ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

IJOC: International Journal of Communication

Deadline: July 30, 2020

Editors: Amanda Alencar and Yijing Wang, Erasmus University Rotterdam

The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and beyond, not only represents an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge, but also poses a challenge to established governance structures. The governance issue refers to the difficulty of planning and preparation at the state and organizational level, due to high uncertainty about the speed and size of the migration flows. The complex and rapidly changing circumstances of forced migration (i.e., migration as a global and regional phenomena) have contributed to enhancing the role and importance of different social actors at the local level of cities in addressing the challenge of refugee integration within host societies. Specifically, local government and non-government actors are at the forefront of providing essential services and responding to these developments. In the meantime, an overall deterioration of state and humanitarian support and services for refugees at various levels of their experiences (e.g., displacement and settlement) is occurring (Skran & Easton-Calabria, 2020). The 'reform and re-treat of the welfare system' has led to decentralization of refugee governance, and the growing importance of a multi-stakeholder approach with public-private partnerships being formed to tackle the challenge of refugee migration and integration in various societies (Wang & Chaudhri, 2019). Also, technological innovations and the so-called digital economy have played a great role in this decentralization (Easton-Calabria, 2019; Udwan, Leurs, & Alencar, 2020). For instance, there was the proliferation of hackathons, coding schools, crowdsourcing initiatives (refugee entrepreneurship), as well as the large numbers of apps developed to assist refugees’ reception and settlement (Kothari & Tsakarestou, 2019).

This global phenomenon is argued as an instantiation of the sharing economy – an economic system built on autonomy which shares concern, help and hope (Kornberger et al., 2018). Some scholars argue that this phenomenon marked the emergence of an ad hoc governance structure, including joint efforts from the public sector, NGOs, private firms, civil society and migrant organizations (Börzel & Risse, 2016). Along with this idea, organizations and private firms voluntarily contribute to refugee management and care (e.g., integrating refugees at the workplace or providing medical support), taking over what are traditionally tasks of the state. Such an ad hoc governance structure built upon challenging organizational legitimacy and inventing new co-creation tools, may contribute to resolving the problem of refugee integration and management. On the other hand, the complexity of multi-level governance systems and collaborations can also generate greater uncertainty about refugee settlement futures.

Further, it is important to emphasize that digital media technologies, data systems and networks are increasingly being employed by these multiple stakeholders (private and public) to help maintain the delivery of inclusive services and promote refugees’ economic participation and well-being in many cities within Europe and elsewhere. However, very little is currently known about the efficacy of these digitally mediated practices for addressing refugees’ integration challenges in their new society. At the same time, there is a lack of work that surveys a diversity of governance actors regarding the development and application of digital technologies, and how this affects refugees’ social participation. A recent study by Myria Georgiou (2019) with refugees in London, Berlin and Athens found that innovative collaborative/co-creative projects within the digital economy framework have brought both challenges and opportunities for refugees and receiving societies. As Georgiou notes, while technology use for refugee governance can enhance economic and sociocultural participation prospects for newcomers, it may also contribute to creating new forms of divide and segmentation among refugees, as well as digital monitoring of their performance in various aspects of integration in the new place. Against this backdrop and given the impact that the current COVID-19 crisis situation has reached at a global level, there is an even more pressing need to shed light on the potentialities and vulnerabilities of digital responses and initiatives put in place by local organizations, migrants and volunteers to fill the gaps in states’ asylum and integration systems during this pandemic.

We are seeking papers that contribute knowledge to how collective action is enabled in a sharing economy in support of refugee integration in a diversity of contexts and situations. It includes, but is not limited to voluntary contribution to refugee management and care at all different levels, from the public sector organizations to private firms, to civil society and refugee-led initiatives and networks. Potential interdisciplinary questions which can be answered are:

1. How does enabling collective action in a sharing economy contribute to resolving the challenge of refugee integration?

2. In areas of limited statehood, which mechanisms help ensure effective governance of displaced populations in a refugee crisis?

3. What forms of organizational communication and action in terms of refugee integration stimulate the emergence of an ad hoc governance structure in the sharing economy?

4. How does media representation of collective action affect the planning and preparation at the state- and organizational-level in refugees’ receiving countries?

5. To what extent are digital technologies being developed and mobilized by different actors involved in an ad hoc governance of refugee populations?

6. How can the public, private and NGO sector work together to effectively boost economic opportunities to both refugees and host communities as well as social cohesion?

