“News on the Street”: An Action Research Case Study of Embodied Live Journalism in an Urban Public Space

As journalists look for different ways to tell stories and rebuild communities, this paper details an action research approach to a unique live journalism event in a public space. While journalism theatre shows have been tried out in recent years, this project physically put the journalists on soapboxes in a town square to tell their stories, and interact directly with the public. By taking an action research approach, it attempted to reintegrate academic research, practitioners’ interests and explore the effect of contemporary journalism in a public space. It looked at whether an embodied approach could help engage news avoidant audiences and whether meanings and new identities of the journalists themselves emerged from the experience. In “News on the Street”, an event held at Nottingham Speakers Corner, journalism graduands and early career reporters performed previously-unheard stories to members of the public. The performers reported feeling empowered by occupying the space and claiming it for journalism and discussion of current affairs. More than 150 people engaged with the event and many showed enthusiasm for the approach, seeing journalism as more trustworthy outside its normal context, suggesting that the nature of the street journalism format is itself is a key to audience engagement.