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Cynthia Carter BA (Carleton) MA (Carleton) MLitt (Strathclyde) PhD (Wales)

Dr Cynthia Carter

(she)

BA (Carleton) MA (Carleton) MLitt (Strathclyde) PhD (Wales)

Reader

School of Journalism, Media and Culture

Comment
Media commentator
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I am a Reader in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University, with research interests and expertise in news, journalism and gender; children, news and citizenship; children and public service broadcasting; media audiences under 30 and media policy formation.

My books include Journalism, Gender and Power (Routledge, 2019);  Routledge Companion to Media and Gender (Routledge, 2014); Current Perspectives in Feminist Media Studies (Routledge, 2013); Critical Readings: Violence and the Media (Open University Press, 2006); Critical Readings: Media and Gender (Open University Press, 2004), Violence and the Media (Open University Press, 2003), Environmental Risks and the Media (Routledge, 2000) and News, Gender and Power (Routledge, 1998).

I am Founding Co-Editor of the journal Feminist Media Studies (Routledge) and editorial board member past or present of Communication, Culture & Critique (Wiley-Blackwell), Communication Review (Taylor & Francis), Communication Theory (Wiley-Blackwell), Critical Studies in Media Communication (Taylor & Francis), Journal of Children and Media (Routledge), Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Sociology Compass (Blackwell), and Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts (Routledge).

I am a member of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies (MeCCSA) Executive Board (2015-present), and former Vice Chair and Chair of the Feminist Scholarship Division, International Communication Association (ICA). I am also a longstanding member of ECREA and IAMCR. I serve on the Cardiff University Senate and am a member of the ESRC's DTP Reviewing Panel.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

  • Carter, C. and Mendes, K. 2022. Girls, news and public cultures. In: Allan, S. ed. The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism. London: Routledge, pp. 243-351.
  • Carter, C. 2022. Children's citizenship and the news. In: Lemish, D. ed. The Routledge Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media. London: Routledge, pp. 285-293.
  • Carter, C. 2022. Newsround @50. In: Kirkham, H. and Woodfall, A. eds. The Children’s Media Yearbook 2022. Children's Media Foundation, pp. 20-25.

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2006

2005

2004

2003

2000

1998

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Monographs

Research

Research interests

  • children, news, journalism and citizenship
  • girls and news
  • under 30 media audiences
  • children and public service media
  • children and media policy
  • media, children's rights and well-being
  • feminist news media and journalism studies
  • Violence and the media
  • sexual violence and media

Selected Funded Research

(2022) Expert Panel, Review of the Broadcasting Powers and Responsibilities in Select Countries (Denmark, Ireland, Estonia, Canada, Basque Country), Welsh Government, Awarded (September 26). PI- Dr Thomas Chivers; Co-Is – Prof Stuart Allan; Dr Cynthia Carter, Dr Eva Nieto Mcavoy. Dr Caitriona Noonan.

(2021) Research advisory/consultancy role, with Prof Jeanette Steemers (RA Laura Sinclair) for BFI Young Audience Content Fund (YACF) ‘Seeing Yourself on Screen” Challenge, analysis of Challenge entry form data to secure academic insights into the value of public service broadcasting for young audiences (July – November).

(2020) Open Data Institute, UK. “Data about Children's Lives in the Pandemic,”  (with Prof Jeanette Steemers, KCL and Dr Christine Singer, RA) focusing on important of data to tailor educational and media resources for learning during periods of lockdown and blended learning during the pandemic. https://theodi.org/article/new-report-data-about-childrens-lives-in-the-pandemic/

(2020) – "Children, Covid-19 and the Media," a global questionnaire with children aged 9-13 investigating their coping strategies and media use during the Coronavirus pandemic (with Prof Jeanette Steemers, KCL and Prof Emerita Máire Messenger Davies, University of Ulster), funded by the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation, International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI).https://www.br-online.de/jugend/izi/english/publication/televizion/33_2020_E/Goetz_Mendel_Lemish-Children_COVID-19_and_the_media.pdf

(2020) Seed Corn funding (JOMEC) for research assistance - Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP 2020) - global report "Who Makes the News?" https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GMMP2020.ENG_.FINAL20210713.pdf

(2018-2023) – Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC)  PSB workstrand investigating value proposition of public service broadcasting for children, teens and young adults under 30 (AHRC).https://www.pec.ac.uk/research/public-service-broadcasting

(2017-2018) Cardiff University Research Leave Fellowship.