Timeline for the special section:

● Please submit abstract proposals (500 - 800 words) and a short bio in one Word document by July 30, 2020 to Amanda Alencar (pazalencar@eshcc.eur.nl) and Yijing Wang (y.wang@eshcc.eur.nl).

● We will inform authors about the acceptance of their abstracts by August 20, 2020.

● First drafts (6000 - 8900 words, all inclusive) are due January 2021. The submitted paper needs to follow the author guidelines of the International Journal of Communication: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

● Each paper will be submitted for peer review by February 2021 (which will be peer reviewed by [at least] two or three external reviewers; editorial decision will not be made based on the collection as a whole, but rather on the merits of each paper).

● Taking into account the reviewing process and time for revisions, we expect the full special section to be published in IJoC by the first or second quarter of 2022.

References

Allen, W., Anderson, B., Van Hear, N., Sumption, M., Düvell, F., Hough, J., ... & Walker, S. (2018). Who counts in crises? The new geopolitics of international migration and refugee governance. Geopolitics, 23(1), 217-243.

Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2016). Dysfunctional state institutions, trust, and governance in areas of limited statehood. Regulation & Governance, 10(2), 149-160.

Easton-Calabria, E. (2019). The Migrant Union. Digital livelihoods for people on the move. United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/poverty-reduction/the-migrant-union-.html

Georgiou, M. (2019). City of refuge or digital order? Refugee recognition and the digital governmentality of migration in the city. Television & New Media, 20(6), 600-616.

Kornberger, M., Leixnering, S., Meyer, R. E., & Höllerer, M. A. (2018). Rethinking the sharing economy: The nature and organization of sharing in the 2015 refugee crisis. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(3), 314-335.

Kothari, A., & Tsakarestou, B. (2019). ‘Hack the Camp’: An entrepreneurial public diplomacy and social intervention initiative to address the refugee crisis in Greece. International Communication Gazette. Advanced online publication.

Skran, C., & Easton-Calabria, E. (2020). Old Concepts Making New History: Refugee Self-reliance, Livelihoods and the ‘Refugee Entrepreneur’. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33(1), 1-21.

Udwan, G., Leurs, K., & Alencar, A. (2020). Digital resilience tactics of Syrian refugees in the Netherlands: Social media for social support, health, and identity. Social Media + Society, in press.

Wang, Y., & Chaudhri, V. (2019). Business support for refugee integration in Europe: Conceptualizing the link with organizational identification. Media and Communication, 7(2), 289-299.

Kristiana University College, Oslo (Norway)

Kristiania University College (founded 1914) is an educational foundation with campuses in Oslo and Bergen, and online. We are an accredited college with 10,000 students, 600 employees, and currently four academic schools offering more than 100 programmes with studies in leadership, organisation, technology, marketing, communication, health and creative arts. We have had a formidable growth in recent years, and we will continue to expand. Our ambition is to become Norway’s first private independent university.

About the School of Communications, Leadership and Marketing (SCLM)

The SCLM consists of the Department of Marketing, the Department of Communications and the Department of Leadership and Organisation. It comprises an active academic environment for education, research and communications, while also leading the academic work for the development of an interdisciplinary ph.d. in Communication and Leadership at Kristiania University College. A master’s in strategic communication will start during the fall.

SCLM offers an attractive workplace with a generous working environment that strives to support and enhance our staff’s performance. We offer study programmes that are closely linked to work-life practice, providing our students with valuable insight into the professional labour market that they will enter upon completion of their studies. Today, the Department of Communication has a staff of about 20 employees.

About the position

A full-time (100 %) position as Professor is available at The Department of Communication at Kristiania University College. The position will be connected to the ph.d. program in Communication and Leadership which is under development. The starting date for the position is October 15th 2020, at the latest.

Functions

• Conduct innovative research on areas relevant to the position
• Plan and teach courses at master and PhD level in a Norwegian and International context
• Apply for external research funding
• Student guidance and grading
• Maintain a dialogue and networks within the academic community

Lecturing at Kristiania University College requires the candidate to speak a Scandinavian language and to be able to lecture in English. An exception can be made if the candidate is motivated to develop the skills to conduct lectures in a Scandinavian language within three years.

The candidate must be prepared for organisational and work-related changes.

