Sunday Times Research Articles

Student diversity, university rankings and the positioning of Russell Group universities

ABSTRACT This paper presents insights into English universities’ student diversity profiles, based on data from the Times and Sunday Times 2024 (TST2024) Social Inclusion Index. Typically excluded from league tables and rankings, TST2024 supplemented its Good University Guide with an additional ranking based on undergraduate socio-economic and socio-demographic student characteristics, dropout rates and the Black attainment gap. Analyses demonstrate a negative correlation between the TST2024 general league table score and its specific social inclusion score, indicating that highly ranked universities tend to score lower on social inclusion. However, not all social inclusion indicators correlate with the league table score to the same strength. Additionally, nuances in student diversity profiles between Russell Group members exist. Several non-Russell Group institutions score lower on social inclusion in comparison with some Russell Group members. This paper also contributes to ongoing debates on the role of university league tables, especially considering the rapid expansion of alternative rankings.

Sharnie

Rachel Long’s debut collection, My Darling from the Lions (Picador 2020 / Tin House 2021) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, The Costa Book Award, The Rathbones Folio Prize, and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. The US edition featured in the New York Times Book Review, and was named one of the 100 must-read books of 2021 by TIME. An earlier version of this poem was published in The Poetry Review, Vol. 112, No. 3, Autumn 2022

Newspaper Representation of Mandatory Vaccination Against COVID-19 for Healthcare Workers in England: A Qualitative Framing Analysis

In 2021, vaccination against COVID-19 became mandatory for healthcare workers in England. The media coverage of the mandate was extensive and became an issue of public interest. This study aimed to understand the United Kingdom (UK) debate on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination through a framing analysis of UK media coverage. Articles written between November 2021 and April 2022 were identified from UK national newspapers: The Daily (and Sunday) Telegraph, the Times (and Sunday Times), the Guardian (and the Observer), the Independent, the Daily Mail (and Mail on Sunday), the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, and the Sun. Articles were selected using eligibility criteria before framing analysis was undertaken. The sample included 204 articles. Safe Staffing, Treatment of Staff, Change in Covid Context, and Protect Patient Safety were identified as frames used to stimulate debate on the mandatory vaccination policy. Such frames established three broader concepts in the media: civil liberty theory, duty-based ethics, and social-vulnerability theory. This study analyzed how mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers in England was framed in the UK national media. The broader concepts built in the media heightened debate on the policy, creating a voluminous amount of coverage and criticism that may have played a role in the mandate’s reversal.

Climate Justice and Other News Frames in the Coverage of Climate Change in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa

ABSTRACT Media and communication scholars have studied climate change from many perspectives. However, much of the scholarship has focused on Western countries, with limited attention paid to African countries. This study expands climate change communication research by examining framing devices used by prominent newspapers in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. A content analysis of 342 newspaper articles published in Daily Nation (Kenya), Punch (Nigeria) and The Sunday Times (South Africa) in 2021 reveals prominence in framing of climate change as threat to human lives and livelihood, human causes of climate change, a need for climate justice, and remedies in the form of adaptation across the three countries. Differences across the three countries are also noted. For example, even though all three newspapers highlighted climate justice in their coverage, proportionally, this was higher in the Sunday Times than in Daily Nation and Punch. Other differences and implications are also discussed.

Trouble in Cyprus, Riots in Turkey: Ian Fleming, Propaganda, and "The Great Riot of Istanbul"

This article will analyse British influence campaigns that employed disinformation and propaganda to advance British interests during the Second World War and the early Cold War, with a focus on the role of Ian Fleming. It draws on declassified files at The National Archives in London, primary media sources in English and in Turkish, and secondary published research to help understand the extent to which British objectives were achieved in Turkey and Cyprus by finding common ground with the Turkish government, creating false anti-communist narratives, and turning a blind eye to undemocratic and repressive activity against minorities driven by ethno-nationalist policies of the Turkish Republic. The article will answer the following questions: why did Ian Fleming trivialise a violent pogrom against ethnic-Greeks in Istanbul in 1955 as a spontaneous “riot” (in his Sunday Times report), and as a Soviet plot in From Russia With Love? Did British strategic considerations in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean make them complicit in human rights abuses in Turkey? Did Ian Fleming’s writing help shield the Turkish government from criticism at a time of declining colonial power and ideological Cold War? And finally, how do public perceptions of intelligence that Fleming helped to create serve the interests of modern, authoritarian politics in Turkey?

