European Communication Research and Education Association
September 4-6, 2024
IIIT/Banglaore, Graz/Austria & online
Abstract deadline: January 19, 2024
We are pleased to announce Situating Data Practices Beyond Data Universalism, the 5th International Data Power Conference, which will take place 4th – 6th September 2024, online and in person in two locations: International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), India and the University of Graz, Austria.
Communication of acceptance: 15th March 2024
More information is available on the Data Power website.
Call for abstracts
The Data Power Conference hosts critical reflections on data’s power and the social, political, economic and cultural consequences of data’s increasing presence in our lives, workplaces, and societies. The 5th International Data Power focuses on situating data practices and looking beyond data universalism. It aims to:
In addition, the conference asks:
To facilitate dialogues across disciplines and with stakeholders, we welcome papers from interdisciplinary teams including disciplines incorporating aspects of data science, and papers which incorporate non-academic collaborators from a range of sectors.
As always, the Data Power Conference remains concerned with in/equalities, discrimination, questions of justice, rights and freedoms, and agency and resistance. We welcome papers that engage with these matters.
There will be a keynote speaker in each of the in-person locations, details to be confirmed.
Information on paper abstracts and proposals for making & doing sessions
Information on conference attendance
It will be possible to participate EITHER remotely OR in-person in one of the two locations in which the conference will take place – Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP) at IIIT-Bangalore (India) and BANDAS Center & Department of Sociology at University of Graz (Austria).
Building on our experience in collectively organising hybrid conferences, the conference will seek to be accessible across time zones.
Conference fee: A modest fee for conference participation will be charged. Further details will be available once registration opens. Researchers without institutional support may apply for a waiver
Abstract submission
You can submit your abstract via our abstract submission system from 1st November.
Organizing Committee
Janaki Srinivasan, IIIT-Bangalore (India)
Amit Prakash, IIIT-Bangalore (India)
Juliane Jarke, University of Graz (Austria)
Helen Kennedy, University of Sheffield (UK)
Jo Bates, University of Sheffield (UK)
Tracey P. Lauriault, Carleton University (Canada)
Maja Šimunjak
This textbook offers the first practical guide to managing emotions in everyday journalism work based on interviews with more than 30 British journalists. It raises awareness of emotional situations and stressors journalists may face, so practitioners are better able to recognise these and prepare for them, and outlines practical emotion management strategies which they can apply to enhance their emotional intelligence and resilience and consequently, feel and perform better in the workplace. It includes vignettes written by journalists from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Croatia, as well as practical scenario exercises that prompt readers to reflect on how they would feel and react in specific situations based on journalists’ everyday work.
The book is available in print and as ebook - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-38631-2
Deadline: November 14, 2023
Book editors:
At the attainment of independence, there was euphoria that African states would witness economic and political growth and development as ‘independence in Africa was supposed to usher in a period characterized by the peaceful co-existence of population groups and significant improvements in the wealth-creating capacity of each new nation’ (Mbaku 2007). However, the continent has not witnessed this economic and political liberation due to political instability and economic crises rooted in corruption (Sarassoro 1979). Studies show that corruption in its various guises is rife on the African continent. According to Transparency International in their 2015 report, corruption is on the rise and has impacted significantly on the continent's socio-economic, political and cultural development. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) claimed that the continent loses about $88.6bn or 3.7 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) annually on illicit financial flows. Similarly, in a corruption perception index conducted by Transparency International in 2022, 44 out of the 49 sub-Saharan African countries assessed scored below 50, with the few gains made by a few countries eroded by the significant decline in corruption by most of the other African countries. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further enabled African states to perpetuate corruption as institutional mechanisms to regulate procurement were suspended as a result of the need for a rapid response to curtail the spread of the virus, giving rise to a new form of corruption, derisively referred to as ‘tenderpreneurs’ or ‘Covidpreneurs’ (see Mutuwa and Akpojivi 2022). The impact of corruption on the continent cannot be over-emphasised. Corruption is not only harmful to human development due to the lack of basic amenities (good roads, health care and education), but also hinders the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The media are regarded as the watchdog of society and have an important role to play in reporting and representing corruption, as they are instrumental in promoting accountability and transparency in both the public and private sectors (Norris 2008). They are able to do this via the reportage of corrupt activities, as their reportage exposes maladministration and activities within the various sectors of society and the economy. However, the ability of the media to report corruption effectively is tied to freedom and availability of strong institutions that enable an open and transparent society. Weder and Brunetti (2003) posit that there is a correlation between media freedom, plurality and corruption. This means that the level and quality of freedom within society influence and determine the level of corruption in society. As Mbaku (2007) argues, the media, civil societies, and anyone could expose corruption in a free and open society.
