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Professor Steve Schifferes

Honorary Research Fellow

School of Policy & Global Affairs Department of International Politics

Contact details

Address

Professor Steve Schifferes City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Professor Schifferes was Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism and the first Director of the Financial Journalism MA at City from 2009-2017, and is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at CityPERC. https://www.city.ac.uk/about/schools/arts-social-sciences/international-politics/research/cityperc

He has a wide-ranging background in business and finance journalism, both for television and online.

Professor Schifferes reported on economics for the BBC News website, coordinating coverage of the global financial crisis, the Enron scandal, and the launch of the euro. He reported from Washington during the Obama election, the sub-prime crisis and the Iraq war; from Bangalore, Shanghai and Detroit on globalisation and its discontents; and from Bangkok, Hong Kong, Doha, Prague, Geneva and Lusaka on the world trade talks and IMF meetings and protests. He also covered economic policy in the UK, including general elections and Budget announcements.

Previously he was a current affairs television producer working for On the Record , the Money Programme (BBC) and Weekend World (LWT) , as well as a network documentary film maker examining poverty, wealth and crime in the UK for the ITV network.

Professor Schifferes has lectured around the world on the role of the media in the financial crisis, including at Tsinghua and Fudan Universities (China); Mumbai University (India); Columbia and North Carolina (USA); Helsinki (Finland) and Cologne (Germany).

He was Principal Investor for the EU-funded research project Social Sensor, aimed at detecting and verifying news on social media, In 2019 he gave the Gresham College lecture on ‘Has the Internet Changed News for Better or Worse?’. He also was an expert witness on financial journalism for the claimants in the High Court case of Sharp v. Blank, concerning the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds Bank during the financial crisis; and Project Director for the Friends Provident Foundation funded project “Remodelling Capitalism: How Social Wealth Funds Could transform Britain.”

Professor Schifferes is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was a BBC Reuters Fellow at Oxford University in 2006, and a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia School of Journalism in 1993-4. He was educated at Harvard and Warwick Universities, where he was a National Merit Scholar and a National Science Foundation Fellow.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
-The future of internet news, and its political and economic effects, including problems of verification and social media
-The role of the media in shaping the economic agenda, particularly in relation to inequality and financial literacy
-The coverage of financial crises
-The role of online media in elections
-The history of business and financial journalism
-reshaping the rules for public spending and investment

Research

Professor Schifferes' current research interests include:

- The role and development of online business journalism
- The history of financial journalism
- The public understanding of the financial crisis.

He currently holds three major research grants, from the British Academy, City University London and the EU Integrated Project FP7 research fund. In the latter project, funded at 10m Euros, he is leading the Department of Journalism team, working jointly with City's School of Informatics, in developing new tools for use by journalists in sampling and analysing social media, with ten partner institutions across Europe.

Publications

Publications by category

Books (5)

  • Schifferes, S., Lansley, S. and McCann, D. (2018). Remodelling Capitalism: How Social wealth Funds could transform Britain. York: Friends Provident Foundation.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Basu, L. and Knowles, S. (Eds.), (2017). The Media and Austerity: Comparative Perspectives. London: Routledge.
  • Schifferes, S.A. and Roberts, R. (2014). The Media and Financial Crises: Comparative and Historical Perspectives. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-02279-9.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2006). Downloading Democracy: Election News on the Internet. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
  • Schifferes, S. and Knowles, S. (Eds.), The Media and Inequality. Routledge.

Chapters (15)