Requirements for applicants for the position of professor

• Academic qualifications on a national or international standard for position as Professor
• Experience with participation in research projects and participation in national and international research networks
• Experience with obtaining external research funding
• Experience in student guidance, lecturing and/or study programme leadership at a university-college or university level

In addition to qualifications needed for a professor, the applicant must document:

• Development in quality of teaching and supervision over time
• Broad experience of supervision on master and ph.d. level
• Participation in development of teaching among peers

The applicant should further have competence within at least two of the following research areas:

• Strategic communication
• Organizational communication
• Crisis communication
• Ethics in relation to media and communication
• Media production

Emphasis is placed on personal suitability for the position.

We encourage applicants to send their application and necessary documentation regarding their education and practical work experience electronically, along with

• A personal statement that clearly communicates motivation and educational philosophy
• A CV with complete details about education, work experience and other educational activities
• A list of research and/or academic self-development work
• A maximum of 15 academic texts and/or publications
• A plan for the candidate’s own research

Diplomas, certifications, references and testimonials, preferably by a link to the Norwegian diploma registry Vitnemålsportalen (www.vitnemalsportalen.no/english/) or a similar international portal

Qualified applicants must be prepared to deliver a trial lecture within a relevant field of study.

Applicants must, if relevant, send confirmation of any qualification that they have which qualifies then for a senior competency position. We refer to the generalt requriements for senior competency positions in the Regulations concerning appointment and promotion to teaching and research posts (No: Forskrift om ansettelse og opprykk i undervisnings- og forskerstillinger), particulary to § 1-2. Applicants must be familiar with the requirements for the position they are applying for.

Applications selected for consideration may be reviewed by an expert committee.

We offer:

• An exciting job at a rapidly growing university college
• A pleasant and stimulating working environment
• Modern premises in Oslo city centre
• Good opportunities for professional development
• Salary in accordance with agreement

We aim for our staff to reflect diversity in the population, to the greatest extent possible. We encourage all those who are qualified to apply.

Application Deadline: June 26, 2020.

Only applications received through our application portal will be considered

Contact person

Faltin Karlsen

Professor

+47 907 37 088

faltin.karlsen@kristiania.no

Moment - journal of cultural studies

Deadline: October 1, 2020

Communication studies indicate acts of communication produced as part of production relations within a specific historical and social context. It translates as integrity of complex and changing acts. Being a multi-disciplinary field itself, communication studies have a flexible structure composed of various epistemological and methodological approaches.

Communication studies began in the USA in the 1920s. Having an interdisciplinary nature from the beginning, the preliminary studies of the field mostly focused on political science. Examining issues of propaganda and persuasion, these studies made use of psychology and social psychology as well. The interdisciplinary nature of the field was ever more intensified thanks to the Chicago School that addressed urbanization and urban-based interactions, and fields such as sociology, anthropology, and ethnography were also considered within this realm.

What changed the façade of these USA-based preliminary studies, which gradually adopted a behaviorist and empirical approach, was the establishment of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Taking culture as its main concern, this approach was called the Cultural Studies and included semiotics, Marxism, feminism, and literary theories within its fields of interest.

The original approach of the School of Cultural Studies towards the concept of culture has also been the trigger for its clash with Marxism. Although the school is based on a Marxist framework, it is intellectually positioned closer to Gramsci's Marxism interpretation. These two approaches, referred to as critical approaches in contrast to the USA-based mainstream studies, are clustered around two axes that cannot be completely separated from each other: The political economy approach formed on the axis of class production and economy and cultural studies approach formed around meaning, representation and culture. On one hand, while the number of approaches adopting a synthesis of this distinction has been increasing, the conflict between these two approaches continues today. At this point, Pierre Bourdieu stands out with his studies that deepen the scope of the two core problems of the sociology of communication, namely the problems of reproduction and fields. Again, at the intersection of these two approaches and in opposition to foundationalist approaches that define what is true and false, Bruno Latour focuses on the relations such as the assemblage and relational entities building the social structure, and makes contributions to the literature through “actor network theory” and interdisciplinary team work in Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STS). As he studies cultural interactions between humans and other actors in a non-essentialist manner, he produces lasting and timely critiques of the social structure.