On the other hand, the media has been accused of enabling corruption within the continent despite its important role in the fight against corruption. There have been many instances where the media have been compromised through bribery or influence/coercion/political pressures, which is corruption at the administrative, petty and influencing levels (Bracking 2023).
Therefore, eradicating corruption within the African continent, which is a bane (Kwei Armah 1968), is dependent not just on the establishment of strong institutions and adherence to the rule of law but on the ‘will’ whether political, social or economic will, of the media to report on corruption and be ethnically upright to spurn corruption at all levels within its establishment. Onyenankeya and Salawu (2020), drawing from the Nigerian experience, argued that the ability of the Nigerian media to carry out investigative journalism that will expose corruption has been hindered due to economic factors and the patrimonial relationship between the media and the state. Such patrimonial relationship cuts across most media organisations across the continent as there have been reported cases of media being captured alongside the state (Fazekas and Toth 2016, Madonsela 2019). Such capture reflects the deep-rooted nature of corruption and the distinct nature in which it happens and how other structures of society, like the media, enable corruption within society and within their very own institution.
Generally, corruption thrives on morality, professional ethics, and political and economic environments. Thus, the media is primarily responsible for questioning society's morality or moral concepts and ensuring that moral principles of good governance and accountability are ingrained in every fabric of society. Similarly, professional ethics regulate the activities of the state and non-state actors, and the media has the responsibility of educating and instilling these principles in society as they carry out their fundamental functions of being a watchdog against corruption, promote integrity and engage citizens in anti-corruption efforts and activities (Schauseil 2019). However, the difficulty of having a universal moral principle or the contestation as to what corruption is, based on the ethnicization of corruption and prebendal politics within the continent, is beginning to influence how media operations and their content due to weak economic and socio-moral base of the media (see Nyamnjoh 2005, Voltmer 2008). Such ethnicization of corruption is seen in how corruption is framed and reported in the media and perceived by the public. Likewise, the need for the media to act ethically despite pressure and influence and eliminate all forms of corruption within its institution and not enable corruption in the public and private sectors.
Therefore, in this edited volume, we are interested in how corruption is imagined or (re)imagined in the continent. Does such (re)imagination of corruption (en)force the dominant forms in which corruption manifests within the continent in the private and public sector, or has the rise of global citizen activism (online or offline) refined how corruption is reported? Also, we are interested in addressing the questions of who watches over the watchdog when they enable or act corruptly? And what are the broader implications of corruption within the media institution on democracy and its stability within the continent? We welcome submissions that touch on any of the following and related sub-themes indicated below:
Submissions covering, but not limited to the following areas are welcome:
i. Conceptualisation of corruption and its manifestations
ii. State and media capture in Africa
iii. Media, accountability and corruption in Africa
iv. The watchdog role of the media and corruption
v. Media and the ‘War’ against corruption in Africa
vi. Public interest journalism and accountability in Africa
vii. Media framing and reporting of corruption in Africa
viii. Media and pathologisation of corruption in Africa
ix. Media, corruption and Afro-pessimism
x. Mediation of corruption and its broader impact in society
xi. Civil society, activism and corruption in Africa
xii. Citizen journalism and corruption in Africa
xiii. Ethical universalism and corruption
xiv. Political corruption and financialization of the media
xv. Open, and just society: the place of the media in fighting corruption and building strong institutions.
xvi. Role of media freedom and diversity in enhancing corruption reportage.
xvii. Journalistic independence and corruption in Africa
xviii. Media, corruption and the whistleblower phenomenon in Africa
xix. Ethical conundrums in reporting corruption
xx. Checkbook /Brown Envelop Journalism and Corruption in Africa
xxi. Media Leaks and corruption in Africa
xxii. New media, corruption and accountability in Africa
xxiii. Role of social media in exposing corruption in Africa
xxiv. Media, censorship and corruption in Africa
xxv. Media, corruption and conflict of interest
xxvi. Investigating journalism and corruption in Africa
Submission details:
Please email a chapter proposal of up to 400 words and brief author's biographical information and affiliations to the editors at ufuoma.akpojivi@a4id.org and tendai.chari@univen.ac.za. Decisions on chapter proposals will be communicated to the authors by November 30, 2023. The book is earmarked for publication with Routledge.