(2015) Seed Corn funding (JOMEC) for research assistance - Global Media Monitoring Project.

(2014) Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Project (CUROP). “Childhood Memories of BBC Newsround” 

(2011) Seed Corn funding (JOMEC) for research assistance - Global Media Monitoring Project, 2010.

(2008-2013) NHS Service and Delivery Organisation - `Evidence into practice: evaluating a child-centred intervention for diabetes medicine management'. Consultant for CDA of information provided for children on diabetes. Principal investigator: Professor Anne Williams, RCN Professor of Nursing Research, Cardiff University. Co-investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter for CDA of health information provided for children with diabetes.

(2007-2011) NHS Service and Delivery Organisation R&D Programme, “Health, medicines and self-care choices made by children, young people and their families: Information to support decision making." Principal investigator: Professor Anne Williams, RCN Professor of Nursing Research, Cardiff University. Co-investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter, Professor Terry Threadgold, Dr Tammy Boyce for CDA of health information provided for children to help manage particular long term conditions (e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, asthma) and ENT surgery.

(2008-2009) Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation, International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television. Project entitled “Children’s Television Worldwide: Gender Representation.” Twenty-country study, monitoring children television channels. Follow up study using initial data to undertake an international comparison of English language children’s TV introduction songs and non-fiction programming. Principal Investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter.

(2009) ARHC/BBC Knowledge Exchange Programme, Knowledge Infusion – Investigating the Transitional and Teen News Audience. Principal Investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter. Co-investigators: Professor Stuart Allan (Bournemouth University); Professor Máire Messenger Davies (University of Ulster); Dr Kaitlynn Mendes (De Montfort University); Ian Prince (BBC).

(2007-2008) AHRC/BBC Knowledge Exchange Programme. “What Do Children Want from the BBC? Children’s Content and Participatory Environments in an Age of Citizen Media.” Joint research with the BBC for the Children’s Content and Participatory Environments project. Principal Investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter (Cardiff University). Co-investigators: Professor Stuart Allan (Bournemouth University), Professor Máire Messenger Davies (University of Ulster), Roy Milani (former Editor, Newsround) and Louise Wass (BBC Learning), Kaitlynn Mendes (research assistant).https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange/cardifftwo.pdf

(2007-2008) "Children's Television Worldwide: Gender Representation," Bavarian Broadasting Corporation (International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television). Principal investigator: Dr Cynthia Carter (Cardiff University) for a project on representations of gender on three UK children's television channels as part of an international study in over 20 countries.

Teaching

Current undergraduate teaching and coordination

Media and Gender (2nd year)

Mediating Childhood (third year)

Biography

Education and qualifications

(1998) PhD in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. “News of Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in the British Daily National Press,” School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff (Cardiff University).

(1995) Master of Literature in Media and Culture. “Constructing ‘Normalcy’: A Feminist Analysis of Mass Media Images of the Nuclear Family,” John Logie Baird Centre, Department of English Studies, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

(1989) Master of Arts in Canadian Studies (majoring in Cultural Studies and Women’s Studies). “Skirting the Subject: A Feminist Investigation of Critical Cultural Theory,” Institute of Canadian Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa.

(1987) Bachelor of Arts (High Honours, Dean’s Honours List) in Mass Communication. “The Social Construction of Femininity in Chatelaine Magazine, 1950-1959,” Mass Communication Programme, School of Journalism, Carleton University, Ottawa.

