ECREA Journalism studies Section Conference

February 25-26, 2021

Utrecht, the Netherlands

Deadline: September 4, 2020

https://www.journalismlab.nl/ecrea-journalism-studies-conference-2021/

Hosted by Research Centre Quality Journalism in Digital Transition at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

Deadline for abstracts and submissions: September 4, 2020.

The 2021 Section Conference of the Journalism Studies Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on February 25-26, 2021.

We welcome submissions focusing on journalism in digital transition.

We especially welcome proposals for co-creative sessions – co-creation understood as collaboration between researchers and practitioners.

We also want to make the regular sessions more collaborative by introducing active respondents. They will contact the participants before the session.

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The process of digitalization has challenged professional journalism in every way, not only in its organization but also in the way its products are made, sold, and consumed.

For instance, while the newsroom is still often the core space of journalism, the place where the news-beat is felt, the transition to freelance practices and the collaboration with other professions in the creative industry have challenged both organizations and the identity of the journalistic profession. Also, moving away from traditional forms of consuming journalistic production, the public is offered information and entertainment via a multitude of, mostly online, channels. Technological innovation gives journalists and media organizations a range of opportunities. Algorithmic tools are increasingly used to uncover data and gather information. At the same time, artificial intelligence can provide a more personalized and tailor-made news experience. Technologies provide opportunities for storytelling in which the role of the user is more prominent – for example in interactive stories, immersive productions and podcasts.

At the same time concerns have been voiced about the negative aspects of these changes. It might promote fragmentation, polarization of deliberative spaces and the spread of disinformation, to name just a few of these concerns.

What is particularly fascinating in the process of digitalization is the question of how to study it. While the field of journalism studies is booming, the debate on methodological thinking is still surprisingly limited. Therefore, we also encourage submissions focusing on methods.

The scholarly field of journalism studies has developed into a sophisticated field of research. The question often remains how much of this scholarly knowledge is translated into journalism practice. This conference therefore especially invites journalism scholars who work together with practitioners or can show how their research impacts the field. Therefore co-creative sessions will be organized in which we will invite prominent journalists to join the scholarly discussion.

The journalism industry has always been dependent on technology. However, as scholars, we need to heighten our focus on the socio-cultural consequences of this dependence, more so because digital technology exponentially increases new theoretical, methodological, and ethical questions.

In sum, we encourage submissions in three main areas:

• Research on how the digital transition challenges the field of journalism in the way it is produced, sold and consumed.
• Methodological discussions, challenging current scholarly methods or proposing innovative methods in journalism studies.
• Best practices, especially on how scholarly research is embedded into journalistic practice.

The conference will feature traditional paper presentations and co-creative sessions between academics and media professionals.

Traditional paper presentations: Traditional paper presentations will take place in panels consisting of four to five papers. Each panel will be moderated by an active respondent.

Co-creative sessions: A limited number of slots will be available for co-creative sessions in which one topic is addressed in four short presentations, followed by an organized debate between academics and invited media-professionals. We stimulate submissions for these sessions. We will also search for coherent papers to organize such sessions. Presenters will be informed beforehand.

SUBMIT: Submissions can be sent to ecreajournalism2021@hu.nl no later than 4 September 2020.

Please include in the email (1) the title of your paper, (2) an abstract of no more than 750 words, (3) names and affiliations of the authors.

Submission will undergo scholarly peer-review. Only one proposal per first author can be accepted. Notifications of acceptance will be issued early October 20.