Alessandra Borsini: What neuroinflammation has to do with depression and how nutrition can play a beneficial role

Alessandra Borsini is a Lecturer in Psychoneuroimmunology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London. Her research interest focuses on the role of inflammation and stress on brain neurogenic alterations, particularly in the context of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, and on the ability of psychotropic, anti-inflammatory, and nutrition-based treatments to prevent such alterations. She has been a member of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Immunopsychiatry Consortium, the AMBROSIAC ERA-NET/MRC Consortium, and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Immuno-Neuropsychiatry Network Core Group. She has received various awards, including the Psychoneuroimmunology Award from the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society (PNIRs) and the Preclinical Psychopharmacology Award from the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP). As of April 2024, Dr Borsini has published over 50 papers, with a current H-index of 25, and has been the recipient of both national and international research grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Wellcome Trust, MRC, European Commission and Rosetrees Trust. She is part of the Editorial Board of several journals, including Brain, Behavior, and, Immunity, Frontiers in Neuroscience, and Frontiers in Psychiatry. She is also the programme leader for the new MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mind-Body Interface launching this September 2024 at the IoPPN. Dr Borsini is passionate about public engagement. To discuss her research or topics broadly related to mental health, she has made multiple media appearances in newspapers, including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and The Independent, and radio and TV programmes, such as BBC Radio 4 Today, BBC Radio 4 All in the Mind, and BBC One Health: Truth or Scare. Dr Borsini graciously answered the Genomic Press Interview, providing our readers with reflections on her personal and professional journey.

Blackness in Black and White: Serra Pelada and Sebastião Salgado

Since their publication in Sunday Times Magazine in 1987, the photographs of the biblically sized Serra Pelada gold mine in northern Brazil by Sebastião Salgado have garnered an emphatically positive reception. In “Blackness in Black and White: Sebastião Salgado and Serra Pelada,” I argue there is a system of racial coding in his photographs of the Serra Pelada gold mine, which has received little attention in the photographic discourse. I examine the photographs in dialogue with visual histories of enslavement and the exploitation of black bodies in 19th century Brazil and the United States, and the complexities of racial identity and hierarchy in late 20th century Brazil. Through this analysis, I also highlight blind spots in the English-language discourse on Salgado’s gold photographs, which seek to both universalize their themes and aestheticize their content, as well as challenge his own characterization of the photographs. My primary objective is not to argue that Salgado’s photographic decisions, which were made manifest in this systemization, were premeditated, but rather to assert its presence within the photographs and in doing so, offer a more politically and culturally nuanced and specific analysis of the photographs.

A Novel Analysis of the Integrated Country Strategies for Malawi and Zimbabwe

The United States Embassy Harare needs to identify innovative ways to affect systems-level changes that advance US interests in Zimbabwe.1Michael Walsh and Charles Ray, “Time for US to Revise Its Integrated Country Strategy for Zimbabwe,” Sunday Times, Oct. 12, 2023, https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-10-12-michael-walsh--charles-ray--time-for-us-to-revise-its-integrated-country-strategy-for-zimbabwe.1 Domestic and foreign laws, plans, policies, programs, regulations, standards, and strategies can serve as inspiration for such innovation in its strategic planning process. This article reports the findings of a novel analysis conducted on the linkages that are declared in the Integrated Country Strategy Zimbabwe (ICS Zimbabwe) and the Integrated Country Strategy Malawi (ICS Malawi). Among other things, it finds that the US Embassy Harare declared far fewer linkages than the US. Embassy Lilongwe. These are puzzling findings. The US Embassy Harare needs to work with a large number of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal partners in order to achieve its own goals and objectives. Why then are there so few linkages declared in its country-level foreign policy plan? Is it because the U.S. foreign policy planning process is poorly designed? Or, is it because the U.S. foreign policy planning process is poorly managed? The United States Congress possesses the oversight powers to seek answers to those questions. On the basis of this exploratory study, the author recommends that it makes use of them.

