Dr Simon Gwyn Roberts

Senior Lecturer in Journalism
+44(0)1244 514266
School for the Creative Practices
simon.roberts@chester.ac.uk
Dr Simon Gwyn Roberts

Simon was a practising journalist for 10 years, editing several London-based business and finance publications. He holds a BA from the University of Manchester, an MA from the University of Liverpool and a PhD from the University of Chester. He leads numerous modules across the journalism programmes. His current research interests include: the role of online media in the communication strategies of minority language groups, regionalism and the representation of place, the history of Welsh newspapers, and the relationship between the news media and political devolution. He has published numerous journal articles, books and chapters.  

His current research interests include: the democratising potential of online journalism in the former Soviet Union, the role of online media in the communication strategies of minority linguistic groups, the relationship between the news media and political devolution in Western Europe, and late Victorian Welsh newspapers. His first book, Shades of Expression: Online Political Journalism in the Post-Colour Revolution Nations, involved original research with journalists and political activists in Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan and was published by the University of Chester Press in May 2013. Simon was recently awarded a Santander Research Grant, which will allow him to pursue his next project: examining the use of networked communication among the Welsh speaking population of Patagonia in Argentina. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and is a graduate of the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool.

When time permits, he switches from academia to journalism and continues to write feature-length journalistic work on a range of subjects. Aside from his ten-year journalistic career, in which he worked at the London headquarters of various multinational companies including Risk Waters, Thompson, Reed Elsevier, Trinity Mirror and Advanstar, he has published articles on a freelance basis in over 30 publications since 1993 on themes ranging from Welsh politics to music festivals, restaurant reviews to rock climbing. He is a regular panellist on BBC Radio Wales’s Something ElseSunday newspaper review show, and is beginning to explore ways in which his academic research and enthusiasm for travelogues and literature might be brought together.

Simon was part of the small team that launched the journalism programme in Chester in 2003 and has since played a leading role in developing the theoretical strand of the programme.

He is module leader for:

  • Conflict, Propaganda and Public Opinion
  • The News Today
  • Journalism: The Long View
  • Scare Stories? Journalism and the Framing of Risk.

He launched the departmental ‘Media and Conflict Network’ in 2013, which acts as a focal point for staff and student research, and informs the delivery and content of these modules. He has a particular interest in taking a comparative, international approach to the broad area of the news media and politics: and pursues this in his teaching. He sits on the University of Chester’s Research Committee, and serves as External Examiner for the University of Huddersfield’s journalism programmes.

His research interests include: news media and political devolution within the EU, the democratizing potential of online journalism in the former Soviet Union, and British local newspapers of the late C19. He has recently completed a research project examining online journalism in the post-Colour Revolution nations of Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

