ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

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

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)

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! 

Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania 

The Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a “CARGC Postdoctoral Fellowship.” This is a one-year position renewable for a second year based on successful performance.  

Overview 

The Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) produces and promotes scholarly research on global media, communication, and public life. Our work brings together regional and area studies scholarship with theory and methodology in the humanities and social sciences to understand how local, lived experiences of people and communities are profoundly shaped by global media and communication technologies and industries. This synthesis of deep regional expertise and interdisciplinary inquiry stimulates critical conversations about entrenched and emerging communicative structures, practices, flows, and struggles. 

We explore new ways of understanding and explaining the world, including through public scholarship, the arts, multi-modal scholarship, and digital archives. With a core commitment to the development of early career scholars worldwide, CARGC hosts postdoctoral, doctoral, undergraduate, and faculty fellows who collaborate in research groups, produce peer-reviewed scholarship, contribute to CARGC’s Global Media & Communication Podcast, and organize talks, lectures, symposia, conferences, and summer institutes. 

Ongoing research groups focus on media, migration, and diasporas; media environments and the climate crisis; media industries and cultural politics; and media history and theory. We recommend that applicants familiarize themselves with CARGC’s mission and research activities listed on our website. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in the following areas: environmental media/ecomedia, indigenous media cultures, Latin American and Latinx media, and global Blackness. 

Fellowship Details 

CARGC postdoctoral fellows work on their own research while also participating in and leading ongoing research projects within CARGC. During the fellowship, they present their work as part of a postdoctoral colloquium and work closely with the Senior Research Manager on a plan for publishing their research. There are limited opportunities for teaching that are decided in consultation with Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies.  

Fellows will receive a minimum stipend of $65,000, commensurate with previous postdoctoral experience. CARGC will also provide a research fund of $3,000, individual health insurance and dependent coverage, a workspace, and a computer in CARGC’s office, and library access. In addition, CARGC will cover $1,000 in domestic relocation expenses and $2,000 if moving internationally. Please note all postdoctoral fellows must submit documentation to demonstrate eligibility to work in the United States. Non-US citizens selected for this position will be required to apply for an appropriate US visa.  

This is a residential fellowship. CARGC strives to be an inclusive community of scholars driven by intellectual curiosity and exchange rooted in the life of the Annenberg School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the city of Philadelphia. To foster mentoring and collaboration at all levels, we expect fellows to be fully engaged in the life of the center. Postdocs are therefore expected to work at our beautiful sixth-floor premises on the Penn campus. 

Eligibility

We welcome applications from early career scholars with Ph.D. awarded by an institution other than the University of Pennsylvania. The chosen applicant must have successfully defended their dissertation by the fellowship start date. The appointment typically begins on August 15. 

Submitting Your Application

A complete application consists of: 

1. Cover Letter – Please include a section explaining how your research aligns with CARGC’s mission, fits with one or more CARGC research themes, and contributes to the field of global media and communication studies. 
   
2. Research Statement - In no more than three double-spaced pages, please explain your core research interests and how you plan to build on your dissertation research. Include research questions, topic significance, theoretical framework and methods, clear description of primary sources and necessary language skills, and a tentative publishing plan. 
   
3. CV (not to exceed three pages) – Please list degrees, peer-reviewed publications, academic non-peer-reviewed publications, public scholarship, invited talks, conference papers, other relevant qualifications, and specific research and language skills. 
   
4. References – Please provide names and contact information for three references (including that of your dissertation supervisor). If your application is shortlisted, we will get in touch with your referees in mid-January 2024. Please make sure your advisors/supervisors are aware of this timeline. 
   
5. One peer-reviewed publication – Please include a published peer-reviewed journal article or a chapter published in an anthology/edited collection. An article/chapter accepted for publication and forthcoming is acceptable (but not work that is under review).  
   

Timeline 

All materials must be sent as a single PDF document to cargc@asc.upenn.edu by December 1, 2023. Because of the volume of applications, we are unable to read drafts of submissions. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. We expect to contact finalists for Zoom interviews by the end of January and make final decisions shortly thereafter. 