Today, the theoretical debate within the critical approach seems to have lost its former intensity, but the dynamism of the historical and social context continues to breed new discussions in the field of communication studies. Class movements, new social movements, and the relation of information technologies to these movements continue the old struggle against changing forms of capitalism and globalization in new ways and force communication studies to adopt new perspectives. Thus, we dedicate the December 2020 issue "New Approaches in Communication Studies" of Moment Journal to studies that focus on new approaches in communication studies through a self-reflexive perspective. We invite you to submit your papers by October 1, 2020; the suggested themes include (but not limited to):

• Theoretical Debates in Communication Studies
• Methodological Debates in Communication Studies
• Communication Studies from an empirical perspective
• Effects of the convergence between public and private spheres on the field of communication
• Case studies in the field of communication
• Contributions of interdisciplinary research to communication literature
• Information technologies, communication studies and art through inter-textuality/hyper-textuality/beyond-textuality
• Media, representation and gender

Theme Editors: Aslı Telli Aydemir (University of Siegen), Ozan Çavdar (Hacettepe University)

http://www.momentjournal.org/index.php/momentdergi/announcement/view/25

Special Issue of Comunicazioni Sociali

Deadline: August 1, 2020

Edited by Nico Carpentier (Charles University) and Johanna Sumiala (University of Helsinki)

Rationale:

As Leavy (2015: ix) writes, arts-based research is “a set of methodological tools used by researchers across the disciplines during all phases of social research, including data generation, analysis, interpretation, and representation.” Its emphasis on doing (making) brings in the idea that knowledge is or, expressed more modestly, can be embodied and produced through the creation of the artistic practice itself. To use Cooperman’s (2018: 22) more poetic formulation, “Arts-based research is a research of the flesh where our source material originates from the closeness and collaboration of the bodies and voices of one another.”

Slowly but surely, arts-based research is making its entry into Communication and Media Studies, moving away from our rather exclusive focus on the written text. There is, for instance, the work of the multidisciplinary Collective for Advancing Multimodal Research Arts or scholars at the Communication Studies Department of Concordia University (Chapman & Sawchuk, 2015). Communication and Media studies scholars also publish their non-written texts in such specialized journals as the Journal of Video Ethnography; Tecmerin: Journal of Audiovisual Essays; and Audiovisual Thinking, the Journal of Academic Videos. Moreover, both the International Communication Association (ICA) and the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) have featured exhibitions at some of their recent conferences, the former with the 2017 Making & Doing exhibition and the latter with 2018 Ecomedia Arts Festival, taking gentle steps toward (the acknowledgment of) non-written academic texts. We, ourselves, have deployed arts-based research, for instance, in the Respublika! exhibition, the Mirror Palace of Democracy installation (Carpentier, 2019, 2020), and the Youth in the Media City book (Sumiala & Niitamo, 2019).

We believe that more could be done in our field, at the level of theorizing arts-based research practices and at the level of deploying them. With this call for articles, in the special issue of Comunicazioni Sociali, we want to further stimulate the discussion on this topic, bringing together a diversity of voices, formats and approaches, all related to the theme of artistic-academic dialogue. Contributions can be longer (academic) articles, but we also want to include multimodal formats, more artistic contributions and shorter, policy-oriented statements, for instance, from some of the foundations that work on/with arts-based research.

We thus call for contributions that focus on:

1/ the perceived relevance of, and opportunities generated by arts-based research, for Communication and Media Studies,

2/ examples of, and experiences with organising, arts-based research projects in Communication and Media Studies,

3/ the requirements for strengthening this field of inquiry, and

4/ the role that Communication and Media Studies scholars can play in (initiating) these projects and the subsequent identity politics.

This call follows the “Respublika! Finland: Arts-Based Research or Communication and Media Studies? Yes, please” workshop, which took place on 6 February 2020, at the Kone Foundation in Helsinki, Finland, and created a dialogue between different engaged actors about arts-based research projects in Finland. (See http://www.sqridge.org/action.html)

300 to 500-word abstracts should be emailed to both the editors, before 1 August 2020, at nico.carpentier@fsv.cuni.cz and johanna.sumiala@helsinki.fi. Acceptance notifications will follow within a fortnight.

Time table

• Abstract submission: 1 August 2020
• Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2020
• First full articles submitted to editors: 1 October 2020
• Revised articles submitted to editors: 1 November 2020
• Final articles submitted to editors: 20 December 2020

References

Carpentier, N. (Ed.). (2019). Respublika! Experiments in the performance of participation and democracy. Limassol, Cyprus: NeMe.

Carpentier, Nico (2020). Communicating Academic Knowledge Beyond the Written Academic Text: An Autoethnographic Analysis of the Mirror Palace of Democracy Installation Experiment. International Journal of Communication, 14(2020), 2120–2143.

