Association for Journalism Education

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Call for abstracts: AJE Winter 2026 Conference – ‘Trust, truth and ethics in journalism education’  

Caroline Jones

Event details: AJE WINTER 2026 CONFERENCE, FEBRUARY 27, 2026 (ONLINE) 1.30pm-4.00pm,

TRUST, TRUTH AND ETHICS IN JOURNALISM EDUCATION

Call for abstracts:

Trust seems to be draining away from journalism. The latest debacle at the BBC does little to restore the public’s faith in the news media and the role of ethical journalism, still held to be a central tenet of good journalism, is challenged in our tumultuous world.

Aligned with issues of trust and ethics are impartiality, bias, influence and verification. The challenge for journalism education then is to ensure that these aspects of news production, presentation and dissemination are key elements of both curriculum and research.

This AJE conference will seek to explore the ways in which journalism educators meet the challenges and continue to embed these key elements of good journalistic practice into our programmes of study and research.

As such, the AJE is calling for papers in areas which might address, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Earning, developing and maintaining trust in the news media
  • Understanding and engaging with audiences to build trust
  • Community and local journalism and its role in developing trust
  • New pedagogical models of learning and teaching issues of trust and ethics
  • The ethics of reporting 
  • Alternative media and news ways of journalism
  • Solutions journalism and advocacy as a way of creating new models of journalism

This list is not exclusive, nor exhaustive, and we will consider any paper on the general theme. 

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to assjrned@gmail.com by January 5, 2026 at 4.30pm. Paper abstracts will be peer-reviewed. You will be notified of the acceptance of your paper as soon as possible thereafter.