[ecrea] From Theory to Practice: How to Assess, Measure and Apply Impartiality in News and Current Affairs

*Call for papers*

*From Theory to Practice: How to Assess, Measure and Apply Impartiality 
in News and Current Affairs*

The Media Content Practices and Effects Program at the Media Management 
and Transformation Centre, Jönköping International Business School, 
invites submissions for an international conference /From Theory to 
Practice: How to Assess, Measure and Apply Impartiality in News and 
Current Affairs /scheduled for November 18-19, 2011, at Jönköping 
International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden.

* *

*The topic*

The impact of digital technologies on news flows is resulting in a 
number of different trends. Traditionally, separate and independent news 
platforms have converged as new services and digital devices blur the 
boundaries between news from television, radio and print, creating a 
single market for video/audio/text, and add new formats for information 
flows such as social networking and blogs. This has also turned news 
consumers into news content creators with the ability to create and 
upload content as well as download it.

News is accessible today almost anywhere and at anytime through handheld 
devices and wireless connections. News consumers can not only pick and 
choose content but can also package and tailor content to their 
interests. Technology has sharply reduced the gatekeeping role of 
traditional news gatherers and producers (reporters and editors) in 
controlling content flows to audiences. Today’s news consumers can 
easily shun news content which holds no interest for them. Today’s 
audiences can no longer be characterized as a distant and passive public.

The evolving news milieu and political and cultural landscape are 
evolving rapidly, making it hard to pin down what “impartiality” really 
means.

There are, of course, factors that influence news content impartiality. 
Politics, resources and news organizations impose their own constraints. 
In a multicultural and global information environment, views of what is 
“good and evil” diverge. Western notions of impartiality are being 
challenged by powerful new media outlets such as al-Jazeera where the 
news culture sees what is right and wrong in a different way and where 
distinct news paradigms are emerging.

The conference is intended to identify some tentative but practical 
tools to enhance news organizations efforts to be as impartial as 
possible. The purpose is not to simply review general guidelines news 
organizations have about impartiality but to identify how changes in 
news consumers’ habits and expectations are effecting the public 
understanding of information about social issues and world events 
necessary for effective participation in democratic governance and how 
news organizations can adjust their practices to address these changes. 
While the prescription of definitive solutions or an impartiality 
template is beyond the capacity of any single conference, the organizers 
hope to identify issues and some concrete proposals for practical action 
regarding different aspects of the evolving state of news gathering, 
production and consumption.

*Suggested themes*

The conference will try to seek ways and tools to answer a range of 
questions:

- Is it sufficient to rely on the traditional measures of impartiality 
in the culture of news organizations as the key to ensuring independent, 
impartial and honest news coverage?

- Does impartiality entail equal space for every attitude?

- How can news organizations most rationally and honestly represent the 
diversity of points of view on social and political issues?

- Do news organizations need to provide more analysis and conclusions 
based on the evidence provided when covering disputed issues, 
particularly those that arise from other cultural contexts?

- How can news organizations provide information content that is clearly 
perceived as more impartial and trustworthy than content provided by 
bloggers and others representing distinct opinions or points of view?

- When is impartiality at risk and how does this relate to evolving 
delivery platforms and audience consumption patterns?

- What kinds of mechanisms or procedures should newsrooms use to resolve 
questions regarding difficult coverage issues?

- How are standards of impartiality affected by the personal beliefs and 
experience of reporters and editors?

- How far should audience expectations be involved in determining what 
constitutes standards of impartiality?

- In assessing the level of impartiality of coverage, to what degree 
should analysis of individual stories versus total coverage over time be 
considered and what weight should be given to audience perceptions of 
the coverage and understanding of the underlying facts? What tools or 
procedures should be used by news organizations to evaluate these measures?

- To what degree should news organizations assess the personal beliefs 
of journalists regarding issues that they are assigned to cover and 
avoid assignments where strong personal convictions may interfere with 
the journalist’s ability to report impartially?

- How do we ascertain that we are immune from unconscious self-censorship?

*Important dates*

Deadline for the submission of abstracts August 15, 2011

Notification of acceptance August 25, 2011

Deadline for submission of full papers October 31, 2011

Details of registration will be issued after the acceptances.

Please send your abstracts to: (barbara.eklof /at/ jibs.hj.se) 
<mailto:(barbara.eklof /at/ jibs.hj.se)>

For any questions concerning this Call for Papers contact: 
(leon.barkho /at/ jibs.hj.se) <mailto:(leon.barkho /at/ jibs.hj.se)>

Leon Barkho, Ph.D.

Manager, Media Content Effects and Practices Program

Media Management and Transformation Centre (MMTC)

Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Organization and Leadership (ESOL)

Jönköping International Business School

P.O. Box 1026

SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden

Email: (leon.barkho /at/ jibs.hj.se) <mailto:(leon.barkho /at/ jibs.hj.se)>

Telephone: +46 36 10 18 92

Mobile: +46 735 636 403

www.mmtcentre.se <http://www.mmtcentre.se/>