Multimedia Publishing Project by Zeina Al-Muhtaseb

Critical Project: Multimedia Publishing By Zeina Al-Muhtaseb

vv02

Photography : Georgina Hurdsfield

Acknowledgements

Contact aAh! Email: aAh.editor@gmail.com Telephone: 0161 247 1951 Address: aAh! Manchester Metropolitan University, Geoffrey Manton Building, M15 6LL

issue The

FEATURED ARTIST

Jade Hannah Smallshaw

yEs

magazine

Throughout this project I have received a great deal of support and encouragement from Manchester Metropolitan University with regards to embarking on a non-traditional project. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Kate McGowan, whose guidance has been extremely useful in a project of such a unique nature. I would also like to give a special thank you to Natalie Carragher for all her support throughout this process and for allowing me the opportunity to creatively collaborate with aAh! magazine. I have immensely enjoyed working on this project and it has proved an invaluable experience allowing me the freedom to develop both on a personal and professional level.

abstract

introduction

12 12

10 elements of news creation

welcome to aAh!

writing for aAh!

16 polyamory: is three the magic number?

editing

in conversation with dr christian klesse

the YES issue: call for submissions

27 27 bibliography

going forward

critical reflection

22 promotion and marketing

endnotes

abstract

This paper documents the process

of working for and contributing towards Manchester Metropolitan Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aAh! magazine. It follows an eight-month process of taking on the role of an editorial assistant within the magazine, including managing tasks such as writing, editing, printing, proofreading, developing writing briefs and meeting with communications departments to increase awareness of the magazine. There will also be documented evidence of maintaining and enhancing the online web presence of the magazine through the employment of promotional and marketing strategies, as well as organising a launch party for the final issue scheduled to be released in May 2019.

hello world,

listen up

For my critical project, I wanted to

incorporate as many elements of the magazine publishing project brief as possible. I have always been fascinated by the industry of publishing, particularly since it has become digitalised in recent years; social media has provided many innovative forms of promoting content and engaging with readers. My project consists of an analysis of academic work on the principles and practices of journalism, including the process of magazine publishing from start to finish; positions aAh! magazine within a discussion of publishing trends, drawing from work that I have produced for the publication and supporting projects that I have initiated. In addition to this analysis, I provide a critical reflection (10%) on my time spent at aAh! evidencing all the areas that I was involved with and my rationale for my approach to this critical project.

WRITING

EDITING

PUBLISHING

PROMOTION

welcome

aA h to

CREATIVE BRIEFS

COLLABORATION

aAh! is an arts and culture online and print student magazine established at Manchester Metropolitan University. The magazine is committed to providing a platform for student voices by ‘looking for inventive, creative and thought-provoking perspectives that opens conversations and breaks conventions.’1 Before undertaking this project, I set up a meeting with the Student Media Officer Natalie Carragher, who is responsible for running the proposed project brief to discuss the nature of the tasks involved. As the project manager of aAh!, Natalie has contributed towards its growth from a small team of writers publishing reviews, to its transformation into a commercial online and print magazine. Some key tasks that I was expected to engage in as an editorial assistant would include developing briefs for contributors, proofreading, chair pitching sessions, meeting with designers and maintaining an online web presence through the marketing and promotion of the magazine. I was confident that I would learn a range of transferable skills while undertaking this role. The Manchester Metropolitan University’s website clearly outlines the mission statement of aAh!, stipulating their goals: ‘aAh! engages students across the university and works to raise the skills and profile of the student body, while cultivating relationships with stakeholders in the city.’2 The magazine publishes three print issues per year to facilitate ‘features, opinion pieces, spotlights, interviews, previews, art, poetry, flash fiction, photography and music’3 by examining one word utilized as the central focus for the theme running throughout the issue. Alongside this they regularly update their website with relevant news stories, features, reviews and opinion pieces to maintain their online presence and grow their readership. The proposal of this chapter is to consider aAh! as a form of hyperlocal journalism in relation to its processes of publishing content through an exploration and evaluation of literary sources. Evolving communication technologies such as the internet has an everincreasing role in the global nature of online media; this is something discussed by Brian McNair in his book News and Journalism in the UK4 and provides a rationale for my thesis foregrounding aAh! within this as an example of progressively accessible hyperlocal journalism. As aAh! is primarily a community-based magazine, reporting on local news is an important part of its role. In this respect, an online presence, as Franklin argues, is vital:

‘Local newspapers should offer independent and critical commentary on local issues, make local elites accountable and provide a forum for the expression of local views on issues of community concern.’5 This suggests that local news reports are generally trusted more and valued highly by the community they are produced in, due to the closeness in proximity of such material. In a world where technology and social media sites dominate the day-to-day lives of many, it can be deduced that there is a new emerging form of news operation that has manifested online to facilitate the endless captured videos of incidents many of us can relate to. The surfacing of these dramatic news moments being published online subscribe to ‘newsgathering at a more ‘hyper-’ or ‘ultra-’ local level’6 and takes places alongside traditional content that is addressed in present-day journalism. This contemporary form of journalism has gained recognition over the recent years; Metzgar et al. in their paper ‘Defining Hyperlocal Media’ argue that the term ‘hyperlocal’, appears ‘regularly in discussions about the future of the news media and potential alternative models, but there is no agreed-upon definition.’7 Radcliffe suggests a definition of hyperlocal as ‘online news or content services pertaining to a town, village, single postcode or other small geographically defined community.’8 This highlights the importance of journalism remaining local in terms of its production and distribution. However, this definition only covers one dimension of the geographical component to the operation. In relation to these definitions, aAh! can be considered as a form of hyperlocal journalism with regards to its contributors all engaging with the magazines content from within the student community in Manchester, central to Oxford Road and close to the city centre. As Harte maintains, ‘hyperlocals [also] act as conduits to the wider digitally networked world and potentially help reinforce a sense of place’9 making them ‘local and global at the same time.’10 Thus, the internet’s influencing role upon consumers of news media suggests a wider audience that is obtainable by these hyperlocal outlets. The enhanced reliability and accountability of a news outlet raises its status and value in the eyes of its readership. This is something that can be seen to be true for aAh! magazine as it is a primarily student-led magazine reporting on the social issues and stories that are of concern to students and young adults alike.

