Why does big oil bankroll the anti-trans movement?
The media organisation Atmos recently highlighted research that showed the extent of fossil fuel funding for organisations that campaign against trans rights in the US. Why would big oil bankroll the anti-trans movement? It doesn’t seem that there is any material connection between these two things – transphobia and fossil fuel extraction – no obvious […]
To face environmental destruction, UK media must help England face its colonial legacy
Last Friday, I attended “Voices from the Amazon: Our Stories, Our Solutions” – an event that brought together Indigenous creatives and activists to share their perspectives on media representation, environmental justice, and decolonisation. The conversations were powerful, challenging, and – for those of us working in UK-based, and more specifically English, media organisations and who […]
If people care deeply for one another and other living beings, why does it feel like everything is going wrong?
At Common Cause, we often find ourselves grappling with a striking paradox: why, when people report placing high importance on universalism and benevolence values that predict deeper levels of social and environmental concern, isn’t faster progress being made on social and environmental justice? Indeed, why – on so many fronts – is such progress being […]
Values in the Media conference 2024: Recognising the media’s role in shaping society’s cultural values – a summary
Are we more likely to value a CEO’s quarterly profits or a community’s collective resilience? Do we celebrate individual wealth and prestige or collective wellbeing? How does the mainstream news media help shape which of these things society sees as important? Last month, media professionals gathered at the historic St Ethelburga’s in London to grapple […]
Bridging the values gap: reimagining journalism through human connection
Last month, a friend and colleague shared an article with me that cited a recent study conducted into ‘journalistic values from an audience perspective’ in Chile, the results of which recognised the “importance of the human touch in journalism”. The two academics; Mellado and Gajardo, uncovered a profound disconnect between how journalists perceive their professional […]
Hope for the future of life can be found in our cultural values; we need a media sector that reflects that
Our collective, or ‘cultural’ values are hugely important; they impact what we collectively see as important in the world, and what we think and do about social and environmental issues. In order to make real progress on social and environmental issues, we need to see different values championed in our cultures; values such as care, […]