Timelines:
November 14, 2023: Abstract submission deadline
November 30, 2023: Notification of decision
February 14, 2024: Deadline for submission of full draft
April 14, 2024: Feedback from peer reviewers
June 14, 2024: Deadline for submission of the revised chapter
July 30, 2024: Final decision on chapter submission
October 30, 2024: Submission of book manuscript to the publisher
About the Editors
Ufuoma Akpojivi is the Policy, Research and Learning Lead at Advocates for International Development, United Kingdom, and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Information and Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Ghana. Prior to this, he was an associate professor and Head of the Media Studies Department, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and a Visiting Professor at the School of Media and Communication at Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. He is a C2-rated researcher of the National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa and a recipient of the University of the Witwatersrand Vice-Chancellor and Faculty of Humanities individual teaching and learning award (2017).
Tendai Chari is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and a National Research Foundation (NRF) C3 Rated Researcher at the University of Venda, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Previously, he lectured at several universities in Africa, including the University of Zimbabwe, (where he was Head of the Media Programme in the English Department), the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Fort Hare University (South Africa). Chari is widely published in the field of media and communication studies and his research focuses on Political Communication with a broadened horizon on the interface between Digital Media and Politics, Media and Conflict, Media Ethics and Popular Culture.
Reference
Asomah, J. (2020). Can Private Media Contribute to Fighting Political Corruption in Sub-Sahara Africa? Lessons from Ghana. Third World Quarterly, 41 (12).
Asomah, J. (2021). What can Be Done to Address Corruption in Ghana? Understanding Citizen’s Perspectives, Forum for Development Studies, 48 (3).
Bracking, S. (2023). The Challenge of Corruption, presented at the Law and Development Training Programme, Strengthening and Developing the Rule of Law (SDG16) Module, July 15, London.
Fazekas, M. & Toth, I. (2016). From Corruption to State Capture: A New Analytical Framework with Empirical Applications from Hungary. Political Research Quarterly, 69 (2): 320-334.
Kwei-Armah, A. (1968). The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. Houghton Mifflin.
Maadonsela, S. (2019). Critical Reflections on State Capture in South Africa. Insight on Africa, 11(1): 113-130.
Mbaku, J. (2007). Corruption in Africa: Causes, Consequences and Cleanups. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Mutuwa, W. & Akpojivi, U. (2022). Critical Journalism and Media Coverage During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Representation of Corruption in Zimbabwean Online News. In C. Dralega & A. Napakol, (eds), Health Crises and Media Discourses in Sub-Saharan Africa, Springer, 75-93.
Norris, P. (2008). The Role of the Free Press in Promoting Democratization, Good Governance, and Human Development. In M Harvey (ed.) Media Matters. Perspectives on Advancing Governance & Development. Internews Europe/Global Forum for Media Development. pp. 66-75
Nyamnjoh, F. (2005). Africa’s Media Democracy and the Politics of Belonging. London: Zed Books.
Onyenankeya, K. & Salawu, A. (2020). On Bended Knees: Investigative Journalism and Changing Media Culture in Nigeria. Media Watch, 11 (1): 97-118.
Sarassoro, H. (1979). Corruption of Public Officials in Africa-A Comparative Study in Criminal Law. Online:
Schauseil, W. (2019).Medi and Anti-Corruption. Transparency International.
Transparency International (2015). Corruption in Africa: 75 Million People pay Bribes. Online: https://www.transparency.org/en/gcb/africa/africa-9th-edition
Transparency International (2023). CPI 2022 For Sub-Saharan Africa: Corruption Compounding Multiple Crises. Online: https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2022-sub-saharan-africa-corruption-compounding-multiple-crises
UNODC (N/D). The Role of the Media in Fighting Corruption. Online: https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-10/key-issues/the-role-of-the-media-in-fighting-corruption.html
Voltmer, K. (2008). Comparing Media Systems in New Democracies: East Meets South Meets West. Central European Journal of Communication, 1: 23-40.
Weder, B. & Brunetti, A. (2003). A Free Press Is Bad News for Corruption. Journal of Public Economics, 87(7-8): 1801-24
May 21, 2024
Stuttgart, Germany
Workshop/Tutorial proposal submission: December 2, 2023
Workshop/Tutorial proposal notification: December 16, 2023
Note that all submission deadlines are end-of-day in the Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time zone (https://time.is/Anywhere_on_Earth).
Overview and Purpose
We invite proposals for workshops and tutorials at the ACM Web Science Conference 2024 (WebSci’24). The conference will take place in Stuttgart, Germany, from May 21 to 24, 2024, and serve as center stage for the special theme: “Reflecting on Web, AI, and Society”. Workshops will take place on May 21, 2024, during the first day of the conference.
