Special offer: national Media and the Riots event

Marc Wadsworth - Editor, The-Latest.Com

I'm delighted to be able to make a special offer to members of The-Latest.Com which is co-hosting an amazing event with the Citizen Journalism Educational  Trust. You can have a massive discount for a ticket to the national Media and the Riots conference at the London College of Communication, south London, on  Saturday, November 26, 10am-3pm. 

Normally priced at £12, if you immediately respond to this offer the  ticket is yours for under £5 (use the drop down option for  "concessions"). Book here. If you haven't registered with this site (you must do so to be eligible for this offer), it's quick and easy. Click on the "REGISTER" button at the top right of the home page.

As well as community people, media and academics we’ll also have at this event, that’s the first of its kind, Sky News reporter Tom  Parmenter who did the controversial interview with “looters” that itself  made the news. The idea is that young people particularly will have the chance to air their views and have a direct dialogue with the media.  It’s going to be a fascinating, must-see occasion.

Please book your ticket here right away to avoid disappointment as places are limited and running out fast.

Here’s the Time Out listing (with transport details).

It would be great if you followed us on Twitter. And joined our Facebook Fan page and Event page and got other people to do the same.

The programme for the conference will be: 10am Welcome. Keynote address from Professor Gus John. Riot news film with Sky News reporter Tom Parmenter. Discussion. 12pm Four break-out workshops covering Young Voices. The Law and Order Agenda. Social Media. Then and Now: Riots of the past and this year. 1pm Lunch. 2pm Report-back from the break-out sessions. Discussion. Key-note summing up. Networking.

The conference will deal with questions like:

• How objective was the reporting of the disturbances?  
• Did  the mainstream broadcast media like the BBC, ITV and Sky allow their own reporters’ moral attitudes to the emotive events seep into the reporting and how were young people involved in the disturbances stereotyped?  
• Did  the news media allow themselves to be manipulated by politicians and police who mobilised a huge PR operation to peddle an agenda that was heavy on law and order crack downs but light on social and economic causes?  
• Did  news media collude with police, for instance, by disseminating misinformation and demonising Mark Duggan, the Black, male victim of the fatal shooting by police in Tottenham that sparked the disturbances, fuelling a sense of alienation and distrust among Black people, poor people and the youth? 
• What role did social media and mobile messaging services, like Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry, play? 
• Were the voices of the rioters and looters themselves reported?

Our aim is for the event to be informative, educative and  practical. We will produce a report, perhaps in multi-media format,  afterwards that can be used as a tool for improving the media skills of  people in the community and better reporting by journalists. 

We hope you will join us, not least because this is a great way to support The-Latest.Com.