I was conscious in my role as an editorial assistant to exert my own creative direction and explore the various job opportunities the magazine boasted. By creating accounts on WordPress and Trello with the magazine, I had access to the two main platforms used to support the creation of website content, enabling the production of aAh!’s online articles and managing the briefs creations. Content Management System WordPress is the most popular open source online publishing platform dominating ‘more than 32% of the web.’11 On their website, WordPress affirm that their mission is to ‘democratize publishing one website at a time.’12 As the fastest growing content management system powering the top ten million websites online, WordPress facilitates the creation and publication of digital content ranging from blogs, online stores, websites, to forums and everything in-between. The process of production that each article undergoes on WordPress includes enabling edits and adjustments to be made as well as the online articles to be published straight to the aAh! website making it the main resource I would master as an editorial assistant. Additional features such as scheduling posts for some time in the future allows for content to be posted regularly without having to even access the site. The ability to ‘live preview’ posts before the article is published is accommodating as it allows you to view the article as it would appear online to check everything is as you want it. This is a useful tool when editing an article to know if it needs cutting down or whether a layout needs rearranging. Project Organisation Tool Trello is another online tool used by all aAh! contributors to enable project organisation and communication of new ideas and briefs for aAh! online as well as the upcoming print issues of the magazine. The function of the coloured labels are indicators of what stage an article idea is in. If an article is available, contributors to aAh! are aware of this by the signposted green label which stipulates that writers and photographers are wanted to cover the brief. If a brief has already been assigned or taken by a writer, then the colour yellow will indicate this. When an article has been written and uploaded to WordPress, orange communicates to us as editors that the article is ready to be edited before being published. Once an article has been published on a set brief, the card will be removed as it’s no longer necessary. The Trello board can also be shared to the Facebook group for those who aren’t regular contributors but may want to see the set briefs. This is regularly updated by the editorial team to ensure that there are no overlaps.

The use of this online project management application makes the exchanging of ideas effortless and is advantageous in terms of its accessibility for the team. Furthermore, the accessibility of an online application such as Trello encourages coherence and team work. Contributors are able to mark ideas that have been selected to avoid two contributors writing on the same topic. This maintains the communication and organisation of the team’s ideas, as well as inspiring productivity. Trello has been adopted by many companies worldwide due to its easy and efficient ability to connect with many people in one place. Proving a useful tool for team collaborations, its flexible and transparent nature means anyone can easily access the information they need. In addition to this, the simple board-card-list structure is straightforward to navigate, therefore minimal training is required.

elements of news creation In this section I will outline the traditional process that information undergoes before it becomes a published news story. In doing so, I also address Goffman’s theory of framing used to acknowledge the role played by language in the media in mediating a representation and the possibilities of bias construction in the representation of events. This style of analysis differs from the standard account of the social creation of news in that it addresses the effectiveness of hyperlocal journalism in this context and how the process works. Through a discussion of aAh!, I illustrate hyperlocal journalism as a meaningful alternative to mainstream media in its ability to contribute towards local public spheres of information while remaining authentic. News is defined by Dana as ‘anything which interests a large part of the community and which had never been brought to their attention.’13 However, it is important to consider the meaning of news within the context of the type of publication it emerges in and their expected audience. Thus, according to Hall, news is ‘the end product of a complex process which begins with a systematic sorting and selecting of events and topics according to a socially constructed set of categories.’14 For the purpose of the argument outlined above, I am primarily concerned with the Hall’s definition of the news and the way that the media presents a constructed view of the world. Bias is inherent in naturally occurring languages, this type of language is found in the media, recording accounts of events or interviews with people speaking on an issue. Goffman’s frame analysis theory stipulates that in order to interpret and make sense of a particular event, we must employ a ‘schemata of interpretation’ as a response. A schema can be understood as ‘a network of associations that organises and guides an individual’s perception,’15 allowing an individual to manipulate meaning from incoming information and construct a response. A frame can be understood as a “mental picture” of what is happening, therefore a frame can set up expectations, ‘on the basis of one’s experience of the world in a given culture (or combination of cultures).’16 These expectations give rise to a kind of cultural and social understanding of what to expect in certain settings, events, environments, as well as from other individual’s behaviour. This is supported by Locher who maintains that: ‘Interactants judge behaviour against frames and norms, classifying it as negative or positive, marked or unmarked, appropriate or inappropriate … Norms and frames thus influence both the interpretation and [also] the production of utterances and constitute an important aspect of context.’17 Therefore, framing can be understood as a process by which one focuses on some aspects of a picture in order to guide the representation of reality. The logical corollary of this is that news publications can also

The construction of news simultaneously constructs for audiences a framework of interpretation as it presents the ‘facts.’”23 – Maggie Wykes

frame as well as challenge an audience’s expectations and this is done to communicate what is newsworthy about that event. However, in doing so, this raises the issue of remaining impartial and providing a balanced coverage of social and political news as a producer of news. In part, this thesis explores the ability of aAh! magazine as hyperlocal journalism to remain unbiased towards reported events to advocate different social, political and psychological purposes to those of national journalism. Research further implies that there can be damaging consequences from framing the news in a certain light for the audiences of a publication. Fowler stipulates that ‘the structure of the medium encodes significances which derive from the respective positions within society of the publishing or broadcast organisations.’18 Thus, the value gained in the process of the production of news is governed through a social, economic or political angle that falls in keeping with the views held by the news organisation. This in turn determines the structure of news and the way in which it is presented to its audience which can serve to sustain detrimental views held within society. A discriminative framing of an event in the news can fuel concepts of hatred towards underrepresented groups in society. Therefore, I argue that the news’ purpose should be to remain impartial, especially in an ever-developing present where information can be altered with the click of a button. It should be the responsibility of the news publication to fairly represent a social issue knowing of the audience’s propensity to want to trust what they read. By the same token, it is this rationale that should guide the receptors of the news in understanding the power of the media and its inability to remain unbiased. As an editorial assistant for the magazine I had the opportunity to write articles, particularly on issues that I felt should be covered by a hyperlocal magazine aimed at students. In my research in preparation for writing my first piece of journalism I discovered that to determine the selection of news, there are a set of values ascribed to stories that make them newsworthy. In 1965, Galtung and Ruge researched international news stories to find out what factors were commonly shared among all news stories, and in doing so determined the values held within journalism.

These values can be used to deepen our understanding of how journalism works; by developing a taxonomy of news values, this list carries the implication that potential stories for mainstream media must fall into one or more of the following 12 categories. The list of defining categories can be summarised as follows: •

Frequency: This term refers to the timescale of an event. It means that for something to be newsworthy, it is more likely to be considered news if it has happened recently. This is also referred to as ‘dated’ content expressing the amount of time it would remain relevant.

•

Threshold: This means the scale of the event being reported, how big the impact is on the perception of its audience.

•

Unambiguity: This factor relates to the clarity of an event, it needs to be easily understandable by its receivers for it to gain coverage in the news.

•

Meaningfulness: Understood as how meaningful an event is to the receivers of the news. It can also refer to the culturally similar being recognised as meaningful through a familiar frame of reference.

