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Julie Firmstone - Defining Press Freedom - IAA Case Study

Dr Julie Firmstone used funding from the Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) to engage the UK public in discussions about ethical journalism, submitting her evidence to the press regulator, IMPRESS, and reporting her findings.

A crucial review into media ethics

Alongside Co-Investigator at the University of Derby, Professor John Steel, Julie’s project began with their recent research into defining press freedom. ‘Trust in the press and news journalism in the UK is in decline,’ she explains. ‘We were looking at countries outside the EU for best practice examples of ethical journalism, interviewing journalists across Europe. Then, we submitted our findings to UK press regulator, IMPRESS.’

‘After examining our findings, IMPRESS was keen to work with us to better engage the public in discussions around journalism ethics as part of regularly reviewing the standards code that their member publications sign up to,’ Julie continues. ‘Discussions about standards in journalism and how to regulate the news media tend to happen amongst policy makers and the media industry at elite level, so the public voice is lost in the process. It’s crucial this voice is heard, so the idea was to develop a way to listen to the public to truly represent their views.

A collaborative approach to gain IAA funding

To deliver the engagement research, Julie and John needed funding – and quickly. ‘The pilot needed to happen promptly as the IMPRESS review of codes was already underway,’ says Julie. ‘We began looking to access funding pots, but the long wait to secure the money was proving a challenge.’

Julie contacted LSSI about the IAA Public Engagement funding, and John applied to a similar fund at Derby. ‘Our project is particularly relevant to the IAA as it concerns public engagement, using existing research to make a wider impact,’ Julie explains. ‘We submitted applications, engaging collaborative partners from outside the universities and gaining a letter of support from IMPRESS. This helped us secure the funding we needed to begin our work.’

A method to gather quantitative and qualitative data

Once they received the IAA funds, Julie and John began engaging the public – researching their attitudes to, and their knowledge of, ethical journalism. ‘What followed was a big collaborative endeavour between IMPRESS, the University of Leeds and the University of Derby, a professional polling company and, of course, the general public – made possible by the funding,’ says Julie. ‘John and I designed a national public survey, consulted with IMPRESS for their design input, and employed a professional market research company to administer the survey and make sure it was nationally representative.’

‘Over 3,000 people across England, Scotland and Wales responded to the survey,’ continues Julie. ‘We also invited participants who’d agreed to be part of a focus group to attend one of five sessions, where we gathered nuanced, qualitative data. This helped us to further understand what the public want from their news and what standards of journalism they expect.’

After analysis of both the survey and focus groups, Julie and John presented their findings to a range of sources. ‘We attended the International Communication Association conference in Paris in June 2022 – the biggest event of its kind for media and communication scholars worldwide,’ says Julie. ‘We also presented our findings to IMPRESS in June, providing them with an interim report for internal circulation. After some more analysis, the findings were published in a News Literacy Report, drawing from the engagement research. Both John and I presented the key findings in an online event in collaboration with IMPRESS on 30th November 2022.’

A platform to launch further research

The next stage for Julie and John is to write up their findings and circulate them in academic journals. Alongside this, they are working on an application for a five-year grant to expand their pilot into a much bigger project. ‘Thanks to the IAA funding, we’ve been able to develop a methodology and a toolkit to engage the public in ethical journalism discussions,’ Julie says. ‘The new funding we apply for will help us expand this on an annual basis, making sure we have the resources to engage with the media industry and create conversations that put our findings into practice.’

‘By generating public engagement and piloting the toolkit, we’re able to see what does and doesn’t work and refine this in the future,’ concludes Julie. ‘We’ve established strong relationships by collaborating with IMPRESS, and our findings have been really revealing. Low news knowledge equates to low trust in the press and media. Therefore, it’s vital people can access a valued source of news. Without that, there are significant implications for democracy, so this IAA-funded engagement project has been incredibly important - making sure public views are heard by the people with the power to make changes.’