Additional Information

If you have additional questions, please email us at cargc@asc.upenn.edu. Kindly do not contact CARGC staff or the CARGC director individually. 

The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.  Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected class. Questions or concerns about this should be directed to the Executive Director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, University of Pennsylvania, 421 Franklin Building, 3451 Walnut Street,  Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205; or (215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD). 

University of Augsburg

Department of Media, Knowledge, and Communication Prof. Dr. Helena Bilandzic (Media Effects and Processes)

Starting from February 1, 2024, fixed term: 3 years

We are looking for a research associate (Postdoc) for the research project "Science Communication about and with Communicative Artificial Intelligence: Emotions, Engagement, Effects," funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The project is dedicated to exploring the role of communicative artificial intelligence in science communication and aims to systematically investigate the dual role of AI as a mediator/communicator of socio-scientific topics and as a subject of science communication. In close interdisciplinary collaboration with another project in communication science and a project in computer science, relevant discourses will be analyzed using a combination of manual and automated methods, audience perceptions and effects will be studied, and finally an AI-based tool for science communication will be developed. The part of the project led by Helena Bilandzic focuses on audience perceptions and effects. In addition to theoretical and conceptual project work, you will be involved in presentations, publications, and research reports.

We expect:

• a Ph.D. in communication science or related disciplines such as sociology or psychology,

• excellent knowledge of methods in empirical social research,

• proficiency in English and a basic knowledge of German.

• openness in dealing with others, ability to work in a team, excellent communication skills.

• a structured and independent working style, good self-organization skills.

We offer:

• the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary, well-funded research project • a respectful and creative working environment with regular team meetings

• an excellent interdisciplinary and international network

• flexible working hours and home office arrangements

• postdoc pay grade TV-L 13 (100%)

The University of Augsburg is committed to gender equality in the workplace. Women are strongly encouraged to apply. Disabled applicants with otherwise similar qualifications, skills and professional performance will be given preferential consideration.

Please send your application (cover letter, CV, certificates) by e-mail (in one PDF document) to Prof Dr Helena Bilandzic, e-mail: helena.bilandzic@uni-a.de. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and the vacancy will remain open until the position is filled. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Prof Dr Helena Bilandzic.

November 2, 2023

Online

Since 2013, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) is commemorated on November 2 to raise awareness of the danger of impunity for crimes committed against journalists. This IDEI seeks to raise awareness of the important role that journalists play during election times by providing credible, fact-based reports.

As part of IDEI, the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM), based in the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Sheffield, will host an online panel on Wednesday 1 November at 1pm UK Time focusing on ‘journalism safety during elections’. The panel will have the opportunity to discuss safety issues journalists face during elections, how they handle these safety issues and what could be done to try and mitigate the dangers they face.

You can sign up to join the panel event here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/journalismattheuniversityofsheffield/1043118

Our Panel 

Mariam Gersamia is a media psychologist, professor at Tbilisi State University (Georgia), head of Master Program “Media Psychology and Communications”, founder of non-governmental organization “Media Voice” and media program manager at Transparency International Georgia.

Patrick Mutahi is the Media and Protection Consultant at ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa. He runs the media and protection programme, which includes supporting journalists at risk because of their work.

Fiona O’Brien is the UK Director for Reporters Without Borders, known internationally as Reporters sans frontières (RSF), which works for the freedom, pluralism and independence of the press. She was previously a foreign correspondent in Africa and the Middle East, and course director of the MA in Journalism at Kingston University.

Elodie Vialle is a journalist and an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, specializing in escalation channels for journalists and human rights defenders facing attacks on social media. She also serves as a Senior Advisor on Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America. Prior to that, she was a Fellow at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media, a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, and the Head of the Technology Desk at Reporters without Borders. She began her career as a TV journalist.

Lucy Westcott became director of the Committee to Protect Journalist’s Emergencies Department in October 2021. She oversees CPJ’s assistance and safety work worldwide. Westcott joined CPJ in 2018 as the James W. Foley Fellow. During her fellowship, she focused on safety issues for women journalists in non-hostile environments and assisted with the creation of safety resources for journalists globally. Prior to joining CPJ, Westcott was a staff writer for Newsweek, where she covered gender and immigration. She has reported for outlets including The Intercept, Bustle, The Atlantic, and Women Under Siege, and was a United Nations correspondent for the Inter Press Service.