The ACM Web Science Conference 2024 will feature co-located workshops and tutorials to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research. Contributions may stem from a variety of disciplines, for instance (but not limited to) Computer Science, Sociology, Digital Humanities, and Computational Social Science. Researchers and practitioners studying the complex and plural impact of the Web and AI on society and vice versa can engage in discussions on relevant topics (including but not limited to those mentioned in the CfP for the main conference program, see https://websci24.org/call-for-papers/). WebSci’24 workshops/tutorials may address any topic relevant to the global Web Science community, e.g., questions of basic research as well as applied research, Web-related practices, new methodologies, emerging application areas, privacy, ethics, sustainability, or innovations. Each workshop/tutorial should strive to generate ideas that can give the community a fresh or synthesized perspective on the topic or suggest promising directions for future work. For instance, how can the Web science community develop methods, tools, or frameworks to help us responsibly navigate the age of generative AI? How can we build resilience against the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the age of LLMs? The tutorials could cover a wide variety of Web Science approaches and methods. If you are working in an emerging area in the broad landscape of Web Science research, do consider contributing or participating.
Submission Guidelines
Submission System:
Submissions should be sent to workshops@iris.uni-stuttgart.de.
Format & Length:
All workshop proposals should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available here https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template under “Word Authors”) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform, available here https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty. In particular, please ensure you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template. Submission must be as a single PDF file: 4 (four) pages in length, including references.
Structure:
Workshop/Tutorial proposals should conform to the following structure:
If the workshop/tutorial was held before, when applicable, please share details on the venues and dates, number of participants, format, number of submissions, and number of accepted papers, and indicate how the proposed edition will differ from earlier editions
A short bio of the organizers, including a description of their relevant qualifications and past experience in organizing workshops/tutorials or similar gatherings
Review Process & Next Steps
The workshop and tutorial chairs, in consultation with the general chairs, will create a carefully curated list of workshops with an aim to reflect the needs and desires of the Web Science community at large. Please note that we might propose modifications and augmentations, such as suggesting that workshops be shortened or combined where appropriate. The workshops/tutorials ought to address timely topics and phenomena; therefore, it depends on the year which topics are considered particularly relevant and interesting. Workshop/tutorial series or follow-up workshops/tutorials from those in previous conferences will be given special consideration but are not automatically accepted. Space in the program and technical limitations will also influence the number and form of the selected workshops and tutorials.
Once accepted, organizers are responsible for publicizing the workshop/tutorial and soliciting potential participants.
Depending on the format of the workshop/tutorial, organizers may decide to cap the number of attendees.
Workshop/tutorial organizers solicit participants for their workshop through their Call for Participation, which is posted to the Web Science 2024 website and includes a link to the workshop’s public website. The workshop organizers determine the submission format.
The workshop organizers will review submissions using their own criteria (not set by the Workshop Chairs or the Web Science PC).
You can find all the necessary information here, too: https://websci24.org/call-for-papers/call-for-workshops-and-tutorials/
November 8, 2023
Online event
Dear community friends!
This is a kind reminder:
The TikTok Cultures Research Network (TCRN) is excited to announce our second online satellite roundtable event, "Latin American Cultures on TikTok" or "Culturas Latinoamericanas en TikTok," featuring bilingual availability in Spanish and English through live translation.
While extensive research has explored the experiences of creators and related industries on this popular platform from the perspective of Western countries and dominant regions, the field of TikTok research in other parts of the world is emerging, promising novel perspectives for comprehending the platform. Therefore, this event is centered around TikTok and Latin America and brings together the perspectives of academics, creators, and industry professionals in and from the region, exploring the experience of the Latin American diaspora, indigenous communities, and mainstream creators. Join us for this discussion as we unpack the complexities of platforms, cultures, and content creation!
Time:
1200 – 1430 CLST – Santiago/Buenos Aires
1000 – 1230 ECT – Quito/Lima
0900 – 1130 CST – Mexico City
0700 – 0939 PST – Los Angeles
1600 – 1830 CET – Madrid/Zurich
1700 – 1930 IST – Tel Aviv
1500 – 1730 GMT – London
2200 – 0030 AWST – Perth
This 2.5-hour event will feature two roundtables:
Roundtable 1 will focus on Latin American indigenous cultures and environmental activism on TikTok. Speaker bios here.
Roundtable 2 will focus on the (in)visibility of Latin American diasporas and cultures on TikTok. Speaker bios here.
This event is organised by Daniela Jaramillo-Dent, Tom Divon, and Natalia Orrego and hosted in collaboration with the Media Change and Innovation Division at the University of Zurich, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
The full programme is available here.
