The term 'cultural intermediaries' is good to think with: it has been a productive device for examining the producers of symbolic value in various industries, commodity chains and urban spaces, highlighting such issues as the blurring of work and leisure, the conservatism of 'new' and 'creative' work, and the material practices involved in the promotion of consumption (e.g.

In The Cultural Intermediaries Reader, Jennifer Smith Maguire and Julian Mathews aim to offer the first comprehensive introduction to the contemporary conceptualisation of cultural intermediaries. In the introduction, the editors offer an initial definition of cultural intermediaries as the taste makers defining what counts as good taste and cool culture in today's marketplace. Working at the intersection of culture and economy, they perform critical operations in the production and promotion of consumption, constructing legitimacy and adding value through the qualification of goods. (p.1)

This article provides an introduction to, and makes a case for, cultural intermediaries as an entry point for the study of media and cultural production. We offer a strategic parsing of the conceptual foundations provided by Bourdieu with regard to cultural intermediaries and the media, loosely organized in terms of where they are located (working in media); the means of accomplishing their role (working with media); and their economic role in promoting consumption (the work of mediation). We then follow the translation of the concept from Bourdieu to a cultural economy approach that is concerned with the material practices involved in the formation of value. A review and comparison of substantive findings from a range of cultural economic case studies of cultural intermediary occupations serves as an introduction to a three‐fold approach that might guide future studies of occupations in cultural industries, in terms of: historicizing occupations, material practices, and assessments of impact. Finally, we conclude with a claim for the utility of ‘cultural intermediaries’ as a way to think about cultural production, and highlight areas in which work remains to be done.

This article examines coverage presented in a news campaign (on asylum and immigration) by the UK tabloid newspaper, the Sun, from January to March 2003. The analysis reveals how tabloid news conventions rather than government definitions or viewpoints frame the character and contours of campaign representations, an observation that throws into sharp relief existing explanations of elite influence or authority skew. This campaign includes portrayals of the asylum seeker as 'the other' or 'folk devil', a moral framework explaining their deviant intentions and actions, as well as expressions of irreverence at elite decisionmaking and government UK asylum policy. Yet it is striking how accompanying tabloid representations of public opinion, featuring consistently through the coverage, offer additional hostility to asylum policy and government officials. The article outlines how such representations and appeals garner the attention of the political elite and elite media on this occasion and develop new concerns over the newspaper's role in negatively shaping the asylum agenda.

Hydraulic fracturing is an energy extraction process that is increasingly attracting controversy. This article seeks to outline how the media report hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"), and to explore its place within the reporting of energy concerns generally. To this end, it draws on an environmental communication perspective to understand the media reporting of the issue and the processes that shape it. This review reveals that media reporting of fracking is partitioned broadly according to discussions of the economic benefits or the environmental risks associated with the process. Further, these observed patterns in the reporting appear to mirror the recognized claims made about the issue, and the influence from protests and online media alongside national polity on energy production and security. While there is evidence that the practices of journalists and the geographic, economic and political contexts of their news production environments shape the amounts and the types of news reporting, the publics' perceptions appear, somewhat knowledgeable, but largely ambivalent or undecided on the issue at present. Therefore, it is argued that future research must continue to examine the reporting of hydraulic fracturing, its context, production, and its wider reception to develop our understanding of the role of the media in national conversations on fracking, energy, and the environment.

Many suggest that the process of precarity is now a common feature of contemporary journalism. Still, precarity is introduced often from a western point of view and assessed according to an underlying assumption of full and permanent employment as being the norm. This view of precarity contrasts with the precarious conditions that are found in the global south. This paper recognises these differences and in turn puts forward the concept of 'precarious professionalism' to assess their presence and impact. Precariousness is explored therefore in a study of 15 journalists working in the developing democracy of Nigeria. The analysed interviews reveal journalists' experiences of 'precarious professionalism' as based in 'fragile professionalism', 'ingrained in-job instability' and as incorporated within challenges to both their 'professional and personal selves'. The paper concludes that these factors not only provide a more robust understanding of the general situation common in non-western contexts, but they show what must be addressed to help to rebuild professionalism in the case of Nigeria.

This paper examines newspaper reaction in the immediate aftermath of the London bombings 2005, to identify the repertoires they use to respond to this large-scale terrorist incident perpetrated on UK soil. It introduces to our established view of media reporting of terrorism, a moment when traditionally differentiated newspapers respond collectively to this incident with coverage marked by its representations of condemnation, solidarity and law and enforcement brought together within human-interest story treatments. These findings point to newspaper journalists employing a generic reporting template at this time to reproduce copy so ordered as to respond consensually to this incident. Newspapers' performances across this period privilege official responses and collective national reaction to the bombings as they cauterise an identified social wound produced by the incident. Their investigation calls attention to the ritual character of reporting produced against this context, pointing in particular to the enacted images of 'Britishness' central to its performance.

PurposeIn the UK, advertising of infant formula products direct to consumers is not permitted. These products must be used on the recommendation of suitably qualified health or medical professionals. The aim of this study is to examine formula manufacturers’ web sites to ascertain whether these are used as alternative forms of advertising that fall outside current regulations.Design/methodology/approachThe web sites of five leading formula product manufacturers were surveyed in 2009 and again in 2012 as part of a wider assessment of infant and follow‐on formula advertising and presentation. These sites were assessed for the presence of text and images they contained relating to infant formula products that may not be directly advertised to consumers under current regulations.FindingsAlthough not technically classified as “advertisements” all these web sites were found to contain formula product information that could be construed as promotional in nature in 2009. By 2012, this was true of just two of these sites. Infant formula product promotions occurred adjacent to ones for follow‐on formula products. The recommendations and warnings concerning use of infant formula that are statutorily required for advertising in the UK were present on these web sites.Practical implicationsFormula manufacturers use their web sites to promote infant formula products and do so alongside follow‐on formula products. These sites provide a promotional opportunity through which to gain access to consumers that is legally denied to infant formula manufacturers through advertising. The findings have significance in the context of other research showing that consumers have been found to mis‐recall follow‐on formula advertising messages as applying to infant formula products.Originality/valueThis analysis formed part of the most extensive study of formula product advertising and presentation undertaken so far. It represented the first attempt to provide a comprehensive audit of the ways formula manufacturers promote their products in the UK.