Glenda Cooper

PhD student

Thesis title: From our own correspondents? How user-generated content is altering the power dynamics in reporting humanitarian crises

Email: glenda.cooper.1@city.ac.uk

Twitter: @glendacooper

Glenda's thesis title is 'From our own correspondents? How user-generated content is altering the power dynamics in reporting humanitarian crises'. The proposal aims to discover whether the increasing availability of words and images produced by ordinary people are changing anything about the way news organisations report humanitarian crises, or the way that aid agencies respond to them. Little is known about how this content is used and who is actually generating it. Are we witnessing a genuine change in the balance of power in reporting - or have these corporations 'cloned' this news form in order to maintain their own privileged status? Her research supervisors are Prof Howard Tumber and Prof Lorna Woods.

Glenda has undertaken an MA in English Language and Literature St Hilda's College, Oxford (1990-3), a postgraduate diploma in Newspaper Journalism, City University (1994) as well as an MA in Creative Writing City University, London (2006).

Before returning to study, Glenda was a journalist working at national level for over a decade including the BBC and Channel 4 News, the Independent, Daily Mail, Washington Post (as the 2001 Laurence Stern Fellow), Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times. She was the 14th Guardian Research Fellow, Nuffield College Oxford (2006-7); visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism 2007-8; and associate member of Nuffield College Oxford 2008-11.

Her research interests focus upon user-generated content, reporting of NGOs and humanitarian issues, conflict reporting.

Publications

• Cooper, G. (01 Jul 2015). Hurricanes and hashtags: How the media and NGOs treat citizens’ voices online in humanitarian emergencies.Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 6(2), 233-244. doi: 10.1386/iscc.6.2.233_1
• Cottle, S. and Cooper, G. (15 Dec 2014). Humanitarianism, Communications and Change. Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. ISBN: 1433125269.
• Cooper, G. (28 Feb 2016). Women War Correspondents in 2013. Ardener, S., Armitage-Woodward, F. and Sciama, L. (Ed.), War and Women Across Continents Autobiographical and Biographical Experiences (pp. 147-159) Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN: 1785330136.
• Cooper, G. (01 Jan 2015). Unlocking the gate? How NGOs mediate the voices of the marginalised in a social media context. (Ed.), Media, Margins and Civic Agency (pp. 29-42) doi: 10.1057/9781137512642.0007
• Cooper, G. (2015). NGOs media and public understanding: 25 Years on an interview with PAddy Coulter former head of media at Oxfam. Cooper, G. and Cottle, S. (Ed.), Humanitarianism Communications and Change (pp. 79-91) New York: Peter Lang.
• Cooper, G. and Cottle, S. (2015). Humanitarianism Communications and Change: Final Reflections. Cooper, G. and Cottle, S. (Ed.),Humanitarianism Communications and Change (pp. 251-264) New York: Peter Lang.
• Cooper, G. (2015). "Give us your ****ing money" A Critical Appraisal of TV and the Cash Nexus. Cooper, G. and Cottle, S. (Ed.),Humanitarianism, Communications and Change (pp. 251-265) New York: Peter Lang.
• Cooper, G. (31 Aug 2015). Unlocking the Gate? How NGOs Mediate the Voices of the Marginalised in a Social Media Context. (Ed.), Media, Margins and Civic Agency (pp. 29-42) doi: 10.1057/9781137512642_3
• Cooper, G (2013) The Future of Humanitarian Reporting, City University London (June 2013)
• Cooper, G (2013) chapter in "Women and War" eds Shirley Ardener,
  Fiona Armitage, Lidia Sciama. (Berghahn)
• Cooper, G (2013) book review of Representations of Global Poverty: Aid, Development and International NGOs, Development in Practice, (May 2013, forthcoming)
• Cooper, G (2012) "Facing Up to the Ethical Issues surrounding Facebook Use" published in The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial, edited by Keeble, R and Mair, J (Abramis 2012)
• Cooper, G: "Why Were Women Correspondents the Face of Coverage of the Libyan Revolution?" in Keeble, R and Mair, J (eds) Mirage in the Desert: Reporting the Arab Spring (Abramis 2011).
• Cooper, G (2011) Lights, Camera, Public Reaction - (Global, Oct 2011)
• Cooper, G (2011) Female War Reporters: We're Given the Softer Side of War - The Independent 14 Sep 2011
• Cooper, G (2011) From Their Own Correspondent? New media and changes in disaster coverage: lessons to be learned (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism 2011)
• Cooper, G (2009) 'When lines between NGOs and news organisations blur' Nieman Journalism Lab, Harvard University (2009).
• Whittle, S and Cooper, G (2009) 'Privacy, Probity and Public Interest', RISJ pamphlet
• Cooper, G (2007) 'Anyone Here Survived a Wave, Speak English and Got a Mobile? Aid agencies, the media and reporting disasters since the tsunami' 14th Guardian lecture published by Nuffield College, Oxford (2007).

Conference contributions

• Cooper, G. (2015). : “I  felt  a  responsibility  to tweet  actual  news” How  do  providers  of  user generated  content perceive the use of their material in the mainstream media? IAMCR 27-31July 2016, Leicester
• Cooper, G. (2015).  The odd mucky weekend, not a one night stand” Journalists, aid agencies and boundary (re)negotiation in reporting humanitarian disasters today. IAMCR 27-31July 2016, Leicester
• Cooper, G. (2015). “I felt a responsibility to tweet actual news”: How ‘accidental’ journalists see opportunity and risk in the use of their material by mainstream media. Future of Journalism 2015, 09 Sep 2015, JOMEC, Cardiff University, Cardiff.
• Cooper, G. (2014). Hurricanes and hashtags: How the media and NGOs treat citizens’ voices online in humanitarian emergencies. COSMIC Citizen Involvement Workshop, 04 Sep 2014, Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul.
• Cooper, G. (2013). Heading for a disaster? Ethical and legal questions raised when mainstream media use user-generated content to report humanitarian crises. IAMCR, 25 Jun 2013, Dublin.
• Conference Organiser, 'The Future of Humanitarian Reporting', Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism, City University, (March 2013)
• Paper, 'Text Appeal? NGOs and New Media' at The Future of Humanitarian Reporting conference, (March 2013)
• Paper: 'From Facebook to front page: new spaces in
  reporting humanitarian crises in a social media age' MeCCSA conference 2013: Spaces and Places of Culture, Derry-Londonderry (Jan 2013)
• Paper: 'Ethical and Legal Considerations for Mainstream Media using User-Generated Content' After Leveson? Annual Conference of The Institute of Communication Ethics, London, (October 2012)
• Speaker, International Gender Studies Workshop "Women and War: biographical and autobiographical experiences" Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (Feb 2012)
• Panellist: Launch of The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial at Coventry University London Campus (Feb 2012)
• Guest lecturer, Conflict Research Lectures and Debates series, Ghent University, April 2010
• Panel Contributor, "Media and Crisis: How do words and images portray 'justness' in world news coverage." School of Oriental and African Studies, London Feb 2009
• Panel Contributor, "The Mediatisation of Humanitarian Crises", London School of Economics
  November 2008
• Panel Contributor, "User-generated content and the news" LSE. (September 2008)
• Keynote speaker at the 23rd Biannual ALNAP conference in Madrid Media and Humanitarianism June 2008
• Delivered 14th Guardian Lecture, Nuffield College, Oxford. November 2007

Online

Glenda has written articles for the IRIS newsletter, the ALNAP blog, and The Guardian's Comment is Free and The Conversation.