January 25-26, 2024

Bucharest, Romania

Deadline: November 5, 2023

Research Network 18: Sociology of Communications and Media Research (ESA) in cooperation with the University of Bucharest, Romania

Mid-Term Conference

Recent technological developments and transformations in media and communication require a global reflection on their effects and outcomes on society, democracy and business. The platformisation process with its institutional dimensions: data infrastructures, markets and governance (Poell, Nieborg & van Dijck, 2019) led to new business models and relationships between social, market and political actors. Journalism as an institution has been under question for over a decade or even two (Deuze, 2020) as the news industry is declining. Journalism as a profession strives to retain or regain the people’s trust. With its recent advances artificial intelligence is seen as a threat or a chance for humanity. The AI’s impact on the media and communication sector is open for debate. Is it a threat or an asset for professional practice? At the same time, the hybridisation of communication professions – roughly defined as a mixture of journalistic and public relations and advertising&marketing practices in the digital context – adds new challenges in maintaining a fair and democratic public sphere and ensuring equal access to quality information.    

Our focus is to foster an open academic debate on broad themes related to the outcomes of digital transformation in contemporary media and communication. We encourage contributions that adhere to the critical sociology perspective.

ESA RN18 calls for contributions that in particular, but not exclusively, addressed to any of the following topics:

·       Market dominance, monopoly, and control through digital technology.

·       Possibilities and limits of current regulatory regimes of digital platforms in liberal democracies.

·       Media and communication professions: transformations, configurations, and challenges.

·       Digital communication: computational propaganda and democracy, fake news, nationalism, illiberal parties and movements.

·       Audiences’ vulnerability in social media – the impact of gender, social class, age and other identity categories.

The abstract (300 words) will contain the author’s/authors’ details, the study’s purpose, research questions, employed methodology or approach, (potential) results, and references.

The deadline for abstract submission is the 5th of November 2023, at the address: conference@fjsc.ro

Participation fee (includes lunch and coffee breaks): 90 Euros (ESA members and PhD students), 120 Euros (non-ESA members). 

Edited by Nicole Talmacs (University of Malta) and Altman (Yuzhu) Peng (University of Warwick)

Using the analogy of an orchestra, this edited volume looks at the ways in which the Party-state conducts communications in China today.

Rather than treating China’s communications system as purely one of centralised top-down control, this book proffers that it is the combination of the government through its state policies, the propaganda bureau’s campaigns, commercial consumer culture, digital and traditional media platforms, celebrities, entertainers and journalists, educators, community interest groups, and family and friends, who all contribute to the evolution of how ideas are perpetuated, enforced, and legitimised in China. 

Covering themes such as censorship, surveillance, national narratives onscreen and in everyday life, political agency, creative work, news production, and gender politics, this book gives an insight into the complex web of conditions, objectives, and challenges that the Chinese leadership and commercial interests face when orchestrating their visions for the nation’s future. 

https://www.routledge.com/Communications-in-Contemporary-China-Orchestrating-Thinking/Talmacs-Peng/p/book/9781032505749

February 7, 2024

NOVA University of Lisbon (In-person or online via Zoom)

Deadline: December 15, 2023

https://inovamedialab.fcsh.unl.pt/wellapp 

Wellness is capturing greater attention. Its reach and perception extend beyond the physical dimension encompassing emotions, spirituality or intellectuality. It focuses on a proactive Self who anticipates challenges and seeks a better version of oneself. Social media networks, digital platforms and software have been playing an essential role in the health and wellness sphere. 

In online environments, users seek information, share their thoughts and experiences and propose “recipes” or methods to achieve a better self. In addition to the forms of expression of wellness on social media networks, the number of mobile apps related to wellness has grown in digital stores. It is possible to find solutions inherent to promoting a wellness Self, whose functions can be as vast as monitoring activities and vital signs, the proposal of physical and mental exercises, emotional diaries, nutrition management, or increasing knowledge to mention some possibilities. We are open to contributions from scholars at all career stages. 

