Mike Jempson

Senior Lecturer: Journalism
Research: The Journalism Policy and Practice Research Group

Mike Jempson is a journalist, author and trainer, with over 30 years experience in print, broadcasting and public relations.

Since 1996 he has been Director of The MediaWise Trust, the journalism ethics charity (then known as PressWise) he co-founded with 'survivors of media abuse' in 1993. Mike provides its public voice in the media, advises individuals and organisations with complaints about the media, and runs training programmes and media literacy projects in the UK and internationally.

In 2006 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Media Ethics at Lincoln University and since 2001 he has been a visiting lecturer on the postgraduate course of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights at the Institut Universaire Kurt Bosch, Switzerland.

Working with UN agencies and the International Federation of Journalists, he has devised and delivered training for journalists and NGOs in more than 30 African, Asian and European countries on coverage of children, diversity, health, human rights, refugees and suicide, and on media regulation and press freedom issues.

His work for UNICEF has included production of the handbook The Media and Children's Rights now in its second edition and translated into more than 12 languages, and compiling content for the 'Media Activities and Good Ideas by, with and for Children' website www.unicef.org/magic

For WHO Europe he devised the training manual From the Margins to the mainstream: Putting public health in the spotlight, and more recently compiled Working with the Media: Health and Environment Communication for World Health Communication Associates and the European Public Health Alliance.

Mike set up and managed the influential Refugees, Asylum-seekers and the Media (RAM) Project (1999-2005) which gave rise to the UWE based Exiled Journalists' Network of which he is Treasurer. He is also executive editor of Haven a new magazine produced by and for refugees in the UK

He has produced guidelines for health correspondents, for reporting suicide, and coverage of refugees and asylum-seekers which have been endorsed by journalists' unions and other professional bodies.

Mike is also on the Board of the Institute of Communication Ethics and its journal Ethical Space, and is the longest-serving member of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom Council whose journal Free Press he edited for three years.

He serves on the NUJ Ethics Council, and was a member of its Professional Training Committee and the Editorial Board of Journalist. He was awarded the union's Gold Badge in 2005. Mike is also on the European Advisory Panel of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.

The Media Diversity Institute www.media-diversity.org has appointed Mike Jempson Editor-in-chief of an experimental 'virtual newsroom' for the Intercultural Cities Conference, 1-3 May in Liverpool. He will head up a team of professional and 'citizen' journalists producing material for 'DiverCity' an on-line magazine desifned to demonstrate how the media can communicate positive messages about migration and the interplay between cultures across Europe.

Mike Jempson is one of the panel of advisors supervising the EC sponsored pan-European Study on Media and Diversity. The study, which is gathering information about mainstream and voluntary sector media initiatives to challenge discrimination and promote diversity, is being conducted by a consortium consisting of the International Federation of Journalists, Internews Europe and the Media Diversity Institute.

After graduating from Sussex University in 1969, Mike worked as a secondary school teacher before setting up a residential project for homeless young offenders. He spent seven years as a youth and community worker in London's Dockland, where he began working full-time as a journalist on local papers. In 1981 he was founder-editor of East End News, a weekly local that gave birth to The Voice, Britain's most successful black national newspaper. After 3 years as Senior Information Executive with the Greater London Enterprise Board he spent a decade as an investigative journalist, lobbyist, and trainer specialising in human rights and media freedom issues.

Publications

Recent Articles
Jempson, M. (ed) Belarus: The Struggle for Press Freedom Belarus Association of Journalists/International Federation of Journalists 2008
Jempson M. Privacy and Photojournalism: The boundaries of the digital lens
Keynote paper for The Power and Ethics of Media Images Symposium, National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan, 26 October 2007
The Media and Global Ethics Royal Society of Arts Journal, April 2006
Spinners or sinners? PR, journalists and public trust Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 9, Issue 3, 2005
Slander, Sentimentality or Silence: What children put up with from the media ChildRIGHT, Nov. 2005, CR221
Cleaning up our own backyard British Journalism Review, Vol 15, No 2, 2004

Book Chapters
Jempson, M. From PressWise to MediaWise: promoting journalisms ethics in the UK
Chapter in
Media Accountability Today… and Tomorrow: Updating the concept in theory and practice. Torbjorn von Krogh (Ed) Nordicom 2008, ISBN 978-91-89471-58-0
And the consequence was…in Ethics and Media Culture: Practices and Representations Editor David Berry, Focal Press 2000, ISBN 0-240-51603-6
Torture Worldwide & The Agencies Involved in A Glimpse of Hell: Reports of Torture World-wide Editor Duncan Forrest, Cassells / Amnesty International, 1996, ISBN 0-8147266-6-6