Research

  • Roberts, S.G. (2022). The Cultural Legacy of Syd Barrett’s English Pastoral. In Hart, C., Gregory, G. and Morrison, S., (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Pink Floyd. London and New York, Routledge
  • Roberts, S.G. (2021). Continental Drift: Historical Perspectives on the Framing of ‘Europe’ in the British Print Press. In Morrison, J. (Ed.) Routledge Companion to Political Journalism. Routledge.
  • Roberts, S.G. (2021). From the Welsh Border to the World: Travels in Minority Languages. University of Chester Press.
  • Roberts, S.G. (2021). Central Asia. In Borchard, G. (Ed.) The Sage Encyclopedia of Journalism. Sage.
  • Roberts, S.G. (2020). The Welsh Press. In Conboy, M. & Finkelstein, D. (Eds) The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press. University of Edinburgh Press. 
  • Roberts, S. G. (2019). Housing and the Eradication of Place. Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2018). ‘A pit we have dug ourselves’: Brexit and the Welsh Democratic Deficit. In Leon-Solis, F., O’Donnell, H., & Ridge-Newman, A. (Eds.) Reporting the Road to Brexit: International Media and the EU Referendum. Palgrave Macmillan. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2017). Nurturing English Regionalism: A New Role for Local Newspapers in a Federal UK? Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies (Volume 6, Number 1) 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2017). Negotiating Identity Politics via Networked Communication: A Case Study of the Welsh-Speaking Population in Patagonia, Argentina. In Hodgson, G. (Ed.) Conflict, Media and Trauma. Newcastle, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2015). Impossible Unity? Representing internal diversity in post-devolution Wales. In Chignell, H., Skoog, K. & Franklin, I. (Eds.), Regional Aesthetics: Mapping UK Media Cultures. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2015). Editor. Sport, Media and Regional Identity. United Kingdom, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2015). Continuity and Community: Introduction. In Roberts, S.G. (Ed.), Sport, Media and Regional Identity. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2014). Editor (with C.Hart and G.Hodgson). World War II and the Media. United Kingdom: Midrash Publishing.  
  • Roberts, S.G. (2014). 'Half a loaf is better than none': The framing of political and national identity in Welsh border newspapers in the aftermath of the Mold Riots, 1869. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 15 (3). 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2014). Addressing the information gap in Wales: A proposal. Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Vol 51. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2014). The Scottish Referendum, Wales and the ‘Montenegro Scenario’. Institute of Welsh Affairs. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2013). Shades of Expression: Online Political Journalism in the Post-Colour Revolution Nations. United Kingdom: University of Chester Press. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2013). Clear Red Water? Devolved Education Policy and the Welsh News Media Audience. Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal, Vol 10. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2013). Tiny Territories, Hidden Tragedies: Enclaves and Exclaves in the Caucasus and Beyond. Planet: The Welsh Internationalist. Vol 209. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2011). Transcending a dysfunctional mainstream? An Update on the status of Welsh Online Journalism. Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal. Vol 8. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2011). ‘Postcode lottery’: The future of cross-border media in post-devolution Wales. In Hutchison, D. & O’Donnell, H. (Eds.) Centres and Peripheries: Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Journalism in the 21st Century. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2010). 'Margins of the Mind: The psychogeography of the Welsh border'. Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. Vol 41. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2010). Shut Out but Switched On: Web Forums, Border Identities and the Evolving Narrative of Post-Devolution Wales. In Monaghan, G. & Tunney, S. (Eds.) Web Journalism: A new form of citizenship. United Kingdom: Sussex University Press). 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2009). ‘National Balancing Act’: Trinity Mirror and the isolation of North Wales. Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Vol 37. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2008). ‘Off the Map’: Devolution in Flintshire. Planet: The Welsh Internationalist. Vol 188. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2008). Media in Wales: Serving public values. A review. Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. Vol 36. 
  • Roberts, S.G. (2007). Devolution, Media Choice and Identity in a Welsh Border County. Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal. Vol 4. 

Key Publications (since 2010)

'Half a loaf is better than none': The framing of political and national identity in Welsh border newspapers in the aftermath of the Mold Riots, 1869 (Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 15(3) 2014)

Tiny Territories, Hidden Tragedies: Enclaves and Exclaves in the Caucasus and Beyond (Planet: The Welsh Internationalist, pp. 57-66, Vol 209, 2013)

'Transcending a dysfunctional mainstream? An update on the status of Welsh online journalism' (Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal, pp. 55-72, Vol 8, 2011)

‘Postcode lottery’: The future of cross-border media in post-devolution Wales (In Hutchison, D. & O’Donnell, H. (Eds.) Centres and Peripheries: Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Journalism in the 21st Century pp.53-64 (Cambridge Scholars)

Shut Out but Switched On: Web Forums, Border Identities and the Evolving Narrative of Post-Devolution Wales (In Monaghan, G. & Tunney, S. (Eds) Web Journalism: A new form of citizenship pp.126-136 (Sussex University Press), 2010)

'Margins of the Mind: The psychogeography of the Welsh border' (Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Vol 41)

‘Off the Map’: Devolution in Flintshire (Planet: The Welsh Internationalist, pp.60-66, Vol 188)

'National Balancing Act: Trinity Mirror and the isolation of North Wales' (Agenda: Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Vol 38)

Some of Simon’s work can also be viewed online:

Shades of Expression: Online Political Journalism in the Post-Colour Revolution Nations (University of Chester Press, 2013)  

Clear Red Water? Devolved Education Policy and the Welsh News Media Audience (Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal, pp. 67-88, Vol 10, 2013) 

Reportage in the lands of the ‘semi-free’: A comparative study of online political journalism in Georgia and Ukraine 

PhD University of Chester

MA  University of Liverpool

BA  University of Manchester