Perception, Reception and
Deception:
The role of the media in society
Trinity College Dublin, 19-21 April 2011
The 4th
biennial Media History conference will focus on the ways in which
people have understood the social, cultural and political roles of the
media over the past five centuries. The concept of ‘the media’ will be
interpreted broadly, so as to include newspapers, magazines and one-off
publications which included news and information, as well as manuscript,
aural, visual, and broadcast and other electronic sources.
A great deal of work
has been done by scholars on the institutional, political and cultural
history of various forms of media. ‘Perception, Reception and Deception’
will build on this literature to explore the ways in which print,
manuscript, visual representations and the broadcast media have been
understood, conceptualised, and imaginatively represented in the
societies in which they were produced. It will, in other words, focus not
on media production but on the reception, depiction and perception of the
media by individuals and groups of individuals in a variety of different
contexts over time.
How have readers,
consumers, and the industry itself framed arguments about the media as a
force for good (or evil) at different points in time? Have contemporaries
always seen the media as an agent of change, or is there a
counter-history of the media to be written in terms of promoting
conservatism, deference and order? How have people understood and
represented the media in terms of concepts of personal and geographical
space, time and changing belief systems? Can we think
‘internationally’ about the similarities and differences between
perceptions of the media in different states and nations over time, or is
the media still best understood and examined in largely local or regional
contexts? How, in short, have men and women answered in
different contexts the apparently simple questions, ‘what is the media,
and what is it for?’
Abstracts, of no more
than 200 words for papers of between 20 to 25 minutes duration, should be
sent by close of business on 30 September 2010 to
(Mediahistory2011 /at/ gmail.com)
.
We welcome proposals
from a range of chronological, geographical and methodological
backgrounds.
‘Perception, Reception
and Deception’ is jointly organised by the
Trinity Long Room Hub,
Trinity College Dublin, the
Centre For Media History, Aberystwyth University, and the journal
Media
History.
Additional enquiries
can be directed to one or more of the following:
Dr. Jason McElligott,
Dr Sian Nicholas or
Professor Tom O’Malley..