Author
Working with the Media: A handbook for health communicators (4 languages) World Health Communication Associates/European Public Health Alliance/European Environmental Network/The MediaWise Trust 2005, ISBN 0-9547620-2-9
The Media and Children's Rights: a handbook for media professionals, (2nd Edition, now in over 12 languages) UNICEF/PressWise 2005, ISBN 0-9547620-3-7 (1st Edn 1999)
From the Margins to the Mainstream: Putting public health in the spotlight WHO Europe 2003
Spot On! A handbook for health communicators WHO Europe / The PressWise Trust, 2000
Children in the Picture: Media, ethics & reporting of child labour International Federation of Journalists, 1998
Victims of Care: The care of the mentally ill in the community The Matthew Trust, 1995
The Heart of Britain: The voluntary sector & BBC Charter renewal Broadcasting Consortium / National Council for Voluntary Organisations, 1995
Creating the Future: The role of the Arts in the new Unitary Authorities Arts 4 All / Arts in Communities Action Network, 1995
Centenary Celebration: An illustrated history of the Musicians' Union Musicians Union/Crantock Communications, 1993
Public Service Broadcasting: a journalistic responsibility National Union of Journalists, 1998
Working Together: Trades unions and worker co-operatives Greater London Enterprise Board, 1986 ISBN 1-8510402304
A Strategy for Co-operation: Worker co-ops in London Greater London Enterprise Board, 1985
Saving jobs… shaping the future: An introduction to Enterprise Planning Greater London Enterprise Board, 1984

Co-Author
(with Rich Cookson & Forward Maisokwadzo): Exiled Journalists in Europe The MediaWise Trust 2006, ISBN 0-954760-9-6
(with Rich Cookson) The RAM Report: Campaigning for fair and accurate coverage of refugees & asylum-seekers The MediaWise Trust 2005, ISBN 0-9547620-4-5
(with Rich Cookson) Satisfaction Guaranteed: Press complaints systems under scrutiny The MediaWise Trust 2004, ISBN 0-9547620-4-5
(with Charlotte Barry) Reporting Suicide: Training pack The PressWise Trust, 2002
(with Bill Norris & Lesley Bygrave) Covering Suicide Worldwide: Media responsibilities The PressWise Trust / Befrienders International 2001
(with Bill Norris) Information and Child Rights: the challenge of media engagement International Federation of Journalists / The PressWise Trust, 1998
(with Jenny Grahame & Michael Simmons) The Press Pack & Video English & Media Centre, 1995, ISBN 0-907016-13-8
(with Liz Curtis) Interference on the Airwaves: Ireland the Media and the Broadcasting Ban CPBF, 1993, ISBN 1-898240-01-9

Editor
Sensitive Coverage Saves Lives: Improving media portrayal of suicidal behaviour National Institute for Mental Health in England/Care Services Improvement Partnership/Department of Health Shift Stigma Programme, 2007
Journalism and Public Trust MediaWise/National Union of Journalists 2004
Directory of Exiled Journalists The PressWise Trust, 2003
Children, Violence and the Media in an expanding Europe The PressWise Trust / European Commission Daphne Programme, 2000
Access to the Information Society PressWise / European Commission Information Sociary Forum, 1998
Child Exploitation and the Media The PressWise Trust, 1997
Telling it like it is: Ethnic minorities and the media The PressWise Trust, 1997
The South West Media Guide (3rd Edition) UNISON/ Crantock Communications, 1994
Putting the Citizen at the Centre of British Broadcasting Labour Party, 1993
Human Rights in the UK: the Challenge to Government Amnesty International/Crantock Communications, 1993
Freedom and Responsibility of the Press: Report of Special Parliamentary Hearings Crantock Communications, 1993
Sanitising through Censorship: Media coverage of the Gulf War Campaign for Press & Broadcasting Freedom, 1991
The Hurd Broadasting Ban: A synopsis of British media coverage National Union of Journalists / Campaign for Press & Broadasting Freedom, 1998

Websites: (Content author & commissioning editor)
www.mediawise.org.uk
www.ramproject.org.uk
www.unicef.org/magic

TV/Video (Executive editor/producer; research/scripting)
Executive editor
On the receiving end: Exiled journalists speak out MediaWise/Omni Productions, 2004

Researcher
Child abuse in the West Country WestEye View Special (HTV) 1995
Flight BA 149:The Kuwait hostage crisis for Channel 4 News special, Rapide Productions 1991

Executive Producer
Ringed by fire... Wapping during the Blitz WPAG/LWT 1986
Strategy for Co-operation: worker co-ops in London Parallax Pictures, 1985
Enterprising London - the video GLEB/Radcom, 1984 & 86
Saving Jobs: worker participation in GLEB investments GLEB/Radcom 1984
The State of Wapping 50-minute Open Door documentary, BBC Community Unit, 1974

Contributor
Press freedom in Britain Fizz Productions/Know-How Fund 1993

Exibitions
Wapping: a people's history Social and industrial history of Wapping
The Wapping dispute News International's move to Wapping
Bristol: the Irish connection Social, cultural and political history
A Grotesque Tradition Anti-Irish racism in British history, literature & media

Mike.Jempson@uwe.ac.uk

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