The poster is available here.
Register in advance for this roundtable event here.
For inquiries please contact: tiktok.latinamerica.event@gmail.com
Editors: Pia Majbritt Jensen, Eva Novrup Redvall, & Christa Lykke Christensen
Nordicom
Download the book as open access or order a print copy here: https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/audiovisual-content-children-and-adolescents-scandinavia
Content
Front matter
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-p
Eva Novrup Redvall, Pia Majbritt Jensen, & Christa Lykke Christensen
Introduction: Audiovisual content for children and adolescents in Scandinavia
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-1
Christa Lykke Christensen
Chapter 2. Relevance and identification in television content for children: Analysing DR commissioners’ perceptions of children’s media interests
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-2
Anders Lysne
Chapter 3. Coming out differently: Making queer youth known in Scandinavian screen fiction
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-3
Eva Novrup Redvall
Chapter 4. Creating serialised live action drama for children: Talent development, affordable volume fiction, and portable brand characters at DR
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-4
Vilde Schanke Sundet
Chapter 5. Public service youth content on social media platforms: Reaching youth through YouTube
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-5
Ewa Morsund
Chapter 6. Representing and engaging new target groups: The case of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and Rådebank
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-6
Andreas Magnusson Qassim
Chapter 7. SVT Barn online and In Love: Searching for identity in a world of smartphones and digital interaction
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-7
Pia Majbritt Jensen & Petar Mitric
Chapter 8. The appeal of public service fiction in an internationalised media context: Findings from a survey of 8–17-year-old Danes
Download the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855817-8
Ngozi Comfort Omojunikanbi
Public speaking is inherited, although perhaps a conducive environment helps considerably. Good public speaking is the result of being a good listener and being diligent. Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience including pre-recorded speech delivered over great distance by means of technology. This books cover a lot to nurture you as a public speaker.
https://selar.co/dg8269
April 10-12, 2024
School of Journalism, Media & Communication, University of Sheffield, UK
Deadline: November 3, 2023
ECREA: Journalism Studies Section Conference
The conference aims to bring together scholars reflecting on the role, nature, state, management and challenges regarding diversity, equality and inclusion within journalism itself and in society through journalism.
There is consensus that journalism should reflect society in its plurality to foster multi-perspective discourse in democracies. Consequently, the diversity of news content has been discussed as a key quality feature of professional journalism for decades. However, recently the public and scholarly discourse on diversity, equality and inclusion has gained momentum also with regard to the journalists and the audience. Potential research focuses range from inequality and discrimination among journalists of different sex, gender, ethnicity or socio-ecomic background, or the (in)visibility of societal groups and voices in news, to challenges of engaging certain milieus in the public discourse through news.
Submissions to the conference theme may explore the normative implications and theoretical perspectives on diversity, equality and inclusion in and through journalism, discuss challenges measuring these concepts and present empirical work. Submissions can address (but are not limited to) diversity, equality and inclusion in the following areas:
At the same time, the conference aims to create an open forum for the latest research in European journalism studies in all its facets. Thus, there are no thematic requirements set if you submit to the open panels. Both theoretical and empirical contributions to journalism studies are welcome.
Submission guidelines
Submissions can be sent as anonymized abstracts of no more than 750 words (excl. references, tables and graphs) to ecrea2024@sheffield.ac.uk no later than November 3rd, 2023. The abstract must include an indication whether you submit to the conference theme or open panels.
We invite two types of abstracts:
Please include the title of your paper/panel and names as well as affiliations of the authors in the email.
Only two proposals per first author can be accepted (submitting further abstracts as co-author is accepted). Notifications of acceptance will be issued early December 2023. Submission will undergo scholarly peer-review.
PhD Colloquium
The section’s YECREA representative Bissie Anderson organizes the 4th ECREA Journalism Studies Section PhD Colloquium on 10th of April 2024 at the University of Sheffield. Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to b.anderson4@rgu.ac.uk no later than 10th of December 2023. For further details please consult the separate call for the PhD Colloquium that can be found on our website.
V. Conference Organization
The conference will be hosted by the School of Journalism, Media & Communication, University of Sheffield, UK. If you have any questions, contact the conference organizing committee at ecrea2024@sheffield.ac.uk.
Registration will open in December 2023 and more information about the conference will be posted regularly on this webpage.
*PLEASE NOTE*: The conference will take place in-person only and we are unable to accommodate requests for virtual presentations.
Timeline
Co-editors: Ashley RIGGS and Lucile DAVIER
Deadline: November 19, 2023
We seek contributions for an edited volume on constructive news across cultures, to be published by Routledge in 2025 as the IATIS (International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies) Yearbook.