•

Consonance: Journalists may predict an event unfolding in a certain way that aligns with the readers expectations and thus increases its chances of becoming news.

•

Unexpectedness: The most unexpected or rare events will have a greater chance of becoming news.

•

Continuity: Once an event has become news it is likely to remain news and there may even be a follow up or continuing coverage.

•

Composition: Stories may get coverage to provide balance to the news broadcast.

•

Elite Nations: News stories will be written about the actions and political developments of the dominant nations as they are viewed as being more consequential and therefore more likely to affect the rest of the world.

•

Elite People: The actions of people in power or celebrities are more likely become news agenda then those of others.

•

Reference to Persons: Otherwise known as personalisation, where the news presents stories with reference to named individuals.

•

Reference to something negative: Bad news is more likely to be unexpected and therefore more interesting to receivers.

Additional news values have been suggested by Bell who argues: ‘the values of news drive the way in which news is presented…they are not neutral, but [instead] reflect ideologies and priorities held in society.’19 Bell suggests the following four factors to be considered relating to the gathering and processing of news. •

Competition: Stories are in competition with each other for coverage in the news.

•

Co-option: Whereby a story that is only tangentially related can be presented as a high-profile continuing story.

•

Predictability: Events that are prescheduled are more likely to gain coverage by the news.

•

Prefabrication: Refers to the existence of ready-made texts which allow journalists to rapidly process into a story enhancing the newsworthiness.

These factors all contribute to the value of a story and the way in which it is received by readers of a news platform. However, as mentioned earlier, what is considered a news event is culturally constructed. Therefore, in accordance with my argument, the fact that news values even exist denotes an ideological expression of news, supporting Hall’s earlier definition of news as ‘the end product of a complex process.’20 Similarly, Philo regards news as ‘a creation of a journalistic process, an artefact, a commodity even’21 . The reality of the news media maintaining a selection process by which it chooses newsworthy events to be reported, intrinsically acts as a filter on the news output in the media. In doing so it automatically contributes towards a mediated construction of news. According to Hardt, ‘the popular press are under market pressure to try to reach the widest possible audiences, and thus must prioritise the kinds of material that will sell vast quantities.’22 It can be deduced, from this line of thinking, that this is where the capitalist interests of advertising begin to pollute the journalism of a publication; by treating readers of a publication as a consumer rather than an active participant, the act of journalism becomes conflicted with democracy. A debate of quality of content therefore becomes an issue in national journalistic magazines. The platform will naturally promote the stories that are considered to be newsworthy, which could possibly lead to the misrepresention of a story in order to gain more coverage. This is where hyperlocal journalism becomes valuable in addressing issues local to a community with intent to make a change, rather than profit in a hyper-globalised age. Considering aAh! magazine as an open source online publication, it provides content in keeping with free access to information; the hyperlocal journalism style fuels the sustained integrity of aAh!’s goals intending to engage a range of informed voices to legitimize content, thus making it a more reliable source of information. Further, by remaining a hyperlocal publication, it presents and enables the voices of students by supplying a platform for them to speak out. With regards to who can contribute to the magazines content, aAh! accommodates cross-disciplinary cohorts, encouraging contributions from students belonging to all faculties at Manchester Metropolitan, despite the print magazine remaining arts and culture based. This therefore makes the content more effective in terms of its representation due to the authenticity. Rather than simply writing an article just because it is perceived to be newsworthy, articles originate from what students and the magazine contributors feel are important issues for the magazine to cover.

“The focus is on those things which are apt to arise curiosity but require no analysis.”26 – Pierre Bourdieu. Inspired by previously published reviews on aAh! ’s website, I set myself the task of writing my own, addressing a topic of social anxiety and challenging societal norms. This involved responding to a brief posted by the culture editors proposing an article on a new documentary series recently aired by Louis Theroux for the BBC. The documentary is a three-part series titled Altered States, seeking to address ‘how America deals with modern birth, love and death.’24 A key figure in documentary filmmaking, Theroux is noted for investigations into daring topics that loiter on the side lines of society. Theroux’s documentary style can often be read as an awkward encounter with the lives of those he follows, an air of mockery-whether intentional or not - lingers once it has come to an end. In response to the suggested brief, I originally decided that I wanted to write a review on the episode ‘Love Without Limits’. This specific episode explored the emergence of consensual non-monogamous relationships in America and the subversion of traditional conventions. However, a realisation that the relevance of a review was gradually decreasing led me rethink my approach. The finished article can be read on page 16. The article initially began as a review of the episode ‘Love Without Limits’ but further research encouraged a different reading and a less speculative stance on the social issue of consensual non-monogamous relationships. This new approach allowed more time to research the issue and provide a more in-depth account of existing alternate approaches to relationship life. Rather than simply reviewing the episode, my article could also qualify as an opinion piece, if I wanted to present it as this. Feature writing differs from a news piece in the detail that they provide in their language, for example they often allow for a more personal account to be conveyed as opposed to hard facts alone. Features also allow for more flexibility in terms of topic whereas news pieces tend to be more restricted, abiding by the news values of a story. Polyamory emerged as a common term used to refer to multi-partner, non-monogamous relationships and has gained recognition as being ‘valid and worthwhile to maintain intimate, sexual and/or loving relationships with more than one person.’25 When researching more about polyamory, the idea of a new creative approach to relationship life seemed attractive; I felt there wasn’t enough information available that

wasn’t in the form of academic writing about the subject, presented as a possibly beneficial practice. To gain a clearer insight, I contacted an academic at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Christian Klesse who is a reader in sociology and has a background of research in nonmonogamy and polyamory. As I was using Louis Theroux documentary as a starting point for my article I thought about referring to the people from the documentary as talking points for my interview. However, as Dr Klesse had not seen this documentary, my approach to the interview had to change in order to fit his needs and gain the most from our meeting. In preparation for the interview, I attended a workshop run by the magazine for all the contributors to focus on the skills needed while interviewing and the practical application. Key advice that I gained from attending the workshop came into practice during interview with Dr Klesse. Some of those were: •

Research: Learn about the person you are interviewing so that you can demonstrate your enthusiasm and research on the topic. The interviewee will engage better with you if they know you’ve done your homework. Compile a list of provoking questions based on your research and use them.

•

Give space for them to elaboration: If there is a pause of silence and your interviewee looks deep in thought, don’t interrupt. Be aware of their body language and make them feel comfortable, use eye contact to indicate to your interviewee you are focused and paying attention.

•

Establish a rapport: If there are any difficult questions that might create an awkward atmosphere or alienate your interviewee then leave them until the end when they feel more comfortable around you.

