Event: News of the World: A Study Day (2/24/2012)

News of the World: A Study Day
King’s College London
24 February 2012
All Welcome - Free

Founded in 1843, the News of the World was one of the UK’s longest-running Sunday newspapers when it came to its inauspicious end in the summer of 2011. Gone, but not forgotten, the paper continues to be of interest as the full ‘story’ of the hacking scandal is revealed in the wake of parliamentary and other investigations.

Initially a broadsheet transformed into a tabloid by News International only in 1984, the News of the World has always been one of the most read newspapers in Britain. During the Victorian period, it had one of the largest circulations, catering, in particular, for the working classes, and at the time of its closing, it was the highest selling newspaper of any kind in the UK. Its history has always been lively and controversial, with sensational and investigative journalism a mainstay of its news. As one media historian has claimed, the paper always had something of the ‘saucy seaside postcard’ about it, and as such, it may have had a unique place within British news culture.

News of the World: A Study Day seeks to stimulate discussion of the paper by taking an historical view that understands the title within the framework of media history. This day of lectures, roundtable discussion and seminar considers a range of issues related specifically to the title, since its launch in the nineteenth century.

10.15-11.15 – Welcome and LectureMartin Conboy (Univ. of Sheffield) 'Residual Radicalism and the Novelty of the Nation: Circumstance Beyond our Control'

11.15-11.30 – Coffee

11.30-1.00 – Roundtable: Victorian BeginningsClare Horrocks (Liverpool John Moores Univ)
Andrew King (Canterbury Christ Church)
Jim Mussell (Univ of Birmingham)
Melissa Score (Birkbeck, University of London)

1.00-2.00 – Lunch

2.00-3.00 – Seminar: ‘Sex on Trial: Wilde and Montagu’ led by Prof. John Stokes (King’s College London)

3.00-3.15 – Tea

3.15-4.15 – PanelAlison Oram, (Leeds Metropolitan Univ),  ‘“Another Man-Woman…”: Sexuality and Modernity in the News of the World 1914-1960’
James Rodgers (London Metropolitan Univ), ‘The decline of the English newspaper: the double-edged sword of technology, and the downfall of the News of the World’

The Study Day, organized by Laurel Brake (Birkbeck) and Mark Turner (KCL), is open to all and admission is free, though places are limited. Please email Mark Turner (mark.2.turner@kcl.ac.uk), by 15th February, to reserve your place. Venue: The Council Room, King’s College London, Strand Campus. The Study Day is made possible through support from the journal Media History and the Department of English, King’s College London.