The Media Innovation Studio at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is launching the News Futures 2035 foresight project in response to concerns about the future of public-interest news in the UK.
UCLan is home to the oldest university journalism programme in the country, and the UCLan research team, led by Dr François Nel, will lead this exploration into the future of this vital public service.
During three national roundtable events, the team will ask experts from inside, alongside and outside the industry to consider alternative scenarios, develop new visions and catalyse better relationships, all focused on the question: how can we secure the supply of trustworthy, public-interest news in the UK?
An initial scene-setting research paper to inform the discussions is being prepared by Nel, alongside Jeremy Clifford, former editor-in-chief at Archant and visiting scholar at the Media Innovation Studio, and Jonathan Heawood, executive director of the Public Interest News Foundation and research associate for News Futures 2035.
A core, creative group of 75 journalists, academics, policymakers and media-development actors are being invited to attend three, linked plenary roundtable discussions in Manchester and London between October and February next year.
Nel, reader in media innovation & entrepreneurship, Media Innovation studio/Journalism Innovation & Leadership Programme, UCLan, said: “There are widespread concerns about the rise of misinformation and disinformation at the very time that the industry on which we’ve relied to supply trustworthy news in the public interest is struggling. While there have been many interventions from media and development actors to shore-up today’s industry, we are yet come together to imagine the futures we want to create tomorrow – and to work together to make it happen. The News Futures 2035 foresight study provides us the opportunity to do just that.”
The work is supported by the Google News Initiative, with consortium partners from leading news-industry organisations including the Society of Editors, Public Interest News Foundation, Independent Community News Network, Digital Editors’ Network, Bloomberg, Reach Plc and HMB Advisory.