Honours and awards

  • Cardiff Universit;y Research Leave Fellowship, 2018.
  • Outstanding Contribution Award (Sustained), College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 2015
  • Rising Star Award, Cardiff University, 2009
  • Student awards
  • Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 1991-1994
  • Dean’s Honours List, Carleton University, 1987

Professional memberships

  • Member, Executive Committee, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA), 2015-present
  • Member, Institute of Welsh Affairs, UK (IWA Women), 2010-11.
  • Theresa Award Committee, Feminist Scholarship Division, International Communication Association (ICA), 2008-2012.
  • Member, Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV), 2007-present
  • Member, Association for Journalism Education (AJE), 2006-present.
  • Member, ICA Nominations Committee, 2005-2006.
  • Member, European Communication Research and Educational Association (ECREA), 2005-present
  • Immediate Past Chair, Feminist Scholarship Division, ICA, 2005-2007
  • Chair, Feminist Scholarship Division, ICA, 2003-2005
  • Vice-Chair, Feminist Scholarship Division, ICA, 2001-2003
  • Member of the Executive Organising Committee, Women’s Media Studies Network, MeCCSA, 2001-2007
  • Member, International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), 2001-present

Academic positions

Academic positions

  • 2016-present: Reader, Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff, UK
  • 2005-2016: Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff, UK
  • 1992-2005: Lecturer, Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff, UK
  • 1989-1992: Part-time Lecturer, Historical and Contextual Studies, Cumbria College of Art and Design (Cumbria University), Carlisle, UK

Committees and reviewing

Selected JOMEC and Cardiff University Committees and Administration

  • Elected Member of the Cardiff University Senate, 2021-2023.
  • Equality and Diversity Networks Committee Member, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 2015-present
  • “Future of Journalism,” Organising Committee, JOMEC, Cardiff University, 2014-2015; 2016-2017; 2018-2019; 2020-2021.
  • Convenor, ESRC Wales DTC Journalism and Democracy strand, JOMEC, Cardiff University, 2014-present
  • Acting Director of Postgraduate Research Studies (PhD programme), JOMEC, 2013-2014
  • Equality and Diversity Contacts Committee Member, Cardiff University, 2013-present
  • Chair, Equality and Diversity Committee, JOMEC, 2013-present (also 2003-2005; 1998-2002).
  • Chair, Undergraduate Exam Board, JOMEC, 2013-present
  • Member, JOMEC School Board, 2010-present.
  • Annual Programme Review and Evaluation Sub-Committee, Cardiff University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2004-2007.
  • Course Director, MA Journalism Studies, JOMEC, 2007-2008; 2005-2005; 2000-2002
  • Member, JOMEC Research Committee, 2000-present.

International and National Research and Other Professional Activities

  • Grant Reviewer, ESRC, AHRC, ARC (ongoing)
  • Editorial Board Member (presenter and former), Communication, Culture and Critique; Communication Review; Communication Theory; Critical Studies in Media Communication; Journal of Children and Media; Sociology Compass; Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts.
  • Journal reviewer, Communication Review; Communication Theory; Digital Journalism; European Journal of Communication; European Journal of Cultural Studies; Journal of Communication; Journal of Gender Studies; Journalism; Journalism & Communication Monographs; Journalism Studiesl; Journal of Children and Media). 
  • Expert Judge, Gender Equity Award, Prix Jeunesse , 2016
  • Member, Executive Committee, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, 2015-present
  • News media expert, House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry, Women in News and Current Affairs Broadcasting, “Women in News and Current Affairs Broadcasting” report, 2014-2015
  • Media Panel Commissioner, Commission on Gender, Inequality, and Power, Gender Institute, LSE, 2014-2016
  • Media policy research advisor, Public Health Research programme, NETSCC, NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, University of Southampton, 2014
  • Advisory Board Member - Scientific Advisory Board for the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research (GIG) at the University of Gothenburg, 2012-2014
  • Council Member, Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011-2014
  •  Member, ICA Nominations Committee,  2005

Supervisions

PhD supervision

I am particularly interested in supervising doctoral research in any area of;

  • feminist news and journalism studies
  • feminist media studies
  • girls and news
  • children, news, democracy and citizenship
  • children, media and public service broadcasting
  • children and media policy

