It recommends holding the media to account, engaging with journalists, communicating with decision-makers, promoting citizen journalism and social media and ensuring wider access to journalism.
Dr Bassel said: ‘It is hard to be balanced when speaking about media coverage of the events of August 2011. We were all exposed to images of burning buildings, masked youths and shattered shop windows that repeatedly flashed across our screens and pages, and shaped the way we understood these events and our communities.
‘There is a lot to say about what the mainstream media did wrong which this report explores in detail including how media coverage was stigmatising, too moralising, overly reliant on official sources in reporting [police shooting victim] Mark Duggan’s death, and may even have incited rioting by disinhibiting looters. What I want to insist on, though, is that when we take a closer look across different media there are opportunities as well as challenges.’
She added: ‘This is not just a report on what went wrong, but also identifies what needs to be done and who needs to do it. Media actors can be held to account and citizen journalists’ stories can be heard more widely. We need to engage better with decision makers. And of course our journalists need to be more representative of society. Let’s break the cycle of unhelpful coverage and let more voices be heard.’
Brunel University journalism professor Sarah Niblock, a conference speaker, said: ‘There was too much emphasis (in the riots news coverage) on law and order and an authoritarian stance, driven by too much reliance on official sources [there is a strong section in the report about this] and the binary notions of good versus bad and us versus them.’
John Pilger has been quoted as saying at the Rebellious Media conference last year that the language used in the news coverage of the riots by some newspapers and broadcasters was akin to ‘war reporting’, with the rioters and looters treated as the enemy.
In its introduction, the report says: ‘Conference participants were angry and dismayed by unbalanced, unhelpful media coverage of the events of August 2011. This anger began with the reporting of the initial events that triggered the mass disturbances of August 2011, ‘This was the most recent example of how the machinery of the state and the media can work together to misrepresent facts surrounding a death at the hands of the police and the profile of the victim.’
A description is given in the report about how the misreporting of Duggan’s death, fed by the police and Independent Police Complaints Commission, played out.
‘Conference participants felt that big media tended to portray the disturbances largely as a conflict between black people against white business owners and that the voices of black business people who were affected by the riots were underrepresented in the mainstream media.’
They also criticised what they perceived to be the ‘racialisation’ of the riots by mainstream media like BBC TV that gave a platform to David Starkey’s controversial negative view of white young people becoming black and getting involved in the riots.
There are lots of positive practical plans in the report for the community and journalists to improve future coverage of such disturbances. These include community rapid response to correct bad reporting and ‘contact bases’ to be sent to news media to avoid ‘the same ‘rent a quote’ individuals always being interviewed, who may not in fact speak for the community they claim to represent.’ Huffington Post article Deborah Hobson 22 October 2012
The heart of Britain’s democracy, Westminster, was struck by a murderous terror attack … innocent people killed and injured randomly targeted. Tonight: Terror in London, ITV 2017
PC Keith Palmer confronts him and is stabbed. ibid.
Eight arrests had been made in London, Birmingham and elsewhere. So-called Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attacks. ibid.
1For 350 years the black cab has been a British institution. But with the rise of sat navs and minicabs including Uber now outnumbering black cabs four to one, what is it that sets the cabbie apart from the rest? To join the cabbie’s exclusive ranks candidates must pass one of the hardest exams in the world – the Knowledge of London. Every year 7,000 men and women take on the challenge taking an average of four years to pass this extraordinary test. Only 30 survive to the end. Every single one of the capital’s 25,000 streets and 100,000 landmarks must be learned in a remarkable feat of memory. The Knowledge: The World’s Toughest Taxi Test, Channel 4 2017
Anyone can apply to be a cabbie. ibid.
London 1971: ‘But when you’re black and British there is a constant struggle to understand who you really are. We are the children of the colonies who built this empire on the backs of their empire.’ Guerrilla I, Sky Atlantic 2017
‘Today we are reading from Dhari’s own book, memoirs of his struggle, The Dragon Will Fly.’ ibid. Marcus
‘This growing police brutality is exactly why we need to keep fighting for Dhari’s appeal.’ ibid. meeting of black citizens
‘The National Front is the Nazi Front!’ ibid. protesters
‘You’re soldiers now.’ ibid.
‘Meanwhile, police raids continue across London in the search for the gunmen and their accomplices. Guerrilla II, news
‘Down with radicals, up with elevated blacks.’ ibid. black activist
‘Today marks the first day of a London visit by Rhodesian diplomats who are expecting to be residing for the next week at Rhodesia House. The purpose of their trip is a meeting with the controversial … vocal supporters of the Monday Club.’ ibid. news
The Dragon Will Fly Black Unity Now. Guerrilla III, protest mural
‘I’m the one who gave you your voice. I wrote your book.’ ibid. Marcus
‘This is Marcus Hill. I’m going to read a declaration of a state of war.’ ibid.
‘If you want to avoid the police, you should bomb them.’ Guerrilla IV, bird
‘We’re the black army faction.’ ibid. bloke
If you want to give your life give it, don’t waste it. Guerrilla V, Marcus
Black Power battle with Police: Ministers call for calm following night of black violence: Last night, Britain came under attack. And yet, unlike previous battles, the enemy is not abroad … ibid. Express news article
There are no black leaders. There’s nobody in charge of us. Guerrilla VI, black woman
You want me as the face of your movement? ibid. Elba
You can’t win unless you’re about something. ibid. informant to rozzer
In November 2000 a criminal gang attempted the most audacious robbery in British criminal history. The target: the world’s most perfect diamond. Real Crime with Mark Austin s7e10: Diamond Geezers, ITV 2008
The robbery [Medway] and the getaway bore the same hallmarks as the Nine Elms raid. ibid.
The diamond known as the Millennium Star was the centrepiece of a £350 million de Beers exhibition. ibid.
Wenham was filmed checking possible access points to the site. ibid.
The plan to foil the [Millennium Dome] raid became known as Operation Magician, the biggest undertaking in the Flying Squad’s history. ibid.
The gang had been under surveillance for five months; the ambush was over in less than a minute. ibid.
It was the biggest police manhunt in a generation. Four men who wanted to kill as many people as they could and were prepared to die in order to do it. Real Crime with Mark Austin s8e8: Bombers on the Run, ITV 2009
21st July 2005: four suicide bombers are on the run. ibid.
The hunt was on now for a fifth terrorism on the run. ibid.
Winter in the suburbs of London. It’s late, people are tucked up, or watching David Attenborough on the tele. There’s a migration going on here too. The last bus does its rounds. The old residents of this place are looking to reclaim the streets. Fallow deer are stepping in a world where is nothing is quite natural. Natural World s30e14: Unnatural History of London, BBC 2012
There are other mass migrations and alien invasions, a world most of us never see … This is the real urban jungle. ibid.
This seal can escape to the Thames should she choose to do so but prefers to stay [Billingsgate fish market] … ‘What she likes most are the squid … ‘salmon and trout.’ ibid.
Hedgehogs have it tougher than most. ibid.
To the feral pigeon, the streets of London are paved with gold. ibid.
Foxes and feral cats migrate through the City seeking their fortunes. ibid.