Reflecting on the interview, I thought it was a success for my first time. By assembling a list of questions and preparing to record it I was confident that having access to the sound bite instantly would aid my precise journalism upon writing. This allowed for an accurate documentation of Dr Klesse’s answers and meant that I didn’t have to try to write everything down on paper during our interview. Thus, my ability to give him my full attention made him feel more at ease and comfortable providing me with longer, more thoughtful answers to my questions. The full interview can be found on page 14.

From: Zeina Al-Muhtaseb To: Dr Christian Klesse Subject: Interview for aAh Magazine Dear Dr Klesse, I am a new member of the editorial team working for the University magazine, Arts and Humanities (also known as aAh!). I am currently working on a feature about polyamory, in response to Louis Therouxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent documentary on polyamorous relationships. After researching the subject, I discovered that you have carried out much work in this field and written several papers on polyamory and consensual non-monogamous relationships. The reason for me contacting you is to request a short interview asking you some questions about polyamory from a sociological perspective. If you would be willing to share your knowledge with me I would extremely grateful and appreciate any time you could spare for a chat. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Zeina Al-Muhtaseb

***

From: Dr Christian Klesse To: Zeina Al-Muhtaseb Subject: RE: Interview for aAh Magazine Dear Zeina Al-Muhtaseb, I have not seen the documentary by Louis Theroux. This means I will not be able to give an opinion or evaluation of this piece of journalism. In principle, I am happy to contribute, but before making a decision, I would like to know more about what line you would like to take in your article. All the best wishes, Christian

In Conversation: Dr Christian Klesse Dr Christian Klesse discusses the stigma around polyamory, relationship diversity and how society can benefit from autonomous debates around relationship diversity with aAh!â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Zeina Al-Muhtaseb Zeina Al-Muhtaseb: How would you define polyamory for our readers? Dr Christian Klesse: Polyamory is a fairly new term which is in a way continuously evolving. There are kind of grey areas about the term and there has been a bit of a debate about how polyamory could be interpreted. I personally would define it as an approach to relationship life which is based on the assumption that if worthwhile and legitimate to have more than one relationship at a time. So, I would see polyamory as a form of consensual non-monogamy which embraces the idea of multi-partner relationships. However, there are also discussions for example on how asexuality relates to polyamory and I would guess that an asexual personal who considers themselves to be polyamorous would not necessarily call polyamory nonmonogamy as such. Z: With nearly half of UK and US marriages ending in divorce, do you think polyamory could be a possible solution to failing modern relationships? Dr K: I suppose that is a big thing to ask. It is unclear why a lot of relationships are failing. One way of answering that question would be marriages are dissolved because it is possible to do so. Partially, the dissolution of marriage is closely tied to marriage laws and the reasons you may give for marriage. I think a lot of people (according to the statistics recently released by the UK Parliament) separate because of complaints about their partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behaviour. So,

in that sense a partner may be abusive or controlling in a relationship, maybe certain behaviours are non-tolerable, therefore all these issues are not necessarily resolved by people adopting a kind of non-monogamous, negotiated, polyamorous approach. However, I would also agree that monogamous marriages, as a promise of a happy life long partnership, does not seem to work for many people for various reasons. Some people think monogamy as a project has been failing so letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looks for alternatives. I think some people may be happier in a negotiated, open, less rigidly defined relationship context-so marriage comes as a big baggage of expectations on how to live together. Monogamous married partners in the ideal case are supposed to live

together, possibly raise children, then there is still a double standard with regard to lets say parenting in particular. Research indicates that care work is primarily done by women, so women may feel trapped in a child-rearing role and end up compromising their interest in having an independent career. There may be emotional dependency, isolation - all of these things can happen within the framework of a traditional marriage, which doesn’t give people a lot of leeway to do things differently. I think it’s important to take an approach to relationships that is less rigidly defined and does not prescribe the alleged cause to a happy longterm bond, based on love would make things better and easier. Polyamory emphasizes the idea of an open framework, people may develop rules from the relationship, but it is not from the start a rule-based approach on how to live your lives. It doesn’t mean that every marriage follows a stereotypical script, so I think we must recognise that married partners, whether they’re straight, gay, lesbian or of any other sexual identity, creatively design their lives in often unique ways. However, society has expectations which I think are for some people more difficult to negotiate. Z: So why do you think that monogamy is still the dominant approach to relationship life? Dr K: I think very often people have not thought about a lot of alternatives to a long-term partnership. Over the last few decades there has been an increase in diversification. For example, there is a stronger visibility of queer nonheterosexual relationships, but also other alternative ways of living. The pressure to marry, I would argue, has decreased. This pressure was very powerfully felt, by women but also by men, in the 1970s and 80s - which is arguably still quite strong in certain cultural contexts. These alternatives are available, but I suppose you must go out of your way, or make contacts and read about them, be brave and dig into it in order to find a space where alternatives are lived and discussed in an open and relaxed way. Z: What would you say are the effects of the emergence of these alternative relationships on society and the way we think about traditional family models?

Dr K: Non-monogamous alternatives have been around for quite a long time but have usually been confined to sub-cultural networks. The media’s focus on polyamory has got very strong over the last few years, I personally welcome polyamory as one alternative approach to relationships, being more in the spotlight as it encourages society to start debating it as a possible meaningful alternative. I think talking about any alternative to what is an accepted ‘default’ way of approaching relationships, helps to increase people’s reflexivity and helps them find out what they really want in their lives. However, I think that polyamory is a lived reality, organising and financing your life and family conditions such as child care. All of this demands a lot of creative solutions. And I would argue it also demands a lot of struggle, because there are very hostile reactions towards people who officially declare to have multiple partners or nonmonogamous or polyamorous relationships. But I think society, seeing these things happen invites everybody to be a bit more reflexive and learn from people who are doing something new. What I personally find interesting is that within the polyamory debates in the UK, people have been at least open to engage with questions around gender equality, feminism and related issues which I think is very important for society because patriarchal attitudes structure intimate and family relationships. In that sense, society being open and asking questions about diversification and accepting autonomy as valuable for everyone within a relationship context, irrespective of their gender identity leads to critical debates that everybody would benefit from on gender, power and sexual identity. So hopefully society will learn something from engaging with polyamory. Z: What is it that drives people to want to be in a polyamorous relationship then? Dr K: That is a difficult question to answer, I don’t want to generalise people’s personal motivations to live in a particular way that they do. Having done research on that issue, I would argue people’s motivations are very different. If you look at it from a life cause perspective, I would say that some people move in and move out of a commitment to a particular

relationship type. Some people may never have heard about polyamory, but they fall in love with somebody and that person happens to have a very strong sense of themselves as a polyamorous partner and may strongly identify with that. So, this person may think ‘Actually, sounds crazy to me but I’m prepared to try it out with that particular person because I love them.’ Basically, people may drift into polyamory accidentally, they may drift out of it accidentally. I think people’s motivations to live relationships that particular may differ. Some people say they fall in love with multiple people all the time and want to follow that emotional stimulus openly rather than constraining their emotions to one relationship. Some people enjoy having a strong network of different people and that they do not necessarily have to do all the important things with the same partner. Z: Recent history would suggest a more of an individualistic culture, do you think polyamorous relationships discourage this? Dr K: The opening and valuing of friendship has the most potential to transcend the individualising tendency. Polyamory has the ability to build a life that is more closely connected and, in a way, more transformative with regard to the threat of individualisation, if you see it as a threat. Z: What future do you see for polyamory? Dr K: I hope that society will be more accepting of polyamorous relationships. I don’t think that opening up marriage to multiple partners would be the only way for society to cherish and recognise relationship diversity. Generally, I hope the future bodes well for relationship diversity.