Summary
Constructive news (Bro, 2023; Haagerup, 2017), or solutions journalism (1), is much more than “good” or positive news. It is news that applies the tenets of positive psychology – in a nutshell, the notion that encouraging feelings of hope and optimism contributes to well-being – “to news processes and production in an effort to create productive and engaging coverage, while holding true to journalism’s core functions” (McIntyre & Gyldensted, 2017: 20; our emphasis). As such, it typically involves “rigorous reporting about how people are responding to problems” (Solutions Journalism Network, 2023) or about new initiatives being tested. The selection of stories goes beyond the five famous “W” questions to both the “How?” and, especially, the “What now?” (Constructive Institute, 2023). It is future-oriented; the main goals are to inform and to inspire; the content focuses on solutions, best practices, and productive outcomes rather than drama, violence, wrong-doing or victims, which in turn means a style that is “curious” (although this remains vague) rather than dramatic; and the role of the journalist is that of a fact-finder and facilitator, rather than of the “police” or a “judge” (Constructive Institute, 2023).
Constructive news thus provides an antidote to the “if it bleeds, it leads”-driven content and resulting negativity bias of most news. Research has shown that constructive news leads to positive results, including a feeling of agency and a readiness to engage with and act on the issues reported (Curry & Hammonds, 2014). Yet the nuts and bolts of how it accomplishes this (stylistic features or multimodality, for example) have been under-researched up to now. Put otherwise, constructive news is “done” differently than a lot of other mainstream news, but what exactly does this mean? Research suggests that constructive news can be addressed with qualitative or quantitative content analysis (Mast et al., 2019; Zhao & Xiang, 2019). We know that mainstream news models, practices or linguistic/stylistic choices (Hallin & Mancini, 2004; Hanusch, 2017; Keeble, 2007 [1994]; Riggs, 2020, 2021) may differ across cultures; does this also show through in constructive news from different countries and/or regions? Preliminary research on a parallel corpus of English-Spanish constructive news (Riggs, in progress) shows that the content by linguaculture (i.e., language and culture) differs in terms of length, level of formality, use of metaphor, wordplay and interpellation, as well as didactic tone. Atanasova’s study (2022) of metaphor in constructive news from the UK that dealt with both COVID-19 and climate change found that colour and movement metaphor prevailed over the ubiquitous war metaphor, which could be considered a positive practice.
Constructive news is being produced in many different countries (Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, the USA and the UK, among others) at the level of local, regional and international news. The resulting news flows depend in part on translation / transediting (e.g., Davier, 2014 and 2022; Schäffner, 2012; Stetting, 1989; see a few examples of bilingual corpora in the Topics section). Are these processes also done differently in constructive news from different linguacultures? How do constructive news producers in different linguacultures approach news gathering? How do they see translation? How do their perceptions of translation influence the selection of sources and information? Is translation more or less visible in constructive journalism initiatives? Research on constructive news in translation is virtually non-existent; we would like to change this.
Furthermore, there is some evidence that contra-flows (Thussu 2007) – or media coverage from the South about the South – are more constructive (Marsh 2016; Zhang & Matingwina 2016) than North-South news flows, which tend to focus on violence and disasters rather than positive developments (Rantanen, 2019: 14). Therefore, studies about constructive journalism initiatives in the Global South or about the Global South will be particularly welcome.
Finally, in the era of convergence (Jenkins 2006; Quandt & Singer 2009; Davier & Conway 2019), audio-visual material plays an essential role in the “reading” experience (e.g., Caple, Huan & Bednarek, 2020; Filmer, 2016 and 2021; Filmer & Riggs, forthcoming; Riggs, 2021 and in progress; Tsai, 2015). How is such material incorporated into constructive news from different cultures? How does the interplay between text and image/video/hyperlinked information contribute to conveying the main message?
What might the study of visual and/or multimodal metaphor, usually reserved for advertising (e.g., Forceville, 2017) or political cartoons (e.g., El Refaie, 2003), tell us about trends or differences in their use across cultures? There is virtually no research on these questions, although Lough and McIntyre (2019) explore the visual representation of solutions, and Riggs’ (in progress) work suggests that while the Spanish corpus uses fewer metaphors than the English one, it “retrieves” some verbal metaphors through visual means.
We therefore invite abstracts from scholars in journalism studies, media studies, communication studies, translation studies or related disciplines, and focusing on one or a combination of the following areas. A cross-cultural or comparative perspective is essential.