Chapman, O., & Sawchuk, K. (2015). Creation-as-research: Critical making in complex environments. RACAR: Revue d’art Canadienne/Canadian Art Review, 40(1), 49–52.

Cooperman, H. (2018). Listening through performance: Identity, embodiment, and arts-based research. In M. Capous-Desyllas & K. Morgaine (Eds.), Creating social change through creativity: Antioppressive arts-based research methodologies (pp. 19–35). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice (2nd ed.). London, UK: Guilford Press.

Sumiala, J., Niitamo, A. (eds.) (2019). Youth in the Media City: Belonging and Control on the Move. https://www.youth-in-the-media-city.org/

The Information Policy Book Series at MIT Press is welcoming proposals. For a description of the series and books published to date, see https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/information-policy.

Note the breadth of the definition of the field and its inclusion of attention to governance and governmentality as well as the formal laws and regulations of governments within the series. Work from all theoretical perspectives, using any methodological approach, and at any level of analysis is welcome. MIT Press encourages positive policy proposals in the books it publishes. Will work as closely with authors as desirable or necessary in the development of projects.

Please contact me at braman@email.tamu.edu if you have a project you would like to discuss or have any questions.

Radiofonias –Journal of Studies in Sound Media

Deadline: July 10, 2020

Due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, Covid-19, *Radiofonias – Journal of Studies in Sound Media* (formerly Rádio-Leituras) announces an extraordinary call for papers, the dossier “Radio and catastrophes”, for its 2020.2 edition. Thus, the monograph “College radios in times of attacks on science” will be postponed to the first quarter of 2021. The 2020.3 edition remains destined to free articles, which can be submitted in a continuous flow.

Radiofonias is a quarterly publication, index H5 = 5 on Google Scholar, which accepts submissions in Portuguese, Spanish and English, authored by or co-authored with PhDs. It is co-edited by the Postgraduate Program in Communication at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), by the Convergence and Journalism Research Group and by the Radio and TV Center (NRTV) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil.

The guidelines for authors can be found here: https://www.periodicos.ufop.br/pp/index.php/radio-leitura/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions

Radio and catastrophes

The new coronavirus pandemic paralyzed a third of the planet in just three months, imposing challenges on the authorities. Each country reacted differently, with more or less severe measures, ranging from total inaction to quarantine and lockdown, going through different recommendations for social isolation and suspension of activities involving urban displacement. With a total of victims that doubles every couple of days, the so-called Covid-19 is spreading at a time of strong circulation of disinformation campaigns, which question scientific knowledge, bringing risks to public health.

Radio plays an important role, one way or another, in informing and building the population’s knowledge about prevention and mitigation measures, in order to avoid a collapse in health systems, affecting mainly the poorest population. Due to its reach and agility, radio can be a powerful ally in large-scale communication strategies, assuming a leading role in times of catastrophes such as pandemics, floods, earthquakes, fires, tsunamis and other emergency situations. In this context, Radiofonias encourages submissions that present case studies, propose theoretical reflections and/or arise from research projects involving the relationship between radio and catastrophic situations, such as:

• Radio and public information in times of calamity
• Radio and scientific communication about Covid-19
• Challenges when doing radio in times of pandemic and social isolation
• Protocols for radio action in catastrophe situations
• Broadcasting of public service campaigns by radio
• Radio and misinformation

Deadline for submissions: July 10th, 2020

April 22 - 23, 2021

Bremen, Germany

Deadline: September 1, 2020

The ZeMKI Bremen announces the joint annual conference 2021 together with the division for the History of communication in the DGPuK (German Communication Studies Association) and the Institute for Newspaper Research, Dortmund.

The conference on the topic "Communication History of International Organizations and NGOs" will take place from April 22 to 23, 2021 in the Bremen House of Science. Organisating team: Erik Koenen, Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz

Website here:

https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki/events/conferences/communication-history-of-international-organizations-and-ngos

Call for papers:

https://www.uni-bremen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fachbereiche/fb9/zemki/media/photos/veranstaltungen/conferences/CfP_Bremen_en_18May.pdf

Keynote Speakers will be:

• Madeleine Herren-Oesch form the University of Basel 
• Thorsten Kahlert form Aarhus University

Marseille, France

January 20-22, 2021

Deadline: July 3, 2020

The Mediteranean Institute of Information and Communication Sciences (IMSIC) & The Journalism and Communication School of Aix-Marseille (EJCAM) Aix-Marseille University

This colloquium is sponsored by SFSIC (French society of information and communication sciences).