We look forward to submissions on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• The use of digital media for well-being expression;
  
• Health in the digital context: good practices, institutional uses;
  
• Wellness misinformation and disinformation;
  
• Social media and mental health; 
  
• Representations of wellness on media and social media;
  
• Mobile apps: analysis, uses, trends;
  
• Wellness as a business on social media;
  
• Digital influencers and wellness;
  
• Impact of online representation of wellness;
  
• Collective imagery of wellness;
  
• Online communities as spaces of wellness engagement;
  
• Organisations, Companies and Wellness
  
• Digital platforms detox.
  

We are happy to receive your abstract proposal (300 words max) by 15 December, 23:59 (CET). We kindly ask you to submit your abstract through the conference’s website: https://inovamedialab.fcsh.unl.pt/wellapp 

About the Conference

Join us on February 7, 2024, for the “Between Digital Wellness and Hellness: Negotiations, Appropriations, and Expressions” conference. A one-day event exploring the interplay between digital technology and wellness.

Featuring an engaging roundtable discussion with distinguished participants and dedicated scientific sessions, this conference aims to offer a place for scholars and practitioners to delve into cutting-edge research and insights. Attend in person at NOVA University of Lisbon’s Amphitheater 209 (Colégio Almada Negreiros), Campolide campus, or virtually via Zoom. The esteemed Scientific Committee, including Professor Miguel Crespo (ISCTE), alongside invited experts, Professors Ivone Ferreira and Ana Viseu (NOVA FCSH), ensures academic rigour. Participation is free of charge but demands registration at the website.

About the Project

WellApp – Wellness amplified or appified? Wellness management trending in everyday life is hosted by NOVA University of Lisbon, and supported by ICNOVA/iNOVA Media Lab.

The conference is funded within the scope of the WellApp project grant (ICNOVA/UIDB/004/2022/ WellApp) under the auspices of the research unit NOVA Institute of Communication (ICNOVA).

Read more about the project here (in Portuguese).

September 11-14, 2024

Bucharest, Romania

Deadline: March 15, 2023

EUPRERA 2024 Congress

We are happy to invite members and colleagues to the EUPRERA XXV annual congress, taking place in Bucharest on September 11-14, 2024, and co-organized by the Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania on the theme The Art of Communication: Bridging the Future and Past of Strategic Communication in a New Technological Ecosystem.

In addition to sessions and panels, the programme will also include:

• multiple activities from our networks,
  
• the Paper Development Workshop,
  
• the PhD Seminar,
  
• the Education Café,
  
• a session on project collaboration proposals (new!),
  
• activities from EUNES European Network of Emerging Scholars.
  

Call for Papers

Academics, PhD students and practitioners are invited to submit papers and panel proposals related to the congress theme and tracks:

Track 1 – Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Communication Research

Track 2 – The Future of Strategic Communication: Ethical Implications and Impact of Emergent PR Tools

Track 3 – Learning from the Past of Strategic Communication: Old Theories in a New Ecosystem

Track 4 – Community, Communication, and Stakeholders’ Interactions in the New Technological Ecosystem

Education track (new!) – Public Relations and Strategic Communication Education Research

Open track – Current Research in (Strategic) Communication and Public Relations

THREE TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS ARE POSSIBLE:

1. Short-length paper (double-blind review),

2. Full-length research paper (double-blind review),

3. Panel proposal.

Important dates

Deadline for abstracts: March 15

Feedback on abstracts:  May 28

Full programme release: June 25

Submission of final full paper: August 25

Publications

Authors who have successfully submitted and presented papers at the congress can enter the selection for:

a special issue of the Journal of Communication Management (publication conditional upon the double-blind peer review process of the journal)

the EUPRERA Congress Book (edited collection), part of the Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management series, published by Emerald (publication conditional upon a peer-review process by the editors).

Call for Papers | The programme | Poster

University of Groningen

Excellent research assessments and growing student numbers enable the Department of Media Studies and Journalism to hire an assistant professor of Social Media and Politics. 