“Editing a magazine is very much like throwing a party – and as we all know, the best parties are about getting the right mix of people together.” 27

- Stefano Tonchi

As a culture editor of aAh! magazine, I carried out tasks such as creating briefs for contributors, proofreading and editing articles before they were published online or sent to final editing in print. This applied for the YES issue, which was the second print issue of the academic year for aAh! magazine. An initial team meeting to discuss and decide on the theme of the next print issue generated lots of potential ideas. Since the rebranding of the magazine from Humanity Hallows, the aims of aAh! were to reposition content to champion creative pieces in addition to written features.

‘Each issue will interrogate one important contemporary notion as a theme running through our regular features, opinion pieces, spotlights, interviews, previews, art, poetry, flash fiction, photography and music.’28 The concept behind having one theme running throughout an issue is to encourage more creative content submissions; rather than creatives working strictly alongside the writers in terms of providing illustrations for the articles, the opportunity to submit a standalone image or illustration enhances the collaborative availability for creatives and thus the audience of aAh! by centring it as an arts and culture magazine. During the team meeting, potential themes such as anarchy, taste and the mind, were suggested but eventually we settled on the theme of ‘YES’. A general brief was then developed by all the editors for the ‘YES’ theme and was moulded into a call for submissions, which was sent out encouraging contributions from students across campus to email aAh! with potential ideas for the YES issue. A copy of the call for submissions can be found on page 20. Once the call for submissions had been distributed across campus, another team meeting was held two weeks later to discuss general ideas generated by the theme. The content management application Trello was used to keep track of pending ideas which had been suggested by individuals wanting to write on, or ideas for a submission that the whole team agreed needed to be in the magazine. Some examples of this were, ‘Yes, climate change is real’, ‘Understanding consent’, and ‘Saying yes to understanding the change of our current political landscape.’ These were common themes that kept arising in discussions and so were made available on the confirmed ideas Trello card. The process of the editorial system practiced by aAh! permits that any student can submit an article for consideration. However, submissions must first follow a system of review by the editorial board. The project manager of the magazine liaises with the student Editorial Assistant, Bronte Schiltz, overseeing the submissions of potential contributions. Within this board layering, there are also students who fulfil the role of section editors overviewing articles belonging to the categories of news and features, culture, fashion and creative. It is also part of our role as editors to provide briefs for our corresponding sections to encourage potential contributors to write on. Within my role I frequently suggested briefs to potentially be explored by the magazine and can be found below following the process of the system. The editorial system differs between print and online slightly; when a new print issue is due to be printed, the whole editorial team are sent a

copy of the final proof. A proof can be understood best as ‘a mock-up of the issue […] indicating page by page where items will appear in the printed magazine, with a cover index and note of colours, the pagination number, and other relevant information.’29 The more editors there are to proofread the issue means that the whole process is quicker and more efficient in identifying amendments required. Any notes regarding articles or proposed changes to designed spreads are then taken in by the head editors who have the final say in the editing process. With online editing, regardless of the number of editors who have access to the WordPress site, those who can publish articles to the online site post editorial is limited to either editorial assistant Bronte or project manager Natalie. This is so that the magazine’s content adheres to copyright and privacy laws, remaining consistently accurate and high quality in its output. The editorial inbox consists of a folder where student submissions are directed, upon placing the email in the folder, contributors are sent a receipt of acknowledgement. To manage the submission of content, the contributors are encouraged to present ideas as a draft headline followed by a short description of their idea. The purpose of this is to ensure the initial ideas address a range of content, while fitting the theme of the issue. Often writers will be given a word limit of 800-1000 maximum for each feature for the print issue as space in restricted. However, if the feature does turn into a longer piece, the article can be considered for aAh! online. The process of production of ideas can be described as informal due to on-going communication being key in directing contributors towards developing their ideas, connecting to both the theme and journalistic style of the magazine. Some articles require more attention than others to tailor it to fit the theme, but by guiding contributors with a brief it allows them to explore the capabilities of an idea. One contributor pitching an idea for the print issue was encouraged to find potential interviewees for their article, to ‘provide a range of engaging voices’ and to obtain interesting quotes. The outcome of these exchanges influence the contributors of the magazine to approach an article more journalistically rather than present an opinion; by including informed voices that students may know, such as academics at the university, it legitimizes and professionalises the content of the magazine, providing an authoritarian voice. This is just one aspect as an editor, engaging the students in the project, which provides contributors with the means to improve their writing. It is for this reason I maintain that this type of hyperlocal journalism is more authentic in comparison to commercial magazines. While many students may not necessarily have experience of writing in a journalist style but have ideas they want to talk about, aAh! provides them with a platform to do so, enabling students and young people’s voices through a highly accessible platform. When editing the online articles, I found it much easier to keep track of the changes using WordPress. It also allows you to see previous revisions made on the document draft by the author; by highlighting the alterations I could compare between phrases and wording used, to determine which fit better within the article. The advantages to using this CMS is that it autosaves any changes that are made, therefore if the document is somehow lost, the last version will be saved on the system and available for all to view collectively.

say yes to natural beauty FEATURED ARTIST

Photography: Jade Hannah Smallshaw

“I am not a ‘yes’ person. No matter who you are married to, you still need to lead your life.” – Melania Trump How often do you say yes? ...yeah, yah, yep, yup, yus, mm hmm, uh huh, that’s right, indeedy. Is there really such a need for so many? Yes is a big, exclamative word – or can be. Some yeses are small and insincere. Yes can be a no in disguise. Yes is a yellow word, a family of nods and winks. A yes can be the selling of a lie. Yes is a word of consent, permission and agreement. Yes is political word, something chanted by an angry mob. Yes is the ultimate hippy word, maybe more so than LOVE, as in: open yourself up to all, man: say YES. Which is like the yes of YES, the British prog band, or Yoko Ono’s famous yes, a small word at the top of a ladder written on the ceiling. At this point, yes could sound like nonsense, just a meaningless sound – which it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah... In Old – and Middle-English, yes was a stronger, more forceful alternative to the word yea. So what happened to yea? Imagine your teenage self answering parental questions: Did you do your homework? Yes. How many different yeses sleep in the one word? Do you love me? ...yes. Yeses are full of nuance and personality. A yes can be dramatic, climatic, destructive, creative. In Molly Bloom’s famous soliloquy closing Joyce’s Ulysses, yes is more of a gesture than a word. Yes seems to be, as well as an answer, an experience of the world and the body, of simply being alive –

This issue is about optimism, hope, affirmation (and its lack). Yessir! About conformity, belief and rebellion. So tell us, why yes? If not, why no? What is there to say yes to, and how can we be sure?

