Media, Politics and Society

Media, Politics and Society

The Media, Politics and Society research group consolidates a long-standing scholarship on the relationship between media and politics within the Department of Communication & Media. The work within this cluster spans a range of intersections between media, politics and society with expertise around a diverse set of analytical, theoretical and methodological approaches. It connects with the wider University of Liverpool research themes including on Digital Humanities, Slavery and Unfree Labour, Security and Conflict and Children and Childhood.

We critically analyse media outputs from perspectives that highlight political agendas, assess the impacts on marginalised groups and understandings of human rights. We also conduct research into the technology that sustains the media and the social and political context that it occupies and helps to form. This allows us to provide original and innovative responses to some of the key issues of our time: from 'fake news' and the coverage of politics to evaluation of the democratic function of journalists to inform citizens; from insights into the mediatisation of the political process and policy debates to the role of the media in the construction and reinforcement of social inequalities; from the rise of social media and the political opportunities it has offered to the challenges around the spread of unsupported claims-making and abuse of public figures or ordinary citizens; from the risks and opportunities for young people and the broader social, cultural and political impacts of digital media to the power of web platforms to transform work and the reconstitution of space with the Internet of Things.

Within the cluster the key current research interests are:

  • Media, human rights, immigration and international politics 
  • Communication in/and the moral and economic questions of technology
  • Online tools for political communication
  • Gendered nature of mediated politics
  • Social, cultural and political impacts of digital media
  • Children, young people and the media
  • Global news media and international journalism

Current members of the Media, Politics and Society research group include:

The Media, Politics and Society research group is also linked to the University of Liverpool Centre for Digital Humanities and Social Science (CDHSS).