New Leverhulme Trust project on news use at Surrey Sociology
Professor Ranjana Das, in partnership with Co-Investigators Dr Tom Roberts and Dr Emily Setty - has secured a research grant of 拢122,777 for a project titled 鈥業鈥檝e un-installed the news鈥.
The Leverhulme News Use project (project website here) looks at parents鈥 news use and their diverse practices of news consumption in datafied, digital societies, with a specific focus on parents鈥 perceptions of risks and crises.
Navigating parenthood has always involved encounters with risks, crises and uncertainties. These might relate to health, safety, global affairs, the environment, or more. Some crises and risks are perceived by parents as more personally significant 鈥 or 鈥榬iskier鈥 to their child - than others, and some of these might even alter parenting choices and decisions. But, now, more than ever, news about crises and risks are mediated into parents鈥 palms and pockets - through always-on media and technology, as we live in high-choice and chaotic news environments, amidst overlapping global crises.
Professor Das said:
鈥淚n this project, we are asking - in what ways do parents 鈥 from a diversity of socio-demographic backgrounds - engage with the news? (How) does parental news engagement shape parenting decisions and choices? What kinds of role-modelling - of reacting to and engaging with news- is available to children? And ultimately, how do parents conceptualise truth, trust, risk and responsibility, as they engage with the news?
Dr Roberts said:
鈥淥ur case study around engagement with environmental news will shed light on parents鈥 eco-anxiety 鈥 or, indeed, indifference 鈥 to these issues and how it shapes their news behaviours and parenting choices and concerns.鈥
Dr Setty added:
鈥淥ur case study on parents鈥 engagement with news on young people, sex, relationships and harmful sexual behaviour will contribute novel evidence. Particularly, amidst a significantly negative coverage in RSE right now, I鈥檓 looking forward to exploring with parents how they are engaging with such coverage鈥.
This Leverhulme Trust news use project will run from October 2023 to October 2025, and Das, Roberts and Setty will be joined by a full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Media and Communications (), starting in autumn 2023.
