values in the media

Exploring the role of the media
in shaping our cultural values

The media has a huge impact on what we prioritise culturally and in shaping the prospects for transformational social and environmental change; that’s why we’re working to bring this influence into critical focus.

The values we prioritise as societies 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. These values are shaped by many influences, but few have such a significant impact as the media. 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, equality, creativity and togetherness (intrinsic values), instead of power, wealth and individual success (extrinsic values). The media has a key role to play in this.
 
With a cohort of journalists, academics and others as advisors, Common Cause Foundation has embarked on a project to bring our knowledge and understanding of values to the UK news media. We are convening conversations between those working in the sector on the role that they play in engaging and influencing cultural values through the content they produce, and, in turn, the impact that this has on what we collectively see as important in the world.
 
This project is supporting those working in the UK news media to recognise their own agency in terms of shaping the cultural values waters we swim in, as well as identifying ways their work could help strengthen intrinsic values and might also help close what is known as the ‘‘the values perception gap’.

If you’d like to be kept to date with the Values in the Media project, including upcoming workshops and events, please email eroderiques@commoncausefoundation.org.

The story so far

Event and follow up workshop: Values in the Media: How the mainstream media shapes UK cultural values

On November 28th 2024, media professionals gathered at the historic St Ethelburga’s in London to explore the complex relationship between media and cultural values. At the heart of the discussion lay a critical examination of how the UK news media shapes societal priorities – from financial success to community wellbeing and environmental concerns.

We were joined by CNN’s Eliza Anyangwe, ITV’s Jeremy Mathieu, Byline Times’ Hardeep Matharu, and investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed, who shared their own personal insights and reflections from their diverse experiences working in UK newsrooms.

A full summary of the event is available on our website and we’ll share a video early in the new year. If the project interests you, please join us for our free two-hour online follow up workshop taking place on 23rd January. 

Advisory board

The ‘values in the media’ advisory board is helping to shape and guide the project, providing invaluable insights from people who work, or have worked, across a wide range of media. If you have an interest in this work, we have space for a few more members to meet online up to four times a year.

Our board is currently full, but to find our more and express your interest in joining the group in future, please do get in touch.

Masterclass

We are developing a values masterclass specifically designed for people working in the media so that we can support the development of values literacy among journalists, producers, programme developers and other media professionals.

We can also offer bespoke workshops for media organisations.

If you’d like to find out more, please get in touch. 

Values in the Media advisory board

Amélie Reichmuth

Journalist and media advocate

Dr Chris Roberts

Associate Professor in Department of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama

David Eyre

Journalist and Communications Officer, Poverty Alliance

 

 

 

Denise Baden

Professor of Sustainable Business, Southampton University

Hardeep Matharu

Editor, Byline Times

 

Kirsty Styles

Journalist and Lecturer, University of Huddersfield

 

Lucy Stone

Executive Director, Climate Spring

Molly Tsitsi Chimanda

Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Lead, WAN-IFRA, Women in News

Rhodri Davies

Press Officer, United Nations Department of Global Communications

Sam Taylor

PhD student in social psychology, Bath University

Sean Wood

CEO, Positive News

Shirish Kulkarni

Journalist, researcher and community organiser

Simon Hodgson

Responsible Media Forum

Learn more

If you’re interested in learning more about the thinking behind this project, check out this blog written by Elsie Roderiques, and this blog written by our former colleague Ruth Potts.

Contact

If you work in the media and would be interested in discussing how we might work together we would love to hear from you.


Please contact Elsie at eroderiques@commoncausefoundation.org.

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More than the sum of our parts

Greater
Manchester

What’s included: 

  • An initial call to agree the scope of the training and to get to know the work of your organisation further.
  • A series of online or offline workshops of 2 hours over a period of 4-6 weeks, dependent on the agreed scope of the workshop.
  • We offer every workshop participant a one-to-one follow-up call.
  • A feedback call with the training organiser/s to discuss ways the organisation way want to consider working with values further in future.

Cost: 

The exact cost will depend on the scope of the training agreed with you, but below are indicative costs:
  • If you’re a small NGO (<£1m) the cost of this training will be approximately £4,500.
  • If you’re a large NGO or a public sector organisation the cost of this training will be approximately £6,500.
  • If you’re a business the cost of this training will be approximately £11,800.
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