More info: https://edu.nl/cjfye

Candidates have a research agenda that focuses on the interplay between social media and politics. This could include a more narrow focus on party and parliamentary politics, but also on politics at large, including online debate, informed citizenship, news and misinformation, polarisation and harassment, connective action and protest movements, or the politics of everyday life. Candidates should be able to work with computational methods to study social media platforms and messenger services. Preferably, candidates have proven teaching skills with R and Python, experience with statistical analysis, and are interested in interdisciplinary research. Candidates are expected to teach in our BA and MA programs with theory courses such as “Political Action in the Network Society” and methods courses including introductory level statistical analysis with R, social network analysis, and/or automated text analysis.

We expect candidates to teach courses in media studies on the BA and MA level, and contribute to our research programme. The position combines teaching (60%) and research (40%). 

Media Studies in Groningen 

The international, English-taught BA programme in Media Studies focuses on the social and informative functions of media. It is rooted in the humanities but also draws upon methods and paradigms developed in the social sciences and other disciplines. The degree aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of the affordances of different platforms and the interplay between them; the political and economic underpinnings of media systems; patterns of use, production and content; and the functions and impact of media in culture and society. Throughout the curriculum it provides a comparative perspective by studying media in their cultural, historical, economic, political and international contexts. “Politics and Global Citizenship” is one of the profile students can choose in the second year of the programme. It has an annual enrolment of 120-140 students from all parts of the world.

The MA programmes “Social Media and Society”, “Datafication and Digital Literacy” and ‘Media Creation and Innovation’ provide students with cutting-edge knowledge of the digital transformations that profoundly change society. The MA programmes in Journalism focus on high quality reporting in a cross-media setting with a strong focus on digital skills and innovation, and combine academic reflection with academic skills. Our BA and MA programmes rank first among all Media Studies programmes in the Netherlands in the national student survey.

Research is conducted within the interdisciplinary Centre for Media and Journalism Studies. Its strategic themes focus on “Citizenship and Inclusion in Digital Societies”, “Data Infrastructures & Algorithmic Practices”, “New Interdependencies of Journalism” and “Cultures of Media Production”. Members of the Centre have been successful in recent years in attracting external research funding. If appointed, the candidates are expected to actively contribute to a vibrant research environment. They are provided ample support in applying for bids with national and international funding agencies. 

The successful applicant is expected to:

- teach and supervise students in the department’s undergraduate and graduate programmes. International candidates will teach solely in English. They are expected to follow a Dutch language course

- participate actively in curriculum development, design and administration of course modules

- conduct and generate top research in media studies or communication studies

- pursue research grants and other forms of external funding

- participate actively in international research networks and build international collaborations

- participate actively in the activities of the interdisciplinary research Centre for Media and Journalism Studies.

Requirements

In addition to a number of basic requirements set by the University of Groningen, such as excellent social and communication skills, presentation skills, coaching skills and a results-oriented attitude, we are looking for candidates who have: 

- a PhD in Political Communication, Media Studies, Communication Studies, or related fields

- wide-ranging knowledge of political communication, social media and computational methods, with proficiency in R and Python

- teaching experience at university level and proven didactic abilities

- gained their University Teaching Qualification or are prepared to do so within two years

- an excellent research track record, including relevant publications

- an outstanding national and international academic network as well as strong contacts with professionals in the field

- willingness to make substantial contributions to the development of the Department’s research and educational programmes

- organisational experience and skills

- excellent command of English (at least CEFR B2/C1 level for reading, listening, writing and speaking), and the willingness to learn Dutch in due course.

Conditions of employment

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary based on qualifications and experience of between € 4,332 and € 5,929 (salary scale 11) gross per month for a full time position a full-time position (1.0 FTE)

• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income 

• an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance

• minimum of 29 holidays and additional 12 holidays in case of full-time employment.

The appointment will be initially for a period of one year (standard in the Netherlands, according to the Collective Labour Agreement), with the possibility of appointment for an indefinite period (permanent contract). This will be determined based on a positive appraisal as well as the needs of the programme. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for the University of Groningen (Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities 2022-2023, available in English at http://www.vsnu.nl).

Preferred date of entry into employment is 1 February 2024, or as soon as possible