Topics/Themes
• Comparative studies of constructive news content across linguacultures
• Stylistic features of constructive news
o Might include, but not limited to:
▪ Comparing use of verbal and visual/pictorial metaphor in constructive news from different (lingua)cultures • Translated / transedited constructive news
▪ Comparing use of verbal and visual/pictorial metaphor in constructive news from different (lingua)cultures
• Translated / transedited constructive news
o Translational phenomena in bilingual constructive news, e.g.,
▪ RESET. https://reset.org/ (German and English) ▪ Squirrel News. https://squirrel-news.net/ (German and English) ▪ Positive News and En Positivo. https://www.positive.news/ (English and Spanish)
▪ RESET. https://reset.org/ (German and English)
▪ Squirrel News. https://squirrel-news.net/ (German and English)
▪ Positive News and En Positivo. https://www.positive.news/ (English and Spanish)
o Monolingual constructive news that relies on sources in other languages
• Constructive news in/about the Global South
• Convergence and/or multimodality in constructive news
• Constructive news and ideology
• Teaching constructive journalism from an intercultural/cross-cultural perspective
• Sociology of constructive news: comparing constructive news practices across linguacultures
• Reader/stakeholder expectations of constructive news
• Effects of constructive news
• Comparative research from a diachronic perspective
Submission information and deadlines
➢ Language of the publication: English
➢ Abstracts should be 500 to 600 words, including references. They should be sent to Ashley
Riggs (ashleymerrill.riggs@unive.it) and Lucile Davier (Lucile.Davier@unige.ch). Please comply with the following structure:
- Introductory sentence
- Literature review
- Methods
- (Expected) data and results
- Potential impact for research, teaching and/or society
➢ Deadline for abstracts: 19 November 2023
➢ Notification of acceptance (potentially subject to revision): 27 November 2023
➢ Submission of proposal by co-editors: by 15 December 2023
➢ Submission of full-draft chapters by contributors: by 15 June 2024
➢ Notification of full-chapter acceptance: 15 July 2024
➢ Revision and editing phase: July – November 2024
➢ Submission of final manuscript to Routledge by co-editors: 20 December 2024
(1) McIntyre and Gyldensted (2017: 24) consider the latter to be a branch of the former.
REFERENCES
Atanasova, D. (2022). How Constructive News Outlets Reported the Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Covid-19 Through Metaphors. Journalism Practice 16(2-3): 384–403.
Bro, P. (2023). Constructive Journalism: Precedents, Principles, and Practices. London: Routledge.
Caple, H., Huan, C., and Bednarek, M. (2020). Multimodal News Analysis Across Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Constructive Institute. (2023). The future of journalism is constructive. Retrieved from https://constructiveinstitute.org/ (last accessed 16/10/2023).
Curry, A. L., & Hammonds, K. H. (2014). The Power of Solutions Journalism. Report on the Engaging
News Project. Center for Media Engagement. https://mediaengagement.org/research/solutions-journalism/
Davier, L. (2022). 'People have probably offered to buy me a dictionary 20 times since I’ve been here':
Risk management within a community of journalists in francophone Canada. JosTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation, 37, 35–54. Retrieved from https://www.jostrans.org/issue37/art_davier.pdf
Davier, L. (2014). The paradoxical invisibility of translation in the highly multilingual context of news agencies. Global Media and Communication, 10(1), 53–72. doi:10.1177/1742766513513196
Davier, L., & Conway, K. (2019). Introduction: Journalism and translation in the era of convergence. In L. Davier & K. Conway (Eds.), Journalism and Translation in the Era of Convergence (pp. 1–11). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
El Refaie, E. (2003). Understanding visual metaphor: the example of newspaper cartoons. Visual Communication, 2(1): 75–95.
Filmer, D. (2021). Italy’s Politicians in the News. Journalistic Translation and Cultural Representation. Bologna: Odoya.
Filmer, D. (2016). Did you really say that? Voiceover and the recreation of reality in Berlusconi’s ‘’shocking’’ interview for Newsnight. Special Issue: Ideological Manipulation in Audiovisual Translation, Other Modernities, 2: 21–41.
Filmer, D., & Riggs, A. (Forthcoming). Translating the cultural Other during Covid: A comparative study of Italian and UK online news. Intralinea.
Forceville, C. (2017). Visual and Multimodal Metaphor in Advertising: Cultural Perspectives. Styles of Communication, 9(2): 26–41. http://stylesofcomm.fjsc.unibuc.ro/archives/vol-9-no-2
Haagerup, U. (2017). Constructive News: How to Save the Media and Democracy with Journalism of Tomorrow. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus.