  • Schifferes, S. and Knowles, S. (2018). The UK News Media and austerity: trends since the global financial crisis. In Schifferes, S., Knowles, S. and Basu, L. (Eds.), The Media and Austerity: Comparative Perspectives (pp. 15–29). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-89730-4.
  • Schifferes, S. (2017). From Brexit to Corbyn: agenda setting, framing and the UK media – a research agenda. In Thorsen, E., Jackson, D. and Lilleker, D. (Eds.), UK Election Analysis 2017: Media Voters and the Campaign: Early Reflections from Leading Academics Bournemouth University: Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Thurman, N., Fletcher, R., Hunt, S. and Schapals, A. (2016). Giving computers a nose for news: exploring the limits of story detection and verification. The Future of Journalism London: Routledge.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2015). Why the public doesn't trust the financial press. The Media and Financial Crises: Comparative and Historical Perspectives (pp. 153–168). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-02279-9.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Thurman, , Newman, N., Goker, A., Corney, D. and Martin, C. (2015). Identifying and verifying news through social media: developing a user-centred tool for professional journalists. In Franklin, B. (Ed.), The Future of Journalism in an age of Digital Media and economic uncertainty Routlege.
  • Schifferes, S. and Fletcher, R. (2015). Can Trends in Social Media Explain Why the Opinion Polls Got it wrong? In Jackson, D. and Thorsen, E. (Eds.), UK Election Analysis 2015: Media, Voters and the Campaign: Early Reflections from Leading UK Academics The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community. ISBN 978-1-910042-07-6.
  • Schifferes, S.A. and Knowles, A. (2014). The British Media and the 'first crisis of globalisation'. The Media and Financial Crises: Comparative and Historical Perspectives (pp. 42–58). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-02279-9.
  • Thurman, N. and Schifferes, S.A. (2012). The Paradox of Personalization: The Social and Reflexive Turn of Adaptive News. In Siapera, E. and Veglis, A. (Eds.), The Handbook of Global Online Journalism London: Wiley-Blackwell..
  • Schifferes, S. (2012). Austerity News: The Financial Crisis and the Digital Revolution. In Newman, N. (Ed.), Reuter Digital News Report 2012: Tracking the Future of News Reuters.
  • Thurman, N. and Schifferes, S. (2012). The Paradox of Personalization: The Social and Reflexive Turn of Adaptive News. (pp. 373–391). Wiley.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2011). The Financial Crisis and the UK Media. In Schiffrin, A. (Ed.), Bad News: How America's Business Press Missed the Story of the Century New York: New Press.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2011). It's the Economy, Stupid. In Gunn, S. (Ed.), So You Want to be a Political Journalist London: Biteback.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2010). How the BBC Called the Crisis. In Frenken, R. (Ed.), Covering the Crisis: The Role of the Media in the Financial Crisis Brussels: European Journalism Centrre.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (1986). The Dilemma of British Housing Policy. In Bratt, R., Hartman, C. and Meyerson, A. (Eds.), Critical Perspectives on Housing Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Schifferes, S. The History of Financial Journalism in the UK in the 20th century. In Conboy, M. (Ed.), The History of the British and Irish Press, the 20th Century Edinburgh University Press.

Conference papers and proceedings (27)

  • Schifferes, S.A. and Knowles, S. (2016). The UK Media and Austerity: A Longitudinal Study. IAMCR 27-31 July, Leicester, UK.
  • Schifferes, S.A. and Knowles, S. (2016). Trust in Financial Media. IAMCR 27-30 July, Leicester, UK.
  • Thurman, N.J. (2016). Artificial intelligence, social media, and newsgathering. Communicating with Machines: The Rising Power of Digital Interlocutors in Our Lives 14 June, Fukuoka, Japan.
  • Thurman, N.J. and Schifferes, S. (2016). Inside the black box of algorithmic news detection: Plus ça change? 66th ICA Annual Conference 9-13 June, Fukuoka, Japan.
  • Thurman, N.J. and Schifferes, S. (2016). Risks and opportunities in automated newsgathering: First findings from the frontline. 66th ICA Annual Conference 9-13 June, Fukuoka, Japan.
  • Schifferes, S.A. and Moeller, S. (2016). Mergers and Acquisitions Journalism Panel. Mergers and Acquistions: Journalism Panel 11 May, Cass Business School London.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Basu, and Knowles, S. (2016). Beyond the Crisis: The Media and Austerity. Beyond the Crisis: The Media and Austerity 10 May, City Universityi London.
  • Thurman, N.J. (2015). Auto-detection of news on Twitter: Tuning and testing the SocialSensor app. 11th Dubrovnik Media Days Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Robots and Media 30-31 October, University of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Thurman, N.J. (2015). Evaluating the Truthmeter: Improving automated social media contributor credibility assessments within the context of journalism. 11th Dubrovnik Media Days Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Robots and Media 30-31 October, University of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Fletcher, R. and Thurman, N. (2015). Evaluating the Truthmeter: improving automated social media contributor credibility. 11th Dubrovnik Media Days conference on Artificial Intelligence, Robots and the Meidia 30-31 October, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Schifferes, S.A., Hunt, S., Thurman, , Newman, N., Fletcher, R. and Corney, D. (2015). Auto-detection of news on Twitter;Tuning and Testing the Social Senor app. 11th Dubrovnik Media Days conference on Artificial Intelligence, Robots and the Medfia 30-31 October, Dubrovnik Croatia.
  • Thurman, N.J., Schifferes, S., Fletcher, R., Hunt, S., Schapals, K. and Newman, N. (2015). Giving computers a nose for news: Exploring the limits of story detection and verification. Future of Journalism 2015 10-11 September, Cardiff University, Cardiff.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2012). The credibility of the financial press: a comparative analysis of public attitudes. IAMCR annual conference, 21-23 July, Durban, South Africa.
  • Thurman, N. and Schifferes, S. (2012). THE FUTURE OF PERSONALIZATION AT NEWS WEBSITES: Lessons from a longitudinal study. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2012.664341
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2011). Soothsayers of Doom: The Media and Financial Crises in Historical and Comparative Perspective. 12-13 December, City University London, co-sponsored with the British Academy and the Centre for Contemporary British History, Kings College London.
  • Thurman, N. and Schifferes, S.A. (2011). The Future of Personalisation at News Websites: Lessons from a longitudinal study. paper presented to the Future of Journalism Conference 8-9 September, Cardiff University, Wales.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2011). The Future of Financial Journalism After the Crisis. Business Journalism Day, Business As Usual: Wirtschaftjournalismus zwischen den Krisen 30 March, Koln Journalism School for Politics and Business, Koln, Germany.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2011). Bankers are Winning the Battle. The Future of the City of London conference 14 February, City University London.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2010). The Media and Financial Crisis: Some Lessons from the BBC. panel discussion at the journalism section of the International Communications Association annual conference 23 June, Singapore.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2010). The UK Media and the Financial Crisis. Facing the Fracture: The Crisis and Economic Journalism 7 April, Roosevelt Institute and the School of Internationaland Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2009). Saints or Sinners: The role of the media in the financial crisis. November, Department of Journalism, City University London and the BBC College of Journalism, London.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2009). How the BBC Covered the Financial Crisis. Covering the Crisis 18-19 October, European Journalism Centre, Brussels.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2008). Talking Ourselves Into Recession? 1 September, Policy Exchange.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2007). Downloading Democracy. European Political Science Association conference on social movements and the internet, 8 October, Florence Italy.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2007). Downloading Democracy: the audience for online election news. Internet 2.0 conference 1 April, Royal Holloway University, Egham Surrey.
  • Schifferes, S.A. and Ward, S. (2006). The UK General Election and the Web: Audiences for Online News. Oxford Internet Institute, Politics and the Internet seminar series February, Oxford.
  • Schifferes, S.A. (2002). Immigration Backlash: Labor Migration in Crisis. 10 April, The Reuters Forum, Columbia University, New York.