Infomediation platforms (Smyrnaios, Rebillard, 2019) have become the dominant force of a ‘reintermediation’ of information online by organising a large variety of contents and making them available to internet users. Information from journalists, which we would qualify here as news, finds itself subject to exogenous imperatives which finish by influencing editorial decisions on information medias (Bell, Owen, 2017). This ‘platformisation’ of information online has coincided with an acceleration of the circulation of non-journalistic information besides news, from satire to disinformation, which increases the offer of contents proposed to internet users. In this open environment where journalistic productions, disinformation, click traps, infotainment and satire live together, journalism needs to rethink itself.

The aim of this conference is to explore new journalistic practices in relation to “fake news” at the heart of environments dominated by platforms. By “fake news”, and because the polysemy of the term has sometimes contributed to its instrumentalisation, we mean more precisely ‘information problems’ (Wardle, Derakhsan, 2019) in all their diversity.

As such, the conference will consider the question of fact-checking and the way it has been repositioned by criticising “fake news” (Bigot, 2019). Fact-checking has been called upon during electoral campaigns and is becoming increasingly part of a close relationship of collaboration and dependence between editors and web platforms which should be brought into question (Smyrnaios, Chauvet, Marty, 2017; Alloing, Vanderbiest, 2018). Over and above the current political situation, “fake news” on the subjects of health, the environment and even clickbait presenting false promises and strange revelations, questions the expert status of specialist journalists as well as other concerned parties.

Propositions should address the following four lines of research:

• At the information source: media education in the face of the platforms
• Fighting against “fake news”, a reaffirmation of journalism?
• Political journalism and health journalism: the challenge of “fake news” to specialised journalists
• Reception of false information and platforms: a reinforcement of cognitive biais?

At the information source: media education in the face of the platforms

“I saw it on Facebook”. This unequivocal statement from Reuters Institute (Kalogeropoulos, Newman, 2017) demonstrates the way digital environments have changed our relationship to information. The intermediary, in this case Facebook, is more powerful than traditional media as a source of memorised information, opening the door wide to “fake news” by rendering the different sources of information interchangeable. This deconstruction of the source, which journalists call upon and confront, which media use as a reliable source of information is renewing the historic inspiration of media studies. The necessity of a pedagogical attention to source, the one which we often consult via the intermediary of web platforms, overlaps on to understanding the logic of information production. The platforms also present themselves pedagogically when they contribute to highlighting the wheat and the chaff in all the content they host (Joux, 2018). However they are both advocates and judges, which explains why media studies is increasingly transforming into education on web platforms. What are the stakes created by the erasure of the source in the ecosystems where the platforms are dominating? What are the new relationships between information source and information as a source? What are the challenges for media studies?

Fighting against “fake news”, a reaffirmation of journalism?

Fact-checking has been experiencing an important development in publishing since the 2000’s (Bigot, 2017). The increased visibility of “fake news” has given it a new role since the beginning of the 2010’s. While dressing itself up as a social mission with obvious uses, fact-checking has restated the importance of journalism in producing news information in the public sphere. It has also criticised the illusion that anyone can be a journalist which the ease of internet sharing may have led us to hope for (Mathien, 2010). This reaffirmation of specific journalistic savoir-faire is supported differently by the platforms. Facebook, as well Google (through the CrossCheck project), finances publishing to check certain contents, which circulate in their ecosystem. However, this recognition of fact-checking by the platforms can be considered as ambivalent. If it relies on the education of internet users thanks to the visibility of journalistic work, it also corresponds to the imposition of priorities financed by the platforms in publishing. We propose to question these major themes here, fact-checking and its ambitions for journalism as well as the economic and editorial relationships between the platforms and newsrooms.

Political journalism and health journalism: the challenge of “fake news” to specialised journalists

Representing a ‘serious symptom of political breakdown’ (Mercier, 2018), the contemporary unfurling of “fake news” is being fed by a growing defiance to the position of the ‘knowledgeable’ elite which journalists belong to, whether they are ‘general’ or ‘specialist’. In two key information areas – politics and health-, areas which are connected to major collective stakes, the question of the transformation/adaptation of journalists’ professional practices is particularly important. Faced with this menace, is it sufficient to generalise the practices of fact-checking and to correct certain problematic practices (hurried treatments, insufficient verification, incomplete scientific acculturation, …) to restore a curtailed legitimacy? Is turning the discursive weapons employed by ‘post-truth’ (Dieguez, 2018) against it the best way to renew the codes and modes of expression of specialised journalism? Is it enough to remove the “barriers” to the exercise of the profession and organise it in a network (Bassoni, 2015), leaning now on the practices of all the parties concerned by the containment of “fake news” (in this case, in health, the health authorities, scientists, carers, patients and “digital opinion leaders”)?