Current PhD student topics supervised

  •  "Peppa Pig: 'Poor Daddy having to work. Lucky Mummy, you can play at home all day!' An investigation into the representation of gendered parenthood roles in pre-school and children's television"
  • "Nigerian press representation of female genital mutilation (FGM)"
  • "Disasters and the Media: The Coverage of Cyclones Gonu AND Phet as Natural Disasters by the Omani Press"
  • "The Role of Journalists in Reporting End-of-Life Decisions: Questions of Ethics, Law and Democratic Citizenship"

 

Current supervision

Laura Marie Sinclair

Laura Marie Sinclair

Research student

Ronke Osuntokun

Ronke Osuntokun

Research student

Ahmed Al-othman Bait Othman

Ahmed Al-othman Bait Othman

Research student

Rhiannon Snaith

Rhiannon Snaith

Research student

Past projects

  • Isocial media and youth identity in South Korea
  • slamic fashion blogging and their young/modern community in Indonesia
  • journalistic news values and assumptions about childhood shaping UK press accounts of bullying and child suicide in the UK
  • news media representations of the women’s movement in the USA and the UK during the 1970s
  • Korean self-help and time management delineated in Japanese and Korean self-help books
  • representations of femininity, science and nature in cosmetics industry advertising
  • propaganda used in news media reporting of the Israel/Lebanon conflict in the Lebanese press
  • online communities and their contribution to the formation of the public sphere in the PR China
  • representations of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press
  • representations of female politicians in the Zambian news media

Engagement

 A selection of my recent engagement activities fall into three areas:

1) children and the value of public service broadcasting

Response to OfCom’s “Consultation: Original Productions on CBBC – Request to Change the Operating Licence” (with Prof Jeanette Steemers, Kings College London). 5th April 2022

Submission to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Inquiry into “The Future of Public Service Broadcasting,” Arts, Culture and Public Service Broadcasting workstrand for the AHRC-funded Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) led by Nesta (Eva Nieto Mcavoy, Prof Stuart Allan and Dr Cynthia Carter), 19 June 2020.

Co-investigator in global questionnaire investigating children’s coping strategies and media use during the first Covid-19 lockdown, funded by the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television, Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (April 2020). I presented UK findings to children’s media producers, children’s media advocacy groups and academics at the annual children’s media industry awards event, Prix Jeunesse, Munich, June 2020.

Co-presenter (with Prof Stuart Allan, 2019) Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC), “Young People and Public Service Broadcasting,” for InnoPSM Workshop Programme: PSM in the Digital Eco-System: State of the Art and Research Priorities. Participants from media industry, policymakers, and academia.

2) children, news and citizenship

Ofcom response to application made by CBBC Newsround to reduce on-air bulletins to focus more on its online provision (with Prof Jeanette Steemers, Kings College London and Prof Máire Messenger Davies, University of Ulster, November 2019).

Keynote presentation to journalists, government officials, policymakers and academics for international conference on children and media literacy, Albanian Media Institute (May 2019).

Advisory Member, Media Literacy Network, Office for Communication, UK (2019-present).

Academic Advisory Board, Children’s Media Foundation, a UK based children’s media industry advocacy group (2016-present).

3) feminist news studies

Keynote "Inclusive Journalism, Gender and the Global Media Monitoring Project 2020, Pakistan Report. Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan, 4th May 2023.

Keynote, presenter and discussant for a series of online research webinars hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Participants include advocacy groups, policymakers, academics, and media professionals (2020-2021).

Wales Coordinator for the Global Media Monitoring project (volunteer) examining gender representation in the news across five monitoring years (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020) across more than 120 countries. This important longitudinal analysis informs journalism education and practice, policy formation and academic research worldwide and is regarded as a key benchmark study in the field.

Expert written evidence, House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry, Women in News and Current Affairs Broadcasting included in “Women in News and Current Affairs Broadcasting,” report (January 2015).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Details

Email CarterCL@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 76172
Campuses Two Central Square, Room 2.60, Central Square, Cardiff, CF10 1FS

Research themes

Specialisms

  • feminist media studies
  • children and news media
  • children's public service media
  • gender, news and journalism
ESRC Wales DTP studentships

ESRC Wales DTP studentships

17 December 2019

Fully-funded PhD Scholarships for 2019

Fully-funded PhD Scholarships for 2019

20 December 2018

External profiles