Hallin, D.C., and Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hanusch, F., ed. (2017). Comparing Journalistic Cultures. Journalism Studies, Special Issue 18(5).
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Keeble, R. (2007 [1994]). The Newspapers Handbook. London: Routledge.
Lough, K., and McIntyre, K. (2019). Visualizing the solution: An analysis of the images that accompany solutions-oriented news stories. Journalism, 20 (4): 583–599. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918770553
Marsh, V. (2016). Mixed messages, partial pictures? Discourses under construction in CCTV’s Africa Live compared with the BBC. Chinese Journal of Communication, 9(1), 56–70. doi:10.1080/17544750.2015.1105269
Mast, J., Coesemans, R., & Temmerman, M. (2019). Constructive journalism: Concepts, practices, and discourses. Journalism, 20(4), 492–503. doi:10.1177/1464884918770885
McIntyre, K., and Gyldensted, C. (2017). Constructive Journalism: Applying Positive Psychology Techniques to News Production. The Journal of Media Innovations, 4(2): 20–34. doi: 10.5617/jomi.v4i2.2403
Quandt, T., & Singer, J. B. (2009). Convergence and cross-platform content production. In K. Wahl-
Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), The Handbook of Journalism Studies (pp. 130–144). London: Routledge.
Rantanen, T. (2019). News agencies from telegraph bureaus to cyberfactories. In M. Powers (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication (pp. 1–22). doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.843
Riggs, A. (In progress). Verbal and visual communication in constructive news across cultures: Case study of a bi-lingual English-Spanish corpus with a focus on metaphor [working title].
Riggs, A. (2021.) How online news headlines and accompanying images “translate” a violent event: A cross-cultural case study. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21: 352–365.
Riggs, A. (2020). Stylistic Deceptions in Online News: Journalistic Style and the Translation of Culture. London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350114203
Schäffner, C. (2012). Rethinking transediting. Meta: Translators' Journal, 54(4), 866–883. doi:10.7202/1021222ar
Solutions Journalism Network. (2023). Transforming news is critical to building a more equitable and sustainable world. Retrieved from https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/ (last accessed 16/10/2023).
Stetting, K. (1989). Transediting: a new term for coping with the grey area between editing and translating. In G. Caie, K. Haastrup and A. L. Jakobsen (Eds.), Proceedings from the Fourth Nordic
Conference for English Studies (pp. 371–382). Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen.
Thussu, D. K. (2007). Introduction. In D. K. Thussu (Ed.), Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra-Flow (pp. 1–8). London: Routledge.
Tsai, C. (2015). Reframing Humor in TV News Translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 23(4): 615–633.
Zhang, Y., & Matingwina, S. (2016). Constructive journalism: A new journalistic paradigm of Chinese media in Africa. In X. Zhang, H. Wasserman, & W. Mano (Eds.), China’s Media and Soft Power in Africa: Promotion and Perceptions (pp. 93–105). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zhao, X., & Xiang, Y. (2019). Does China's outward focused journalism engage a constructive approach? A qualitative content analysis of Xinhua News Agency's English news. Asian Journal of Communication, 29(4), 346–362. doi:10.1080/01292986.2019.1606263
November 13, 2023
Online
Please join the Institute of Communications Research for a virtual information session about the PhD in Communications & Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
As the world’s oldest program for research and doctoral education in communications and media studies, the Institute of Communications Research (ICR) has been a pioneer in interdisciplinary research methods and training. Doctoral students draw on the resources of the ICR and units across the University of Illinois campus to develop flexible and dynamic programs of study at the cutting edge of communications and media studies. Several research and teaching themes connect the ICR’s diverse faculty and methods, including: technology use and social behavior; strategic and persuasive messaging; film and media forms and aesthetics, media histories and industries; media processes and effects; and media and social change.
Students admitted to the doctoral program of the ICR receive funding through graduate assistantships that provide stipends and full tuition waivers.
ICR PhD in Communications & Media Virtual Information Session
Monday, November 13
10-11:20am CST
Register Here
ICR Director of Graduate Studies Amanda Ciafone and ICR faculty and students will answer your questions about doctoral study in Communications & Media at the University of Illinois. Please register to receive a Zoom meeting link in advance of the event.
ICR Doctoral Program Virtual Information Session Zoom Registration: go.media.illinois.edu/icr-info-2023
ICR Doctoral Program Application Deadline: Friday, December 15
Learn more about ICR: https://media.illinois.edu/icr
For questions about this event or the doctoral program, please contact Dr. Amanda Ciafone at aciafone@illinois.edu. Looking forward to (virtually) meeting you!
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