Reception of false information and platforms: a reinforcement of cognitive bias?

If the proliferation of fake news is linked to the technical and economic conditions of information circulation, it also relies on cognitive domains which do not always promote the truth and forms of reception attached to plural contexts. Recognised cognitive biases frequently lead individuals to select and believe false information to encourage consensus within a group (Festinger, 1954) or through an economy of means (Kahneman, 2011). Social illusionism and the illusion of truth can thus favour the propagation of false information (Huguet, 2018). Indeed, individuals perceive “fake-news” as one of the elements of the globally degraded universe of information, including forms of propaganda or mediocre journalism (Nielsen et Graves, 2017). Here, the public’s perception of “fake news” is the combination of the interests of certain medias which publish it, politicians who contribute to it and the platforms who allow it to be distributed. What are the characteristics of the public’s reception of “fake news”? What type of individual or collective sources does “fake news” call upon? How far can platforms and their business models reinforce the cognitive biases associated to “fake news”? These questions will be approached by considering the modalities of the public’s reception of “fake news” through their permanence or, on the contrary, their variation according to contexts.

How to submit

Propositions should be 6000 characters and include a short biography. They will indicate which research theme they are most appropriate to. Descriptions of the field of study/corpus and the research methodology are expected.

Propositions should be sent to the following address: jep2021@outlook.fr

The deadline is July 3, 2020

Propositions will be double blind evaluated, replies will be sent out during September 2020.

Scientific committee

• Amiel Pauline (IMSIC, Aix Marseille Université)
• Bousquet Franck (Lerass, Université Paul Sabatier – Toulouse 3)
• Cabrolié Stéphane (IMSIC, Aix Marseille Université)
• Graves Lucas (University of Wisconsin – Madison)
• Grevisse Benoît (MiiL, UC Louvain)
• Jeanne-Perrier Valérie (GRIPIC, Paris Sorbonne)
• Jenkins Joy (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford)
• Joux Alexandre (IMSIC, Aix Marseille Université)
• Mercier Arnaud (CARISM, Université Paris 2)
• Pignard-Cheynel Nathalie (Université de Neuchatel)
• Sebbah Brigitte (Lerass, Université Paul Sabatier – Toulouse 3)
• Smyrnaios Nikos (Lerass, Université Paul Sabatier – Toulouse 3)
• Vovou Ioanna (ICCA Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université Panteion, Athens)

Organization team

• Coordination : Joux Alexandre (IMSIC) & Amiel Pauline (IMSIC)
• Bassoni Marc (IMSIC)
• Belgacem Fetta (IMSIC)
• Cabrolié Stéphane (IMSIC)
• Cappuccio Alexia (IMSIC)
• D’Aiguillon Benoît (IMSIC)
• Lukasik Stéphanie (IMSIC)
• Pélissier Maud (IMSIC)

References:

Alloing C., Vanderbiest N. (2018), « La fabrique des rumeurs numériques. Comment la fausse information circule sur Twitter ? », Le Temps des médias, 30(1), 105-123.

Bassoni M. (2015), « Journalisme scientifique et public-expert contributeur. Une « nouvelle donne » dans les pratiques du journalisme spécialisé ? », Questions de communication, série actes 25 (sous la direction de Ph. Chavot et A. Masseran), Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 179-189.

Bell E., Owen T. (2017), The Platform Press. How Silicon Valley reengineered Journalism, Columbia Journalism School, Tow Center for Journalism.

Bigot L. (2017), « Le fact-checking ou la réinvention d’une pratique de vérification », Communication & Langages, 2, n°192, 131-156.

Bigot L. (2019), Fact checking versus fake news : vérifier pour mieux informer, Paris : INA Editions.

Dieguez S. (2018), Total Bullshit ! Au cœur de la post-vérité, Paris : Presses universitaires de France.

Festinger L. (1954), « A theory of social comparison processes », Human Relations, 7, 117-140.