Journal articles (9)

Professional activities

Events/conferences (2)

  • Labour Heritage Annual Conference 2019. (Conference) London, UK (2019).
    Paper: The Lost Tribe: the Rise and Fall of the Labour Correspondent
    Author: Schifferes, S.
  • 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences. (Conference) Lindau, Bodensee, Germany (2017).

Keynote lectures/speeches (10)

  • The Media and Austerity. Columbia University School of Journalism, New York City (2018).
  • Has the internet transformed news for better or worse. Gresham College (2018).
  • India and the Global Financial Crisis. Mumbai University (2011). July-August 2011
    • Sophia College for Women
    • KC College of Arts
    • HR College of Commerce and Economics
    • Lala Lajpatrai College of Commerce and Economics
    • UPG College of Management
    • RD National College of Arts and Commerce
    • SVKM Harkisan Mehta Foundation Institute of Journalism and Mass Communications
    • St Xavier's College
    • Jal Hind College
  • The Future of Financial Journalism in An Age of Austerity. City University London (2011). Inaugural Lecture
  • the media and the financial crisis. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2011). (organised by John Lloyd), Oxford
  • The evolution of the global financial crisis. School of communications, University of Helsinki (2010).
  • Causes of the Crisis. London School of Economics (2010). organised by Polis (Charlie Beckett) and LSE, London
  • China lecture series: "Covering the Global Financial Crisis: Dilemmas for Journalists". China (2010). • Fudan University, Shanghai, 24 May
    • Financial Media Institute, Shanghai, 27 May
    • Renmin University, Beijing 1 June
    • Communications University of China, Beijing, 3 June
    • Tsinghua University, Beijing, 4 June
  • Covering the financial crisis: US vs UK. School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (2009).
  • Funding Research in an Age of Austerity. Research Into Ageing Annual Grant Holders conference, Birmingham (2008).

Other (5)

  • Expert Witness, England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) (Oct – Jan 2015).
  • Consultancy and training: BBC News, training days on the comprehensive spending review for regional journalists, October-December 2010.
  • Consultancy and training: BBC News, improving the coverage of business news: improvements to the College of Journalism website (ongoing).
  • Consultancy and training: Donald Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Business professors seminar, Phoenix, Arizona, January 2010.
  • Consultancy and training: International Labor Organisation, Globalisation and Labour Rights, training seminar and consultancy, ILO-ITC, Turin Italy, Aug 2007-2009..