October 25, 2019

University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Deadline: September 20, 2019

From fake news to the deepfake, the digital era’sexpanded possibilities for fabrication and falsehood are bedevilling the fourth estate as its parameters expand to include a host of new and often concealed sources, spreading via manipulable social media algorithms.

Media scholars have called on us all to reject the pejorative term “fake,” which is used to conduct mistrust and accusations toward institutions that we have traditionally relied upon to shine a light on powerful interests. However, we are at the same time being ushered into a more generalised media-critical thought, as unreliable reportage proliferates in many of the places we turn to for trustworthy information. How do we balance acknowledgement of media fakery with our need for reasonable information that we can trust?

This one-day symposium aims to address some of the more urgent philosophical issues arising in an era marked by proliferating resources for media fakery.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

* fake news

* the deepfake

* post-truth politics

* public trust in journalism and politics

* social media and journalism

* Facebook and Twitter bots

* emotions, cognitive biases and media psychology

* satirical news websites

* hoaxes and literary fraud

* identity theft, catfishing and online identities

* “truthiness,” pseudoscience and pseudo-communications

* astroturfing and front organisations

* advertorial

* public relations and propaganda

* authenticity

* data mining and targeted content

* algorithmic aggregators and generators of news

Confirmed keynote speaker: Professor Terry Flew, Queensland University of Technology

Please send the following to the symposium organisers Drs Filippo Gilardi (Filippo.gilardi@nottingham.edu.cn), Celia Lam (celia.lam@nottingham.edu.cn) and Wyatt Moss-Wellington (wyatt.moss-wellington@nottingham.edu.cn) by Friday 20 September 2019.

• 250 word abstract
• 50-100 word biography
• Contact email address

Successful abstracts will be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue proposal to be submitted to /C//ontinuum Journal of Media and Cultural Studies/(TBC)

Key dates:

• Abstract submission: 20 September 2019
• Notifications: 30 September 2019
• Registrations open: 15 October 2019
• Submission of extended abstracts: 30 November 2019
• Submission to Continuum: Early/mid 2020