conversation, and other news media.
We tackle critical topics such as audience news knowledge, media trust, and fact-checking.
Audience Knowledge
At the start of our online diary study with 200 people, we found that while there is widespread rejection of the 5G conspiracy theory, many people do not realise the UK death rate is far higher than in other countries.
Media Trust
We find that news journalists are trusted by audiences– particularly those working for broadcasters. Moreover, we found they wanted more – not less – critical coverage of the government’s response to the pandemic.
Fact-Checking
Our research reveals overwhelming support for the greater use of fact-checking by broadcasters to ensure accurate reporting, and holding those in political power to account:
Our Research Foci
To ensure public service media are viewed as a credible news source into the 21st century, it is essential that their disinformation reporting addresses the needs of citizens in a fast-changing media ecology.
Our project draws on multiple sources of data: in-depth interviews with news editors from BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Sky News; content analyses of news and fact-checking stories across broadcast and online output; online diary studies, surveys and focus groups with news audiences in the UK.
Our project, the largest ever study in the UK, will provide a comprehensive understanding of how British public service media and audiences are developing practices to address and counter disinformation.
“The follow-up research that Stephen Cushion provided for us was invaluable. Programmes are debriefed every day so individual successes and failures are picked up but having an overview helped every understand when we weren’t getting it right and why. His ‘bird’s eye view’ of our output was essentially a shortcut to focus on exactly what more we needed to do to be better”
— Cait Fitzsimons, Editor of 5 News
“Professor Cushion's large-scale content analyses and qualitative case studies have helped illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of news programming in a number of areas and across a number of news organisations. We have found that research of practical use at ITV News. Professor Cushion's work on the reporting of politics and policy in a devolved UK has been of particular interest. His published work and private conversations with decision makers has had a positive impact on how ITV News approaches the challenges of accurately reporting devolved policy making to audiences right across the UK. Professor Cushion is an impressive academic but also a very effective influencer. He has demonstrated an ability to be critical of a news organisation's decision making in a manner that leads to constructive engagement rather than defensiveness. This is a significant skill and not one that is universal amongst those who research and commentate on news reporting. His work always has compelling statistical analysis behind it and he is always effective at persuading senior news media decision makers to consider his evidence and conclusions. His work has, over a number of years, had a practical real-world impact in improving the approach and decision making in newsrooms”
— Michael Jermey, ITV's Director of News and Current Affairs
Who Are We?
Our research team, led by Principal Investigator Professor Stephen Cushion, is based in Cardiff University’s top-ranked School of Journalism, Media and Culture.