We are looking for print features, previews, interviews, creative prose, poetry, art and photography that offer a critical, insightful and creative slant on the word YES. We want to showcase thoughtprovoking perspectives to create a magazine that opens conversations and breaks convention.

”

‘I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish Wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.’

“

aAh! call for submissions

promotion marketing &

“There is enormous potential in collaborative journalism between news sites and readers.”30 – Jemima Kiss As an editorial assistant I wanted to help promote online content and encourage new readers to aAh! by appealing to a larger audience and gaining a significant readership. The main channels through which aAh! promotes content are the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. With a cosy audience of just over 1600 people following aAh! on Facebook and Twitter, some improvements would need to be made to encourage more engagement with the content. Upon researching other affiliates of the university, I discovered that the Manchester Metropolitan Student Union boasted a 12,500 following on Twitter, fivefold that of the magazine. I was inspired to increase the accessibility of aAh!’s content, improving the promotion strategy to gain the recognition it needed and deserved by more students at the university. My initial idea revolved around the notion of aAh! having its own live feed built in as an add-on to the ‘MMU App’ used by all students.

My reasoning behind this concept was that we needed to increase awareness of the existence of our student magazine. Despite aAh! standing for Arts and Humanities, it is one of the most successful ‘official’ publications arising out of the university where the content is informed by students, for students. However, as I found in my research talking to other members of the university, the magazine often gets lost within the Arts and Humanities faculty; with some commonly confusing it as a publication strictly for students belonging to that faculty, although this is not the case and aAh! does not adopt the ‘Arts and Humanities’ strapline, favouring ‘official Manchester Metropolitan student magazine’. This is an issue for the magazine as the current marketing may be excluding potential contributors because of this common misconception. With my idea I proposed to change this; by creating a direct linked feed through the MMU App, taking the user to a mobile version of the magazine’s website, I was confident it would increase web activity as well as yield a larger audience of viewers for the magazine. On the aAh! website, it clearly states the opportunity to get involved: ‘At aAh! we aim to provide a safe and supportive space in which student volunteers can be creative and have their voices heard, while boosting their confidence – and their CV – with skills in journalism, editing, publishing,

social media, event management and much, much more. ‘If you are interested in working with aAh!, and the Manchester Met student media teams, there are plenty of ways that you can get involved and gain invaluable experience alongside your studies. We are currently recruiting for a number of volunteer roles and welcome applications and contributions from all students. All Manchester Met students are able to apply and you don’t necessarily have to have previous experience or be studying journalism — our only requirement is a demonstrable passion for student media.’31 I reached out to aAh! Magazine’s webpage developer to find out whether this was a realistically achievable goal for the magazine. It was three weeks before I heard anything back from David regarding the changes that could be made to increase aAh!’s web activity. This was something that I did not plan for in my communication with the department and therefore hindered my ability to take further action with this idea. However, when David did reply, the advice that he gave proved to be useful as he was able to connect me with other central marketing colleagues.

To: David Liptrot From: Zeina Al-Muhtaseb Subject: aAh! Magazine Website Dear David, I am an editorial assistant at aAh! Magazine working on many different aspects of the magazine, one of which is to promote the website and its content. Natalie Carragher recommended I contact you to support the task of increasing the webs activity of the online and print magazine platforms. I have noticed on the university website that there are not many interactive links that provide access to aAh!’s website, and the few links that do are not clearly linked through the MMU Portal page. I was hoping that we could resolve this issue and I have a few suggestions for alterations that could be adopted online and within the MMU App. Initially, I would like to suggest the creation of a new separate link on the MMU App to an online and mobile version of the magazine’s website aah-magazine.co.uk/ As the app is a key feature in every student’s university experience, essential for obvious reasons of access to university information such as timetables and moodle, I believe that the added portal link to the magazine would increase and encourage more students to access the magazines website. I am unsure how viable these options are, and would therefore appreciate your expertise and opinion of this idea in relation to the online systems used by the university. Any other suggestions you may have regarding the marketing of aAh! are also more than welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read this email, I look forward to hearing back from you soon. Kind Regards, Zeina

***

To: Zeina Al-Muhtaseb From: David Liptrot Subject: Re: aAh Magazine Website Hi Zeina, Sorry for the late reply, I marked your email in my inbox but hadn’t had time to get back to you yet. The aAh! Magazine feed is currently on the humanities department sites e.g. https://www2. mmu. ac.uk/english/ but these sites are for prospective students, not current students. The main section of the university site that students use is Student Life: https://www2.mmu. ac.uk/ student-life/ - this section is managed by the Internal Communications team: Amy Kittle <Amy. Kittle@mmu.ac.uk> and James Maiden <James.Maiden@mmu.ac.uk>. I think you should contact them asking for an aAh! feed (similar to the humanities department sites) and also a section about extra-curricular activities (as that’s what aAh! Magazine is).You can ask for aAh! magazine to be included but I don’t think they will agree. Personally, if you push the ‘extra-curricular activities’ page instead this might be a better option. I think the best way to promote aAh! Magazine is through social media. There are many different account managers you can work with to increase web activity. E.g. build a relationship with the internal comms team and ask them to promote certain stories through the main university accounts. Build a relationship with all faculty marketing teams and faculty based social media managers and ask them to promote certain stories / certain student writers. Hope this helps, David

going forward Responding to feedback Further to the web team’s feedback, although they gave me some thoughtful advice, it appeared much easier to avert my ideas through the medium of email. Exploiting this experience, I intended to approach my next line of action more cautiously. Heeding the advice of David, I contacted James Maiden from the internal communications marketing team to arrange a meeting, briefly stipulating my agenda. My reasoning for this decision was to allow myself the opportunity to explain in detail my ideas for the improvement needed on the marketing of the magazine. The internal communications team are responsible for delivering a recruitment strategy, promoting the opportunities available to prospective students looking into studying at Manchester Metropolitan. Therefore, I took an initiative decision to alter my idea in a way that would appeal to James as something that both our parties could benefit from. This would encourage a cooperation between the magazine and the communications team as I would be able to offer something back with an increase of web activity overall and evidence of student opportunities offered by the university. Creating a mock-up of what I envisioned would be possible with the app aided the strength of the idea and the vision I wanted to present. Adopting David’s suggestion of the student opportunities page, the design for a new icon where aAh! would feature was formed. The new link would gain recognition through on the app by students as something appealing, offering more to the student’s university experience. Within this would be a selection of opportunities available to each faculty, aAh! magazine being something that features beneath all of these making it clear it is an opportunity open to all.

