Get Involved
The full report of the Forum’s first phase, the policy brief, and the MOBRA proposal are currently being finalised. If you or your organisation would like to contribute or stay involved, we’d love to hear from you.
To receive updates or request the draft materials, contact Dr François Nel, News Futures Forum Co-Convenor – FPNel@uclan.ac.uk, or David Lush, Research Associate at DJWLush1@uclan.ac.uk
When three young girls were killed at a dance class in Southport on 29 July 2024, it was hard to imagine that the shock could reverberate far beyond the Merseyside town. But within days, it did. The tragedy quickly became something more volatile: a spark in a tinderbox of fear, disinformation, and institutional silence. Riots spread not just through Southport, but across cities in England. Online, a parallel storm surged—fuelled by rumours, rage, and radicalisation.
In the months since, one question has loomed large: what happens when our information systems fail us in moments of crisis?
That’s the question at the heart of Lessons from Southport, a multi-stakeholder enquiry convened by the News Futures Forum and supported by the University of Central Lancashire. Drawing together editors, civil society leaders, regulators, educators, and researchers, the project sought to look beyond headlines and hashtags—to reflect on what went wrong, and what needs to happen next.
Key moments from the workshop: Addressing disinformation and crisis communication in Southport’s wake.
A Timeline of Response
- Q4 2024 – Initial consultations with regional editors begin, followed by the drafting of a position paper.
- Late 2024 – A steering group is formed and identifies four central questions to guide the enquiry.
- January 2025 – Participants are recruited via a snowball method. The half-day forum is held on 17 January 2025, hosted by Liverpool John Moores University—just days before the trial of Axel Rudakubana was due to begin (and unexpectedly did not).
- Now (Spring 2025) – The policy brief, the MOBRA proposal, and the full Forum report are being finalised—with opportunities for others to feed in.
At the centre of the Forum were four deceptively simple questions:
- What happens when information breaks down in a crisis?
- What role should the press and police play in preventing escalation?
- How do we promote media literacy in a polarised public?
- What responsibility do platforms and publishers share in countering misinformation?
“We didn’t set out to solve everything—just to ask better questions, together, while the echoes of crisis were still close enough to hear.”
— François Nel, Convenor, News Futures Forum
Each question surfaced deeper tensions—between trust and accountability, between regulation and freedom, between intention and impact.
”We thought it was outsiders. Then we saw our own.”
One local editor recalled the moment when her newsroom realised that those arrested during the riots weren’t just far-right agitators travelling from elsewhere. They were from Southport itself. That realisation—chilling in its familiarity—came too late for pre-emptive action. In the absence of clear, trusted information, fear had filled the vacuum.
The same story played out in other towns, echoing the disinformation cycles we’ve come to associate with far-off conflicts and conspiracy forums. Only this time, it was here.
From forum to function: building information resilience
What emerged from the Forum wasn’t a single fix but a set of practical, collaborative actions. Among them:
- Strengthening media literacy, particularly in primary schools; Read the news literacy education policy brief
- Developing pre-bunking strategies to counter disinformation before it spreads;
- Calling for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder Information Crises Committee—a mechanism to respond rapidly and responsibly when the media, institutions, and the public are caught in a spiral of confusion.
“While no new funding has been promised, there is clear political appetite for solutions that don’t depend on a bailout to get off the ground.”
— François Nel, Convenor, News Futures Forum
This last proposal—the so-called MOBRA recommendation—has already begun to circulate among policymakers, regulators, and newsroom leaders.
What next?
There is growing momentum behind a second phase of the enquiry, this time focused on the deeper systemic issues that the Southport tragedy only began to reveal: the role of neurodiversity in acts of violence, the rise of identity-based polarisation, and the economic precarity that continues to hollow out community resilience since the 2008 financial crisis.
As one councillor from Rochdale put it during an informal conversation: “What we saw this summer wasn’t ideology. It was tribal.” And as any reporter will tell you, tribalism is a tough story to write—but an essential one to tell.
Southport, it turns out, was not an isolated flashpoint. It was a mirror. And if we’re brave enough to look into it, we may just find the outlines of a more accountable, inclusive, and better-informed public sphere.
Participants
Participants in the News Futures Forum enquiry share candid reflections on media trust, public communication, and the systemic failures exposed. Hear their perspectives on what went wrong—and what we can do next.
Nicola Adam, Editor in Chief (North), National World / Lancashire
Maria Breslin, Editor Liverpool Echo, Reach plc
Andrew Brown, Owner, Stand Up For Southport and Andrew Brown Media. Freelance Writer, Media & PR
Jabeer Butt, Chief Executive Officer, Race Equality Foundation
Halima Cooper-Stubbs, Policy Assistant, Race Equality Foundation
John Davidson, IPSO
Diane Kemp, Director, The Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, Birmingham City University
Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, Chief Executive Officer, Impress
David Lush, Doctoral researcher at the Media Innovation Studio and Research Assistant on the Lessons from Southport enquriy
Debbie Painter, Curriculum Manager, GCSE Plus at Derby College Group
Gianfranco Polizzi, Liverpool University
Elli Narewska, Head of Primary Education, The Guardian Foundation
Francois Nel, Reader in Media Innovation at the Media Innovation Studio, University of Central Lancashire, and Co-Convenor of the News Future Forum
Benjamin Sabbah, Reporters without borders, Director Journalism Trust Initiative
Candice Satchwell, Professor of Literacies and Education, University of Central Lancashire
Jo Tregenza, Reader, University of Sussex
Fran Yeoman, Head of Journalism, Liverpool John Moores University
