Abstract
Castle Vale is an edge of city, 1960s-built, housing estate in Birmingham that has historically suffered from a poor reputation for crime and social problems. A regeneration initiative in the 1990s sought to address this and community media (consisting of a radio station, newspaper and news website) were funded on a not-for-profit basis to help improve the estate?s reputation. Whilst much research has focused on the civic value of this type of ?hyperlocal? media, the outputs of the media in Castle Vale have been contested by citizens. This case study, which draws on interviews and workshops undertaken with media practitioners and citizens, reveals the ways in which assumptions about the democratising functions of such media come up against the tensions over representation that exist between readers and producers. The research here forms part of a UK Research Council funded project into the role of local community media as an aspect of ?Creative Citizenship?.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 35-47 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Ethical Space |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published (VoR) - May 2016 |