Call for papers – Future of Journalism conference, Cardiff
Cardiff University is delighted to announce the fifth biennial conference – The Future of Journalism to be hosted by the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC) at Cardiff University, UK.
The 2015 conference theme will be Risks, Threats and Opportunities. A selection of the research-based papers presented at the conference will be published in special issues of the peer-reviewed journals Digital Journalism, Journalism Practice and Journalism Studies.
Sponsorship for the conference is provided by JOMEC and Routledge Taylor and Francis.
The plenary speakers will be Professor Jean Seaton and Professor Stephen D. Reese (their bios appear below). This call for papers invites contributions from the international community of scholars of journalism studies, journalism practitioners, educators and trainers, media executives, trade unionists and media regulators.
Papers focused on any aspect of the broad theme, The Future of Journalism: Risks, Threats and Opportunities,¹are welcome, although priority will be given to those papers addressing one of the five subthemes:
- Journalism and Social Media. In the digital age of social networking, crowd-sourcing and Œbig data,¹ how is journalism and the role of the journalist being redefined? How do we investigate the influence of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and the like, on the gathering, reporting or consumption of news?
- Journalists at Risk. Covering the world¹s trouble spots has always posed acute challenges, but increasingly news organizations and their sources are being targeted in war, conflict or crisis situations. What are the key issues at stake to protect journalists¹ safety and their right to report?
- Journalism Under Surveillance. What does freedom of the press mean in a post-Snowden climate, when spying, leaks and whistleblowing are making news headlines around the world? What are the new forms of censorship confronting journalism today, and what emergent tactics will help it to speak truth to power?
- Journalism and the Fifth Estate. At a time when the traditional ideals of the fourth estate risk looking outdated, if not obsolete, to what extent can we rely on citizen media to produce alternative, independent forms of news reporting? How best to reform mainstream media institutions to make them more open, transparent and accountable to the public?
- Journalism’s Values. How are journalism¹s ethical principles and moral standards evolving in relation to the democratic cultures of communities locally, regionally, nationally or internationally? What are the implications of changing priorities for the education, training and employment of tomorrow’s journalists?
Titles and abstracts for papers (250 words max) are invited by Friday 9th January 2015 and should be submitted online via the email address: Futurejournalism2015@cardiff.ac.uk
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Jean Seaton
Professor Jean Seaton is Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster, UK, and the Official Historian of the BBC. She has written extensively on media history and policy, the interaction between the media and politics, conflicts and security as well as children’s broadcasting and the broadcast arts. Her publications include Pinkoes and Traitors: The BBC and the Nation, 1974-1987 (Profile Books, February, 2015), Carnage and the Media (Penguin, 2006) and co-authored with James Curran, the eighth edition of Power Without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting in Britain (Routledge, 2014). She is on the boards of Full Fact and the Reuters Institute, and is Director of the Orwell Prize, Britain¹s premier prize for political writing.
Professor Stephen D. Reese
Prof. Reese has been a member of the University of Texas at Austin faculty since 1982, where he is the Jesse H. Jones Professor of Journalism. His research focuses on a wide range of issues concerning the sociology of news, the process of media framing, the globalization of journalism, and larger issues of press performance. Recent publications include Mediating the Message in the 21st Century: A Media Sociology Perspective, co-authored with Pamela Shoemaker (Routledge, 2014), and Networked China: Global Dynamics of Digital Media and Civic Engagement, co-edited with Wenhong Chen (Routledge, 2015). He has held major roles with the AEJMC and ICA, and lectured at several universities around the world, including as Kurt Baschwitz Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam.
Contact the organising committee – Professor Stuart Allan, Deputy Head of School (Academic) School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue Cardiff University Cardiff, CF10 3NB UK