Human Rights in the UK Media: Representation and Reality
Date and time: 19 September 2014, 9:00am-5:30pm
Venue: Chapel, Foresight Centre
Join us at the University of Liverpool for a one day innovative seminar exploring the role of the media in contentious contemporary debates about human rights.
Human rights is a hot topic in the UK today. This seminar, supported by the Modern Law Review and hosted by the Human Rights and International Law Unit, brings together constitutional and international law researchers, media and communications researchers, journalists, legal practitioners and civil society actors for an interdisciplinary discussion on the media's representation of rights.
There is a wide disparity in the understanding of human rights amongst academics interested in human rights, civil society engaged with human rights, media reporting on human rights and public perception of human rights. This seminar will facilitate a bridging of the gap between theoretical and practical understandings of human rights and encourage knowledge exchange on human rights as seen from various perspectives.
What is the nature of the representation of rights today? Is there an accurate understanding of the law, the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights? What are the sources of journalistic inquiry when it comes to human rights and the organs in Strasbourg? What is the appeal of rights language in media reporting? How is this language used and why? Are particular rights given more media exposure than others? If it is the case that certain rights are more controversial, what is the nature of the attention to these rights in particular? How can we harness academic knowledge on human rights or engage with journalism for the purposes of having an impact on the representation of rights in the media?
If you would like further information or if you have any queries or questions, please contact the seminar organiser Michelle Farrell