Newsprint representation of the alcohol sales bans during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa: A mixed methods analysis

Aims: Content analysis of newspapers covering the alcohol sales bans during Covid-19 in South Africa.
 Methods: Mixed method content analysis of the highest circulated, paid for, English language newspapers published by four newspaper outlets in South Africa, between 26 February to 26 September 2020 (seven months).
 Setting: South African Bibliographic Information Network (Sabinet) and Arena Holdings Media databases were used.
 Participants: 317 newspaper articles were identified for analysis from four newspapers: Sunday Times (Arena Holdings), Daily Sun (Naspers), The Star (Independent Media) and the Mail and Guardian (Media Development Investment Fund).
 Measures: Qualitative data: a structured coding frame was used to identify themes. Quantitative data: date, agency, placement/page number in the newspaper, number of graphics, words in heading and in article and whether the article was based on opinion or fact. The media vectors: framing, responsibility and newspaper media exposure were calculated.
 Findings: Articles were predominantly unfavourable toward the alcohol sales bans, indicated that government should take responsibility for prevention of harmful alcohol use, and focused mainly on the negative economic impact of the alcohol sales bans.
 Conclusions: News agencies should make a concerted effort to ensure balanced reporting on matters of health and put measures in place to prevent undue influence on journalists by large corporations, such as the alcohol industry.

Mediated climate rift society: articulation and metabolic rift theories in analyzing climate change news in South Africa

IntroductionJournalism is essential in addressing climate change. Journalists' constructions of climate change issues, worldviews, and proposed solutions legitimise those aspects that are made commonsensical and are given discursive salience. The news media has often constructed climate change as a purely scientific issue whose solutions rely on technological interventions- thus neglecting climate change's cultural and political economics. This paper seeks to situate climate change journalism research within ecoCultural Studies and Environmental Sociology.MethodsThrough articulation and metabolic rift theories combined with discourse analysis techniques, this study examines how four weekly newspapers (the Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian, the City Press, and the Sunday Independent) in South Africa reproduced and re/presented neoliberal climate change solutions anchored on “green” and “clean” transition discourses - from 2011 to 2018.ResultsThe majority of discourse actors support the green economy initiative, with its normalisation facilitated by actors like scientists, media, and politicians. This discourse, prominent during both Zuma and Ramaphosa's administrations, has been integrated into South Africa's energy blueprints, emphasising job creation and cleaner air. While perpetuating capitalist inequalities, the green economy has been championed as a national project aligning with public aspirations. News media often portrays climate change solutions through a neoliberal, techno-optimistic lens, emphasising “green economy” and “sustainable development”. These solutions, paired with market principles, balance economic growth and environmental responsibility.

Walk the Talk: The Boohoo Case Study

This case study of a UK-based global fast fashion brand Boohoo encourages critical exploration of a complex, ethical and reputational crisis. Taking a macromarketing perspective, the reader is encouraged to consider all of the factors, actors and relationships in the industry, society and the supply chain to appreciate the resulting ethical considerations that arise. Boohoo has been described as a successful online company that provides a wide range of products, including clothing, footwear, beauty products and accessories. However, the company came under fire in July 2020 after an exposé published in the Sunday Times, the Sunday paper of The Times, named Britain's most trusted national newspaper. The exposé published a report from an undercover investigation that revealed some unacceptable practices in relation to working conditions. The poor working conditions were worsened by the COVID-19 outbreak. As the media criticised Boohoo, the company launched an independent review which eventually confirmed the allegations and stated that the investigation's findings were “substantially true”. Written from the perspective of a PR consultancy that wants to help Boohoo restore its reputation, the case uses secondary information to thoroughly understand Boohoo's situation. The PR consultants therefore investigate the Sunday Times’ allegations, Boohoo's practices and responses to those allegations, and the company's practices from an ethical point of view. The PR consultancy also investigates the fashion industry, with a focus on fast fashion, which creates an environment where suppliers and retailers in the system try to produce products as cheaply and profitably as possible. To fully understand those affected by this exposé, those influential to the industry and those stakeholders who govern or put pressure on the industry, they consider: the people and local government of Leicester ( pronounced Lester), the supplier factories, national government websites and views of pressure groups and charities.