Despite being a strong concept, which interested the communications team; I became increasingly aware of the timescale and planning required to implement a campaign of this nature. James indicated that as management of internal communications, he organised monthly newsletters that were sent out to all the students and staff of the university. This was an opportunity for us to work together; aAh! could be included in the monthly newsletter that went out, encouraging students to pick up a copy of the next print issue due to be released. With the newsletters having a 70% open rate, it meant that this would be advantageous in increasing the promotion of the magazine. It was an opportunity to increase its readership, brand awareness and legitimization of reputation by building relations with the communications team and increasing its awareness as a studentled magazine. James and his team were interested in featuring short interviews with the editors and journalists volunteering for the magazine, wanting to gain an insight into how the magazine is an opportunity for students to meet with key figures in the community such as academics, politicians and upcoming creatives. The idea was to promote aAh! as a beneficial experience to get involved in, encouraging prospective students to accredit the university through the channel of student success. An agreement was reached whereby the communications team would be willing to support and promote student content that addresses their agenda, such as articles interviewing high-profile figures in the community or research from academics based at MMU. These articles that are suitably relevant to the central university channels will then be picked up by the marketing team and promoted separately,

recording the success of students working on the magazine. Despite not belonging to my original proposal, this compromise was conceived from only two meetings with the internal communications team, so I felt proud and accomplished to be able to leave our meeting with a positive outlook for the future marketing of aAh!, knowing that this approach will be beneficial for all those involved and that the editorial team had a new connection and support from the university’s teams to grow their readership and brand recognition. Additional promotion of the YES issue: In the lead up to the release of each print issue the magazine promotes it through different mediums around the university. Posters are made to draw attention to its up-coming release as well as over 2,000 copies of the issue being distributed around all the university’s campus and key locations around Oxford Road. Regular lecture drop-ins also helped to gain traction and support for the latest magazine, with some students previously unaware of the magazine’s online and print existence. Additionally, a launch party is held for the new issue in a university building which involves promoting the magazine and celebrating the launch of the new issue, including the theme of all things ‘YES’. By promoting aAh! to a wider audience, we introduced the magazine to a larger readership and raised awareness of the university magazine as an opportunity for students to get involved in.

issue 2 critical summer 2019 reflection In preparation for this project, I researched the role of an editorial assistant as well as the processes involved in producing a publication and the contributing factors that shape present day journalism. By undergoing work experience with aAh!, I have been able to participate in every aspect of these processes first-hand, documenting evidence of my contributions towards the magazines production. Through a close analysis of the news elements that influence journalistic writing, I have gained an understanding of the production of news and the way in which it is conveyed to shape attitudes within the society it is produced in. A documentation of aAh! as hyperlocal journalism in a student run community thus demonstrates the authenticity of the content and effectiveness of the content exhibited through the professional reporting style encouraged by the magazine. By utilizing literary and commercial sources in my research, I have evaluated and evidenced the reasoning for my thesis in conveying the credibility and value of hyperlocal journalism in application to aAh! magazine. This has increased my awareness and knowledge of the production process that journalism follows and the impact upon society as consumers of the news. Engaging with the editorial process provided a different perspective and aided a better understanding of the practice of writing; by critiquing other writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, I was able to pay closer attention to the purpose of an article and how it could be further refined to address a theme or issue. By overseeing the culture features produced by other contributors, I was able to ensure they were informative, interesting and topical, conveyed through a clear unique voice. As an editor I have also learnt to evaluate writing carefully, checking names, addresses, figures and other facts of a story, ensuring they are correct and truthful. The practice of maintaining good English, proofreading and correcting objective errors, such as grammar or spelling, increased my appreciation of these vital elements in facilitating the flow of a piece of journalism. An inclusive evaluation of the YES print issue required meticulous attention to detail and was arguably one of the most demanding tasks due to the volume of content, including illustrations and design work. I have demonstrated competency in establishing and maintaining professional working relationships through my use of communication and problem-solving skills. Partaking in the promotion and marketing, I was able to expand my commercial awareness in relation to the rebranding of aAh! and apply this to forge a relationship with the IT department and internal communications team. By reaching out to other departments within the university I have shown initiative; my initial contact with David Liptrot was useful in understanding the potential of an improvement in the marketing of the magazine to current students. Despite not implementing my initial idea for the marketing of the magazine, by maintaining a relationship with the IT department I was able to understand how I could creatively collaborate with more departments in the magazines promotion by compromising an offer. I found this process

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Engaging with the editorial process provided a different perspective and aided a better understanding of the practice of writing.â&#x20AC;? a thoroughly enjoyable experience as I was able to see the outcome of my idea after continuous communication with different individuals in various departments. Attending a meeting with Marketing Manager James Maiden from the central communications team is just one example of my ability to reflect on the progress made, remain motivated and take appropriate action to achieve a goal. James suggested that by guiding the magazines content to include more high-profile interviews, such as those from academics at the university, it would increase the ability of the communications team to promote the magazine as a beneficial student opportunity and thus provide aAh! with more recognition. Additionally, communications stated that they would be willing to promote content covering student success, such as individual writers from the Manchester Writing School. This meeting was beneficial for us as magazine as it encouraged a more inclusive approach to the content produced and marketed by the university. Further, by allowing us to promote regular contributors of the magazine we would be reaching a far wider audience of students and tutors, ultimately increasing brand awareness and legitimizing the reputation of aAh! magazine. This illustrates a degree of professionalism and organisation skills as I was able to initiate communication and manage appointments with both James and David, as well as make decisions based on the flexibility of available resources. This paper has documented my time as an editorial assistant at aAh! magazine and incorporates a creative approach to the presentation of this project. With access to WordPress and Adobe Design I have honed my creative skills, gaining design and multimedia skills which have encouraged me to be a flexible professional who can address any need and thus become an asset to an employer. My ability to communicate the democratic process of hyperlocal journalism through a visual medium has allowed me to convey my content and research in a visually consistence manner. This project can therefore be regarded as a manifestation of my professional development and self-management throughout this process, characterised by my motivation and initiative to take the project in a unique direction. I have achieved all the learning outcomes through the above detailed account of tasks that were independently carried out and accordingly reflect my time at the magazine.

