Gregory Philo (30 June 1947 - 23 May 2024) was an English sociologist, communications researcher, activist and author who was the Professor of Communications and Social Change in Sociology at The University of Glasgow and director and founding member of The Glasgow Media Group (GUMG).[1]
Greg Philo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 June 1947 Bexleyheath, Kent (now a London borough) |
| Died | 23 May 2024 (aged 76) |
| Alma mater | Bradford (Bachelor's) Glasgow (PhD) |
| Known for | The Glasgow Media Group |
| Spouse | May Menzies (m.1984 div. 2010) Yajun Deng (m. 2021) |
| Children | 4 |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | [https://theses.gla.ac.uk/2501/1/1989philophd.pdf News Content and Audience Belief: A Case Study of the 1984/5 Miners Strike] (1989) |
Early life and education
editPhilo was born in Bexleyheath to Irene (née Campbell) who was a telephone operator and Thomas Philo a shipyard manager. He attended St Mary's Roman Catholic grammar school in Sidcup. Philo then went on to study sociology at Bradford University. There he co-founded the General Will theatre group. He graduated in 1970 and in 1972 then went to study at The University of Glasgow. In 1980 he became the GUMG research director and in 1990 was appointed professor and stayed there until his retirement in 2021.[1]
Career
editThe original goal of the project was to "record and analyse the daily news bulletins across the three main channels, empirically demonstrating the extent of bias and distortion in the reporting of economic and industrial news." Philo later became the leading spokesperson for the group in 1990 and started to develop the groups content analysis methods, further assisting in the sociological media research of subjects such as: The Falklands War and Media Power in The UK.[1]
After the group received funding from the Social Science Research Council (UK), the group started analysing TV news reporting using new video recording technology. The research was published as Bad News which stated that TV in the UK was not politically neutral, but rather reflected powerful groups in society.[2] The book was badly received by large news organisations such as The BBC, with many groups condemning it as a purely Marxist work. This was later overturned though with the BBC's John Wilson stating "it was necessary to be honest and admit that there was something in what the GUMG was saying"[2] at which point the BBC attempted to institute some changes that came from the report.
References
edit- ^ a b c "Professor Greg Philo Obituary". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ a b "Greg Philo Showed Us How Broadcast Media Really Works". jacobin.com. Retrieved 2024-10-31.