Freedom of expressıon ın the context of regulatory provısıons and case law used by the European Court of Human Rıghts

The article examines the features ensuring the right to freedom of expression and opinion under national law. The importance of these freedoms is emphasized in view of their enshrinement in international regulatory documents. It was mentioned that the importance of the right to freedom of expression is also emphasized by the fact that these rights are enshrined in legal documents of international level. The author gave attention to such international documents as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The author made a detailed analysis of the Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It was noted that Article 10 of the Convention can be structured into two parts. The author stated that the first part is the right to freedom and expression of views, the second is a comprehensive list of legal limitations of the investigated law. The concept of right to freedom to follow ones views, to receive information and to impart information were defined in details. Attention was paid to how the right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the national legislation of Ukraine, espessially in the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Information” and the Law of Ukraine “On Printed Mass Media (Press) in Ukraine”. Several landmark decsssons of the European Court of Human Rights were given, for instanse, Nagla versus Latvia and Sunday Times versus United Kingdom (no. 1). Eventually, the author concluded that it is important to establish certain guarantees of the right to freedom of opinion and expression that is, the consolidation of certain conditions

Scribleriana Transferred: Portraits, Manuscripts, and Books, 2020–2022.

Scribleriana Transferred: Portraits, Manuscripts, and Books, 2020–2022.

Caricature as one of the information mechanisms for constructing the image of Russia's war against Ukraine: according to the materials of "The Times" and "The Sunday Times"

The article presents the author's vision of the caricature as an informational mechanism for constructing the image of Russia's war against Ukraine. The subject of the study was the satirical graphics of one of the most famous and authoritative publications in the world - the British newspaper "The Times" and its separate Sunday edition "The Sunday Times". Chronologically, the work covers a small but revealing period: the first 7 days of Russia's full-scale armed aggression. At this time, the world mass media literally "exploded" with news reports about events in Ukraine.As a result of the research, it was established that from the first days of the full-scale war, the cartoonists of "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" took a clearly expressed pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian position. The main object of their ridicule was V. Putin, who was attached to a series of different images: "Russian-Soviet leader", "half-naked macho" and "dwarf". With the increase in the number of rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities and killed civilians, the authors of the cartoons treated the image of the Russian president even more contemptuously, emphasizing the fact of his degradation as a type of "reasonable person". The positive image of the Ukrainian president became a direct counterpoint to the negative image of V. Putin. To the readers of The Times and The Sunday Times, V. Zelensky appears as a "great leader" who, personifying Ukraine and its people, courageously resists the onslaught of the Russian army. Cartoonists also drew attention to the image of political leaders of the West, who are also criticized for their inability to successfully oppose Russia's armed aggression. The policy of the British government regarding the settlement of the entry of Ukrainian refugees to the United Kingdom was separately ridiculed.

Robert Mugabe’s 1980 candidature as depicted in the (South African) Sunday Times

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has now been in power for three decades. He has acquiredan almost universal image of being a dictator who has steadily governed the country to ruin.This article investigates the depiction of Robert Mugabe’s candidature in the 1980 Zimbabwean(common roll) independence election campaign in the Sunday Times, then by far the largestSouth African newspaper. A content analysis of the coverage is followed by argumentation thatbrings the content of the coverage in line with the general culture of the newspaper. The SundayTimes employed mainly stereotypical images of Mugabe. For it, the Zimbabwean independenceelection campaign revolved respectively around a choice for Southern Africa between capitalismand Marxism and between the future of white and black power. Mugabe was depicted as anenemy both of capitalism and of continued white interests

Kyra Markham: Letters to Louis Sheaffer (1962–63)

Kyra Markham: Letters to Louis Sheaffer (1962–63)

Subverting the inverted pyramid: Kevin McCarra and the revolution in British football journalism 1988-2020