Huguet P. (2018), « Eléments de psychologie des fake news », in L’information d’actualité au prisme des fake news, Paris : L’Harmattan, 201-222.

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September 15-16, 2020

Online

Deadline: June 19, 2020

This event is organised through the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, and hosted by Prof Jake Lynch (University of Sydney and Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Coventry University) and Dr Charis Rice (Coventry University).

Please find here, news of a two-day conference, the aim of which is to bring together researchers of Journalism, Political and Governmental Communication, with opportunities for dialogue between them. This event is organised through the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, and hosted by Prof Jake Lynch (University of Sydney and Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Coventry University) and Dr Charis Rice (Coventry University). It will be held online on: September 15-16th 2020, 10am – 6pm (UK time, exact timings to be confirmed) The concept for the conference was suggested by the regularity with which we now find that real-world issues in journalism concerning representation, impacts and media effects are indissociable, in practice, from behaviours of and relationships with sources, including those in and around governments. So concerns over ethics and responsibility in the two fields beg to be considered together.

Find more details at the conference page here: https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/about-us/research-events/2020/responsible-journalism/

Submit an abstract to jake.lynch@sydney.edu.au by June 19th 2020

Later, selected presenters will be invited to contribute to an edited collection to be offered to Routledge for publication in their Research in Journalism series.

Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies

Deadline: June 30, 2020

https://www.participations.org/?fbclid=IwAR1K71u5p4DzsI_VnKOApx9MRID0XJw_2OPd_gmzLlzMwwFbKhyQ8-2hLgo

Co-editors: Dario Llinares (Brighton), Alyn Euritt (Leipzig), Anne Korfmacher (Köln)

“Listening is essential to the engagement with most of our media, albeit that the act of listening which is embedded in the word ‘audience’ is rarely acknowledged. It is a no less curious absence in theories of the public sphere, where the objective of political agency is often characterized as being to find a voice - which surely implies finding a public that will listen, and that has a will to listen” (Lacey viii).

As podcasting moves through its adolescence, a period of flux in which reformations of the technological and industrial organisation are having fundamental effects on the next phase of its evolution, the ways in which it encourages listening and reception practices are also undergoing fundamental development. The nature of this development depends on the communities, listening publics, and audiences the podcasts serve and/or participate in. As Spinelli and Dann have noted about podcasting, it always implies a relationship between creators and listeners but “while individual listening might be the moment in which a podcast ‘happens’ in some sense, it is possible, and indeed necessary, to consider larger formations of podcast audiences” (13). For Spinelli and Dann, podcast audiences are “much more ‘knowable’ than the radio audience, and the interaction (particularly in fandom) [is] more intense” (13-14). Who are these developing and changing “knowable” podcast audiences and how do they interact with podcasting? What do they listen to, how do they listen and why? Are audiences really knowable in the way Dann and Spinelli suggest and what might this tell us about audio communication practices in the digital age?

In order to understand the complexity, diversity and listening engagements of podcasting’s audiences, this themed section aims to expand the interdisciplinary range of contemporary podcasting studies by including work in literary studies, fan studies, gender studies and disability studies, as well as submissions that critically engage with race. We also explicitly encourage research on podcasts outside the US and Britain. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Podcast reception and connectivity in times of crisis
• How podcast listeners find new content, including the development of taste cultures, content aggregation networks, and platform-specific algorithmic recommendations
• Podcast participation and “prosumer” medial engagement (cf. Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave)
• The development of genres, forms, and narrative practices within podcasting that encourage specific types of listening practices and audiences
• Podcast fans and fan podcasts, podcasting and fandom audiences
• Podcasts within niche culture, podcasting and marginalisation
• Podcasts and community-building practices
• Communal vs. private, on-demand listening
• The rise of right-wing politics podcasts and their listenership
• The role of voice (both politically and aesthetically) in podcasting reception
• How podcasters imagine their listenership and cater their content to specific listening publics
• Marketing discourses of attention and engagement
• Cultural values associated with (podcast) listening

Please submit a 300-word abstract and short author bio in an email to alyn.euritt@fulbrightmail.org. For more information about Participations as well as submission guidelines, visit their website at www.participations.org. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide extensive copy editing services. If you are in need of such services, please arrange for them before submission of your draft.

• Deadlines: Abstracts Due: June 30th, 2020
• Decisions to Authors: July 10th, 2020
• Full Submissions: November 13th, 2020