Dear Colleagues,
May I draw your attention to this event which is co-organised by the
University of Westminster and the Communication Law and Policy Section. The
deadline is rather soon. We hope to see you as many interested colleagues
there as possible.
With best wishes
Katharine Sarikakis
Chair
ECREA CLP Section
CALL FOR PAPERS
IS THE PUBLIC INTEREST UNDER THREAT?
MEDIA POLICY RESPONSES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR RECESSION IN EUROPE
Symposium jointly organised by the
Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of
Westminster, and the
European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
Date: 2 October, 2009
Venue: University of Westminster, Regent Str Campus,
309 Regent Str, London W1B 2UW
THE TOPIC
In virtually every European country, the private media sector is suffering
intense economic pressure from the cyclical downturn in advertising and the
structural shift of advertising revenue to the web. As a result,
corporations are pursuing every avenue to exploit new and existing means of
generating revenue, and of maximising the potential of digitalisation. This
is having a direct impact on the policy making process at both national and
supranational levels as governments and regulatory agencies are coming under
increasing pressure to restrict new initiatives in the public sector, to
apply the strictest possible criteria to publicly funded media
organizations, and to relax overall regulatory oversight of the private
sector.
This symposium will seek to bring together scholars and regulators from
around Europe to discuss the nature of new policy initiatives being
canvassed or implemented, and their repercussions for promoting (or
foreclosing) the public interest. Topics of particular interest include, but
are not limited to:
. Means of exploiting the "public" to alleviate pressures on the
"private" (partnership deals, sharing proceeds of public funding etc.)
. Limits on expansion or interpretation of public service
broadcaster remits
. Circumscribing funding opportunities for Public Service Media
(PSM)
. Proposals to change or reduce advertising controls or restrictions
. Relaxing restrictions on concentration of ownership
. Proposals to change or relax cross-ownership regimes at local,
regional or national levels
. Initiatives and responses at the EU level
There will be three themed sessions and one plenary session consisting of
two keynote speakers. The precise themes will depend on abstracts received,
but are provisionally designated as
i. relaxation of regulatory regimes and potential
consequences
ii. pressures on PSBs and regimes of public funding
iii. ownership, consolidation and threats to pluralism
The model for this symposium will be short position papers of no more than
10 minutes in length designed to prompt cross-national discussion and
debate. Our objective is to promote a better understanding of how
governments and regulators within Europe are responding to the inevitable
pressure to accommodate the private sector, and perhaps to anticipate some
of the consequences. The emphasis will therefore be on discussion and
exchange.
Our intention is then to select around 10 papers to be written up for an
edited collection arising out of the symposium.
PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION
The symposium will take place from 9.30 to 5.30 on Friday, October 2nd.
There will be three sessions consisting of concurrent panels and one plenary
session. Online registration will open in September 2009.
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS
Abstracts (between 300 and 500 words) addressing one or more of the above
topics, and including a brief set of questions posed by the proposed paper,
should be emailed in Word-format to <(Journalism /at/ wmin.ac.uk)
<mailto:(Journalism /at/ wmin.ac.uk)> > by Monday July 20th, 2009. Each abstract
must include the presenter's name, affiliation, email and postal address,
together with the title of the paper and a brief biographical note on the
presenter.
The selection committee will comprise members of CAMRI's Policy Group and
ECREA's Communication Law & Policy Group. Applicants will be advised by the
end of July 2009 of the outcome of their submissions.
More information will be available in due time on the conference websites:
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/camri <http://www.wmin.ac.uk/camri>
http://commlawpolicy.wordpress.com <http://commlawpolicy.wordpress.com/>
<https://webmail.wmin.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://commlawpolicy.w
ordpress.com/>