Football sports writing in Britain’s quality broadsheet newspapers has undergone a stylistic revolution since the 1990s. Despite being pioneered by colourful individuals in the inter-war period, football writing has usually been relegated to minor partner in the editorial mix of papers like The Guardian, The Times, and the Sunday Times. Writers such as Don Davies, Brian Glanville, and Hugh McIlvanney set a template upon which writing about sport, and football in particular, became recognised as having the same high cultural status as political or arts journalism. Reporting about football moved away from the functional telling of the narrative of a match through the five W’s of the inverted pyramid (Who, What, Where, When, and Why), towards a deeper more intellectual analysis of the cultural and social importance of the game. Kevin McCarra, who wrote for The Guardian from 2002 until his death in 2020, exemplified the new literary approach to football and helped to inspire its development online. This paper analyses where he sits in the pantheon of modern British football writing and identifies how those he has inspired to carry on the tradition have brought football writing full circle back to the pioneers of the inter-war period.

Contemporary Campus Life

It is with a certain hesitation that one opens a new book about the work experience written by a former colleague. Flicking nervously to the index I am relieved to see my name is not mentioned, only moments later to be mortified on flicking through his 244-page apologia to see my name up in lights. So, we shall start with a shoddy index. That and the 1970s drab brown cover do not speak well for a good read. Then the acknowledgements contain this ominous paragraph: ‘These chapters are constituted and rewritten from columns published in UKZNdabaOnline, with others from UKZNtouch, SUBtext, Wits Review, the Sunday Times and some other published and original materials. The first of these he wrote as the Griot, the oral storyteller of African communities. The chapters have been edited, updated and the original ideas elaborated on and offered here in essay form, rather than as columns.’ So, the 1970s are pushed back to the 1950s when in South Africa the common if quaintly outdated practice of selected published columns actually sold books. A quarter of a century ago I recall advising a celebrated journalist and broadcaster not to even think of such a retrograde step. And yet, like some remarkable madcap Grand Design, Tomaselli has succeeded where others have failed. The book is a success.

Journalism with the voice of authority: The emergence of interpretive reporting at The NEW YORK Times, 1919–1931

Abstract In 1930, New York Times Washington correspondent Richard V. Oulahan described his coverage of government activities and affairs as interpretive reporting. Journalism historians have linked the rise of interpretive reporting to the use of bylines, globalism, syndicated columns, and specialized journalism education. The dean of the Washington press corps, Oulahan earned his first bylined story in 1918 for coverage of the Paris Peace Conference. After that time, he began receiving bylines for his coverage of government, politics, and international affairs. Thus, Oulahan’s bylined reporting offers an access point for studying the post-World War I rise of interpretive reporting at The New York Times. The study examines the concept of interpretive reporting and then focuses on The New York Times, particularly the influence of Oulahan, Lester Markel, and Arthur Sulzberger. The study shows a direct link between Oulahan’s authoritative voice and the editorial innovations pioneered by Sunday Times editor Markel, one of the foremost advocates of interpretive reporting. Next, the study reveals additional factors, including foreign correspondence and good old competition, that led to the emergence of interpretive reporting at The New York Times.

Are Cataloguers’ Skills Still Relevant? A Critical Reflection on South African Cataloguing

The study that directed this article aimed at finding out the requirements for cataloguers’ positions in South Africa in the twenty-first century. Cataloguing has always been at the very heart of library and information work. Arguably, as technology has become ubiquitous and libraries are becoming technology hubs, cataloguing has become increasingly important. In the study, a qualitative approach was employed to gain an in-depth understanding of the job market for cataloguers in South Africa. Qualitative content analysis was used to achieve the purpose of the study. Ten cataloguers’ job advertisements from LIASA and two national news articles, namely Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian from 2013- 2016, were reviewed for the purpose of the study. Data elements require a qualification from an accredited higher learning institution. The study revealed that traditional cataloguing standards (for instance, AACR2, LCSH and DDC) are still highly required for cataloguing jobs. However, these standards should be incorporated with ICT components. Some other advertisements require RDA instead of AACR2, further to the fact that other advertisements require knowledge of digital curation in order to arrange information on the web. Therefore, it is clear that Library and Information Science (LIS) schools should incorporate both traditional and techno-centric cataloguing skills in their teaching to ensure that candidates are ready for cataloguing practices. Based on the findings, cataloguers should be provided with on-going training to keep pace with emerging trends in the cataloguing field.