Performing the disaster genre? TV journalism, disruptive factors and community challenges in the reporting of the UK Grenfell Tower block fire

Bibliographic Data

ID7477884
AuthorsJulian Matthews (0000-0001-9207-1313, University of Leicester, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume24
Issue10
Pages2174-2191
Publication date2022-05-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14648849221097735
OpenAlexW4225425406
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

News coverage of national disasters holds the potential to evoke unique moral sentiments and political reactions. Often, however, we learn that the common use of elite political actors’ consensual commentary by journalists serves to politically appropriate such events or render mute their potential. This paper explores a challenge to this observed authority skew in the performance of TV journalism (BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Channel 5) while covering the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower block fire. The analysed reporting shows that the presence of (i) disruptive geography (ii) disruptive expertise and (iii) disruptive commentary challenge the reproduction of a traditional ‘reporting template’ and its inscribed authority skew. Combined, such ‘disruptive factors’, it is reasoned, enable opportunities for challenger voices to appear in number, and therein direct criticisms of both neglect and inaction and even to reflect on the state, race and poverty and incite thereafter an elite political apology

Elite · Journalism · Media studies · Neglect · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Disaster Management and Resilience · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Law

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