Hear ye, hear ye! City takes part in News on the Street • City, University of London

Dr Glenda Cooper and City journalism students take part in a unique live journalism event that has been hailed as ‘a great success’.

By City Press Office (City Press Office), Published Wednesday, 22^nd May 2024

Journalists told their unpublished stories directly to the public in Nottingham on Saturday 18 May at Speakers Corner, just off the Market Square.

The face-to-face event involved four main speakers – three women and one non-binary journalist – who stood on soapboxes to tell their exclusive and unpublished stories to passersby. The public were encouraged to chat the journalists and share their own stories as part of the event’s aim to democratise the news.

Co-creators of the event, academic researchers Catherine Adams (Nottingham Trent University) and Dr Glenda Cooper (City, University of London), also took turns to ring a town-crier style bell to alert the audience to breaking news of the day.

A student journalist stands on a small wooden crate which acts as a podium to deliver news. She stands in a main square in Nottingham city centre. Next to her stands a sign language interpreter — A journalist delivers news live in Nottingham city centre.

Stories new that morning included the King’s D-Day visit to France, Nottingham losing out on a government fly-tipping campaign, Take-That’s concert in Nottingham and the final Women’s’ Superleague match of the season. Part of the event was livestreamed on Instagram.

City BA Journalism students Veronica Munoz and Willow Meaney also took part, with Veronica discussing the lives of refugee women and Willow presenting a story on deepfakes.

Just over 150 members of the public stopped to watch the event, which took place from 12-2pm.

Dr Cooper said:

This event allowed the public to speak and question journalists and share their own stories.

The unique experiment aimed to promote women and non-binary journalists and rebuild the public’s trust and engagement in journalism, as part of the News on Stage research project.

One local man in the crowd praised the event saying:

News started on the street and it’s good to see it being put back there again. Journalism still tends to be male dominated so it’s good to see this being challenged.

A group of people wearing matching black shirts are lined up and smile to camera. They are the students, journalists and interpreter that took part in the event — The News on the Street team takes a celebratory photo at the end of the event.

Speaker Jess O’Thomson, who told of their experiences of violence against trans journalists, noted that, “Working within our communities like this is vital to ensure we are doing journalism well.”

The event encouraged the public to step forward and reveal any stories of their own and to freely engage with and ask questions to the journalists. City student Veronica said she felt the event was ‘a great success’. Her conversation with a mother and daughter resulted in a letter from the young girl saying, “Thank you for stepping up for people’s rights and how you try and try.”

Dr Cooper added, “The success of this event means we hope this will be the first of many events in different areas around the country”. The project is now looking for sponsors or collaborators to expand.

The event was interpreted by British Sign Language member, Emilie Sands.

To find out more about the project, please visit the News On Stage website.

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