Bibliography Barnard, Michael. Magazine and Journal Production. Second Ed. (London: B.P, 1990) Bell, Alan. The Language of the News Media. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991) Bem, Sandra Lipsitz. ‘Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex Typing’. Psychological Review. Vol. 88, No. 4. (1991) Fowler, Roger. Linguistic Criticism. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) Fowler¸ Roger. Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. (London: Routledge, 1991) Goffman, Erving and Bennett M Berger. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organisation of Experience. (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986) Hall, Stuart. ‘The Social Production of News’ in Media Studies: A Reader. Ed by Paul Marris and Susan Thornham. (New York: New York University Press, 2000) Harcup, Tony. Journalism: Principles and Practice. (London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2015) Haritaworn, Jin, Lin Chin-ju and Christian Klesse. ‘Poly/logue: A Critical Introduction to Polyamory’. Sexualities. Vol. 9, No. 5 (2006) Harte, David, Rachel Howells, Andy Williams. Hyperlocal Journalism: The decline of local newspapers and the rise of online community news. (Oxon: Routledge, 2019) Hodgson, F.W. Modern Newspaper Editing and Production. (Heinemann: London, 1987) Hogarth, Mary. Business strategies for Magazine Publishing: How to Survive in the Digital Age. (London: Routledge, 2018) Keeble, Richard. Print Journalism: A Critical Introduction. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005). https://www.dawsonera.com/ abstract/9780203006764 [Accessed 12th March 2019] Lewis, Angharad. So you want to publish a magazine? (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2016) Locher, Miriam A. Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreements in Oral Communication. (Mouton de Gruyter: Berlin, 2004) MacLachlan, Gale L and Ian Reid. Framing and Interpretation. (Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 1994) McKane, Anna. News Writing. (Los Angeles, California: SAGE, 2014) McNair, Brian. News and Journalism in the UK. 5th Edition. (London: Routledge, 2009) Metzgar, Emily T. ‘Defining Hyperlocal Media: Proposing a framework for discussion’. New Media and Society. Volume 3, Issue 5 (2011) Palmer, Joan. Magazine Editing and Publishing. (Melksham: Venton, 1973) Sumner, David E and Holly G. Miller. Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes. Third Ed. (Hoboken: N.J.Wiley, 2012) Sutherland, Kathryn and Marilyn Deegan. Text Editing, Print and the Digital World. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009) Tannen, Deborah. Framing in Discourse. (Oxford University Press, 1993) Tumber, Howard. Media Power, Professionals and Policies. (London: Routledge, 2000) Whittaker, Jason. Magazine Production. Second Ed. (London: Routledge, 2017)

Endnotes 1 aAh! Magazine. ‘Call for submissions: the YES issue’. Manchester Metropolitan University. (2018). https://aah-magazine.co.uk/2018/the-yes-issue/ [Accessed 20th February 2019]. 2 Manchester Metropolitan University’s aAh! magazine. Faculty of Arts and Humanities. https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/artshumanities/students/aah-magazine/ [Accessed 28th February 2019]. 3 Ibid 4 Brian McNair. News and Journalism in the UK. 5th Edition. (London: Routledge, 2009). 5 See David Harte, Rachel Howells, Andy Williams. Hyperlocal Journalism: The decline of local news papers and the rise of online community news. (Oxon: Routledge, 2019). p.16 6 ibid 7 Emily T. Metzgar. ‘Defining Hyperlocal Media: Proposing a framework for discussion’. New Media and Society. Volume 3, Issue 5 (2011) pp.772-787. (773). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444810385095 [Accessed 3rd March 2019]. 8 David Harte, Rachel Howells, Andy Williams. Hyperlocal Journalism: The decline of local newspapers and the rise of online community news. (Oxon: Routledge, 2019). p.6. 9 Ibid p.7. 10 Ibid 11 WordPress. WordPress.com. (2015). https://wordpress.com/about/ [Accessed 25th March 2019]. 12 Ibid 13 See Anna McKane. News Writing. (Los Angeles, California: SAGE, 2014). p.1. 14 Stuart Hall. ‘The Social Production of News’ in Media Studies: A Reader. Ed by Paul Marris and Susan Thornham. (New York: New York University Press, 2000). p.645 15 Sandra Lipsitz Bem. ‘Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex Typing’. Psychological Review. Vol. 88, No. 4. (1991). 354-264. (335). http://www.academia.edu/24914989/Gender_Sche ma_Theory_A_Cognitive_Account_of_Sex_Typing [Accessed 9th March 2019]. 16 Deborah Tannen. Framing in Discourse. (Oxford University Press, 1993). p.16. 17 Miriam A Locher. Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreements in Oral Communication. (Mouton de Gruyter: Berlin, 2004). pp.47-8 18 Roger Fowler. Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. (London: Routledge, 1991). p.10 19 Alan Bell. The Language of the News Media. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991). pp.155-156 20 Stuart Hall. ‘The Social Production of News’ in Media Studies: A Reader. Ed by Paul Marris and Susan Thornham. (New York: New York University Press, 2000). p.645 21 Philo, G. ‘Bias in the Media’. See Roger Fowler. Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. (London: Routledge, 1991). p.13 22 Howard Tumber. Media Power, Professionals and Policies. (London: Routledge, 2000). p.219. 23 David, E Sumner and Holly G. Miller. Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes. Third Ed. Hoboken: N.J.Wiley (2012). 24 Tony Harcup. Journalism: Principles and Practice. (London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2015). p.117. 25 BBC. Louis Theroux: Altered States. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bsqsn4 [Accessed 20th March 2019]. 26 Jin Haritaworn, Lin Chin-ju and Christian Klesse. ‘Poly/logue: A Critical Introduction to Polyamory’. Sexualities. Vol. 9, No. 5 (2006). 515-529. (518). 27 David, E Sumner and Holly G. Miller. Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes. Third Ed. Hoboken: N.J.Wiley (2012). p.107. 28 Manchester Metropolitan University’s aAh! magazine. Faculty of Arts and Humanities. https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/artshumanities/students/aah-magazine/ [Accessed 28th February 2019]. 29 Joan Palmer. Magazine Editing and Publishing. (Melksham: Venton, 1973). p.15. 30 David, E Sumner and Holly G. Miller. Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes. Third Ed. Hoboken: N.J.Wiley (2012). 31 aAh! Magazine. ‘Work With Us’. Manchester Metropolitan University. (2018). https://aah-magazine.co.uk/work-with-us/ [Accessed 25th April 2019].