Dr Joe Smith

I’m Dr Joseph Andrew Smith, Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Leicester. My main research focus is on the users of media, on how people engage with culture and the ways in which subject-text relationships inform constructions of identity. I have a special interest in fans and fandom, particularly older and long-term fans, though I also specialise in sports and political communications. My work broadly belongs to the fields of communications, cultural and media studies, as well as cultural gerontology. I teach across a range of journalism and media modules, and am a former media industry professional, having worked in the sports media industry.

Smith, J.A. (2025). “Challenging the rise of empty political rhetoric in the age of populism”, Pandering to Populism? Journalism and politics in a post-truth age, pp264-270, Bite-Sized Books LINK

Sandvoss, C., Litherland, B. & Smith, J.A. (2024). “What Corbyn support reveals about how Starmer’s Labour won big”, UK Election Analysis 2024: Media, Voters and the Campaign, p131. LINK

Smith, J.A. (2024). “Reconstructive Nostalgia in Later Life Fandom”, Journal of Fandom Studies, 12:1, pp19-36 LINK

Smith, J.A. (2022). Sports Fandom in Later Life: The Everyday, Nostalgia and Home. Doctoral thesis. University of Huddersfield LINK

Smith, J.A. (2019). “Destabilisation, adaptation and the long-term fan object: The search for continuity in later-life sports fandom”, Journal of Fandom Studies [Special Issue], 7:2, pp169-188, doi 10.1386/jfs.7.2.169_1 LINK

Other publications

Smith, J.A. (2021). “Sports Journalism: The State of Play (2020) by Tom Bradshaw and Daragh Minogue” [Book review], Journalism Education, 10(2), pp51-52. LINK

I have supervised lots of different dissertation projects, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

This year I am supervising undergraduate dissertation projects on the online stan behaviours of Nicki Minaj fans, Christian influencers and the ways they are shaping theological journalism, media user attitudes towards professional women’s football, representations of race in newspaper coverage, the audiences of fashion magazines and representations of Indian nationalism in cricket journalism.

At MA level I have just finished supervising a project on NGO communications strategies in Gaza during blackouts, whilst historically I have supervised such projects as the impact of X(Twitter) on sports journalism in Saudi Arabia, global NBA fandom, K-Pop fan cultures and identities, digital football fan behaviours in China and many more.

At PhD level I am currently supervising a project on anti-racism movements in US and British sport, and have also recently acted as internal examiner on a doctoral project exploring the constructed identities of Tottenham Hotspur fans in the Premier League era.

Supervision areas of interest

I am particularly keen to hear from applicants with an interest in:

• Fans, fandom, fan cultures and identities
• Age and ageing including representations of age and ageing and older audiences
• Political communications and sports communications

Current teaching

JO1003 Features Journalism (Year 1), Module Leader

MS2000 The Production of News (Year 2), Module Leader

JO2007 Journalism Perspectives (Year 2), Module Leader

JO3003 Sports Journalism (Year 3), Module Leader

UG Dissertation (Year 3), Supervisor

PGT Dissertation (MA), Supervisor

Personal Tutor (all levels)

Past modules with Leicester 

MS2016 Media and Communication Research in Practice (Year 2)

MS2010 Journalism Studies (Year 2)

MS3027 Writing for Public Relations (Year 3)

MS7360 Marketing Principles and Practices (MA)

MS7078 Public Relations, Culture and Society (MA)

I am very happy to be interviewed on the below topics. Please free to get in touch directly via joe.smith@leicester.ac.uk.

• Sport, sports journalism, the media coverage of sport.
• Fans, fandom and fan cultures - particularly sports fans, political fans and older fans. 
• Age and ageing, including representations of age in the media and older audiences.
• Journalism education and pedagogy at university level.