News on stage: towards re-configuring journalism through theatre to a public sphere

Adams, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9175-3232, 2020. News on stage: towards re-configuring journalism through theatre to a public sphere. Journalism Practice. ISSN 1751-2786

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Abstract

Journalism’s various crises have been well-documented, such as the decline in its credibility and active role in the democratic process, but constructive ideas to address them are far and few between. In an age of confused news literacy, this article presents evidence to show how face-to-face journalism might be successful in helping to re-establish its status, authority and truth-telling role in society. It reviews past and present relationships between journalism and theatre and uses them as a springboard to introduce the concept of ‘news on stage.’ It makes historical connections between early formats of live news such as the town crier, through revolutionary theatre to today’s experiments in event journalism around the world. Using qualitative, empirical data from interviews and two case studies, the FT Weekend Festival and the Byline Festival, it examines whether and how such events offer ways of strengthening the relationship between news, public and performance, rebuilding communities of readers and/or activists. It configures a version of Habermas’s public space/sphere as a new locus for this kind of open journalism, performed to the public. The author concludes that journalism can benefit from such events and proposes practical models for presenting ‘news on stage’ in the future.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journalism Practice
Creators:	Adams, C.
Publisher:	Routledge
Date:	31 May 2020
ISSN:	1751-2786
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/17512786.2020.1771754 DOI 1375094 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	30 Nov 2020 09:02
Last Modified:	30 Nov 2021 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41709

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