[ecrea] Journalism and societal questions through the prism of cultural industries.

JOURNALISM AND SOCIETAL QUESTIONS THROUGH THE PRISM OF CULTURAL INDUSTRIES.

Conference co-organised by the GRESEC (Research 
Group on Communication Issues ? EA 608), Stendhal 
University, Grenoble, and Labsic (Laboratory in 
Information and Communication Sciences ? EA 1803), North Paris University.

Institute of Communication and Media (Echirolles) ? 26th and 27th of May 2011


Societal questions (related to ecology, 
sustainable development, health, well-being, 
violence, security, risk, etc.) are nowadays 
pregnant in the public space (Miège, 2010), to 
the point of practically forming a full-fledged 
journalistic speciality. Being part of a highly 
competitive market and prevailing themselves with 
a role of ?mirror of the society? and relay of 
societal debates, the media, as well as 
journalism, reflect and maintain their visibility 
under multiple forms, and thus are permanently 
operating adjustments (Ruellan, 2005) in terms of 
the practices led by the journalists and 
development strategies for media groups.

On one hand, the journalistic coverage of these themes concern together:
-	the different registers and levels of media 
discourse (emotion, empathy, emphasis, moral, involvement?);
-	the media used (print, audiovisual, internet: 
sites, blogs, forums, as well as multisupport);
-	the different journalistic ways of 
writing  (the use of testimonials, the 
valorisation of emblematic actors, the use of 
commonly agreed upon expression: risk, the principle of precaution?);
-	the journalistic genres (portrait, editorial, gonzo journalism?).

On the other hand, media coverage of these new 
themes in the contemporary public space is not 
initiated nor mastered by the media industry 
only. New actors and communicational devices take 
part in this evolution, deeply enrolled in an 
industrial context. The recent mutations in the 
cultural, informational and communication 
industries have disrupted the media companies 
(from both information production and 
distribution point of views), as well as the 
terms contributing to making these societal interrogations public.

In this optic, the progressive visibility given 
to societal questions simultaneously enrolls in 
the different ongoing socio-economic and socio-professional processes:
-	touching the infrastructures of Cultural, 
Informational and Communication Industries (CICI) 
(the economic crisis, the multiplication of 
digital media, the emergence of free papers, the 
financialization movements, the increasing 
concentration, multisupport producing [Gestin et 
alii], the externalization of the production [Rebillard], etc.) ;
-	touching the new terms of public expression 
(digital techniques, communication devices 
allowing participation, public debates, blogs, 
devices allowing interaction, etc.);
-	disrupting the terms of militant expression, 
whether more or less organized: associations, social networks, etc.

Considering journalism as constitutive of the 
cultural industries, the aim of this conference 
is to question the relation between journalism 
and societal questions through the prism of these 
industries. Thus it intends to bring answers and 
encourage reflexions on the following questions: 
how are the processes that bring journalism to 
seizing societal questions, intrinsically related 
to the mechanisms of the cultural industries? 
What are the economic, political and social 
issues that raise these new productions and journalistic activities?
The proposals are expected to question journalism 
through the prism of cultural industries and will 
show the incidences on the journalistic field and its practices.

The proposals can notably be focused on one of the following dimensions:

1.	Journalistic productions, a ?call product? 
(meaning a product that attracts audience in 
order to present them with a different panel of 
products afterwards) for the media and non-media companies?
In context of CICI mutations, this conference 
proposes to open a reflexion at the crossing of 
the socio-economic analysis of the CICI, 
journalism and media sociology in order to 
question the real nature of contemporary 
journalism, that spreads further than the 
editorial press offer, let it be digital. The 
offer of information is nowadays marked by a 
strong heterogeneity: for companies, not only 
media-related, some journalistic productions are 
considered ?call products?, meaning they offer 
ritualised stories that are renewed daily, only 
to encourage the consumer towards portals and 
other derived products with added-value (ex.: 
news provided about ?services?, ?health?, 
?consumption?, critiques, chronicles published in 
the free newspapers, internet sites, or some TDT 
channels). The aim being to react to strong 
competition inside media groups, from one group 
to another, from one media to another, etc.

2.	The extension of the journalistic field 
(service related news, expertises, alerts, infotainment?)
As a consequence to the multiplication of the 
journalistic offer, the journalistic field itself 
is experiencing an expansion (Ringoot, Utard, 
2006): societal questions allow new actors to 
acquire an ?alert giving? status (Chateauraynaud, 
Torny, 1999). Some associations or personalities 
then become specialists (and strategists) in 
alerting on such and such theme via the media. 
They create ?public attention? (Céfai, 2003) on 
these subjects and establish the necessary 
conditions for publishing these new questions 
(risks, sustainable development, illnesses, 
etc.). Thus, inside the journalistic space, 
editorials appear in their premiere functions 
(Riutord, 2002) while the journalistic discourse 
registers (De la Haye, 1985) evolve in the 
writing forms, sometimes relatively close to 
communication (such as advertisement reports).

