The final flourish of #AJE25: Revisiting and redefining journalism in a changing world

Our hugely successful and collaborative conference finished with presentations on freelancing, inclusion, impartiality and audience.

Lily Canter, from Sheffield Hallam, who also co-founded the hugely successful Freelancing for Journalists site presented on the pathways to thrive as a freelance in a changing journalism landscape. Her research looked at the type of work (mostly written and mostly feature-led) being carried out by freelancers. One finding was how much work is available in the international market. One piece of advice was to find a niche and be expert in it – Lily’s own expertise in running has led to regular commissions and a book. “Editors are desperate for good freelancers – those who answer their emails and hit deadlines.”

Dalia Dawood from the London College of Communication spoke about the continued lack of representation in UK newsrooms – 88 percent of UK journalists are white (and many are also male and public-school educated) which isn’t representative of many of the communities who media companies seek to engage. Dalia, as an Iraqi queer academic and journalist, spoke of the need for journalism students to ‘humanise’ marginalise communities, and change the often stereotypical view of marginalised groups.

Graham Majin from Bournemouth University introduced the concept of ‘radical impartiality’ in a volatile and rapidly changing world. He said that the public doesn’t trust journalists and that we should teach more widely the less traditional ‘journalism’ of commentators and sceptics.

The final presentation from Julie Firmstone from University of Leeds and John Steel from the University of Derby discussed the relationship between journalists and their audiences. Their rigorously evidenced research project looked at the perception of journalism from the public, and how little was known outside the journalistic bubble about regulation, ethics and standards.

Recommendations from the research, which is being submitted to both industry and the government, was to invest in research of audiences and engagement as citizens as well as consumers, and for regulators , news providers and journalists to provide audiences with the tools they need to make accurate judgements, and how we as educators have a vital role to make journalism understood by journalism students.

And that’s your lot! Please continue to follow the AJEUK and if your university isn’t a member, please join to get access to conferences and bursaries and help further the teaching of our amazing profession.