June 26, 2020

Coventry University

Deadline: March 31, 2020

Organised by: MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network MeCCSA Policy Network

The landscape for local and community media is undergoing a period of rapid change in the wake of the disruption of traditional business models and the advent of diverse, entrepreneurial reactions to the spaces created. At the same time this disruption has prompted reflection by those within and without the industry as to the impact of these changes, and so to the consideration of the purposes of local media. Recent policy responses have been explored at the level of a Government-initiated review (Cairncross Review, 2019), while the BBC and the News Media Association launched their Local Democracy Reporting Service in 2017 (an initiative now seeking to expand).

This one-day interactive conference aims to capture the range of responses to this challenged environment, how those responses build on and diverge from traditional forms of local media, and to consider the implications of this to the UK context in which they operate.

The format of the day will bring together academic papers with parallel lightening ‘PetchaKucha’ sessions and interactive workshops, designed to highlight both areas of developing practice and areas for future research. Contributions from practitioners and academics are equally invited.

Areas which might be addressed include, but are not limited to, the implications of local and community media practices and policies for:

• Local democratic processes
• Social justice
• Information provision
• Local media ecosystems
• Community development
• Government policy – present and future
• The regulatory environment
• Public subsidy
• Media entrepreneurs and emerging business models
• The local media workforce
• Alternative local and community media
• Interventions, including but not limited to, the Local Democracy Reporting Service
• Facebook-funded Community News Project, and the Future News Pilot Fund (Nesta)

Contributions on academic research and practice-based projects are welcome. Please state if you are proposing:

• A conference paper
• A lightening PetchaKucha provocation
• An interactive workshop (please state facilitators and goals)

The event will be held at Coventry University in the Midlands of the UK on June 26, 2020. A nominal fee of £20 will be charged for attendance. A limited number of UK travel grants will also be available to support presentations by PG/ECR researchers . Please state on your abstract if you would like to be considered for a grant and the amount requested.

Contributions will be peer-reviewed. Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words and a cover sheet with a brief biographical note, your institutional affiliation (where relevant) and your contact details (including your email address). Abstracts should be sent to the MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network network chair, Rachel Matthews, r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk and Policy Network chair, Phil Ramsey, pt.ramsey@ulster.ac.uk

Please address any queries to the same addresses in the first instance. Closing date for proposals, March 31, 2020.