3.	From citizen?s news to the reminder of social duties?
Media discourses are increasingly the relay of 
certain currents of thought elaborated inside 
reflexion groups (such as think tanks)(Quaderni 
n°70, 2009), or pick up emerging social debates, 
thus breaking with one of the most built in norms 
of journalism, that is to say neutrality. 
Furthermore, and to that respect, the 
journalistic discourse seems to be increasingly 
echoing the norms that are to be published and 
adopted, whether in a particular sector ? such as 
health or ecology ? and to the point of editing 
what may be the ?right? behaviour, or the ?right? journalism.

4.	The participative potentials of the internet: 
a societal question in its self, or only just a vector?
Nowadays the internet and the participation 
potential it allows are erected to the rank of a 
societal question: whether a tool for democracy 
(access to information), the improvement of 
freedom (Wikileaks, Le Post), it is also said be 
the solution to the crisis that the press 
industry is experiencing (on the lookout for a 
sustainable economic model for digitally provided 
information). Moreover, the actors who carry 
emerging societal questions by-pass the 
traditional media mechanisms by massively using 
the digital networks. Thus, the media make 
themselves the relay of these debates concerning 
the potentials of the internet, and furthermore 
on the growing issues implied by the 
diversification of journalistic practices. Does 
the media?s mention of this issue - now become a 
societal question, often orienting the debate 
towards what the ?right? journalism, or ?real? 
journalism should be ? lead to reorganization 
inside the press company? Are the evolutions, 
linked to the various technical communication 
devices in online papers, prompted by these 
debates - although these are often seemed to be 
used as a window, rather than really taken into 
consideration by the head actors of the company? 
Does online journalism serve the interests of 
?alert givers?, and has that become a new opportunity for the press groups?

SCIENTIFIC COMITY
AUGEY Dominique, Professor in ?Sciences 
Economiques?, CERGAM, Université Paul Cézanne, Aix-Marseille 3, France.
BENSON Rodney, Associate Professor of Media, 
Culture and Communication, University of New-York, USA, to be confirmed.
BOUQUILLION Philippe, Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, CEMTI, University Paris 8, France.
COMAN Mihaï, Professor in Communication 
Sociology, faculty of Journalism and ?Sciences de 
la Communication?, Université de Bucarest, Roumania.
DARRAS Eric, Professor in Political Science, 
LassP, Institut d?Etudes Politiques, Toulouse, France.
DAHLGREN Peter, Professor Emeritus in Media and 
Communication, Lund University, Sweden.
LAFON Benoit, Associate Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, Gresec, 
University Stendhal, Grenoble 3, France.
MIÈGE Bernard, Professor Emeritus in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, Gresec, 
University Stendhal, Grenoble 3, France.
MOEGLIN Pierre, Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, LABSIC, University Paris Nord, France.
RIEFFEL Rémy, Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, CARISM, University Paris Assas, France.
ROMEYER Hélène, Associate Professor in ?Sciences 
de l?Information et de la Communication?, IUT 
Lannion, Gresec, University Rennes 1, France.
SCHLESINGER Philipp, Professor, University of Glasgow, UK,  to be confirmed.
TREMBLAY Gaëtan, Professor, École des Médias, 
GRICIS, Faculty of Communication, University of Québec, Montréal, Canada.
WATINE Thierry, Professor in ?Sciences de la 
communication?, University Laval, Québec, Canada, to be confirmed.
WITTE Barbara, Professor in Journalism, Hochschule, Bremen, Germany.

ORGANIZATION COMITY
HAMMACHE Razika, Gresec secretary.
HOLUBOWICZ Maria, Associate Professor in 
?Sciences de l?Information ? Communication?, 
University Stendhal, Grenoble 3, France.
LAFON Benoit, Associate Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information ? Communication?, University Stendhal, Grenoble 3, France.
LEGENDRE Bertrand, Professor in ?Sciences de 
l'Information et de la Communication?, LABSIC, Paris Nord, France.
NAIT BOUDA Faïza, PhD student, Gresec, Grenoble, France.
PAILLIART Isabelle, Professor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information ? Communication?, Gresec, University Stendhal Grenoble 3, France.
ROMEYER Hélène, Associate Professor in ?Sciences 
de l?Information ? Communication?, Gresec, 
University Stendhal Grenoble 3, France.
SALLES Chloë, Doctor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, Gresec, Grenoble, France.
SCHMITT Laurie, Doctor in ?Sciences de 
l?Information et de la Communication?, Gresec, Grenoble, France.
SOUZAPAES Paula, PhD student, Gresec, Grenoble, France.

CONFERENCE COORDINATION
Hélène Romeyer , 
((helene.romeyer /at/ -u-grenoble3.fr)), et Benoit Lafon ((benoit.lafon /at/ u-grenoble3.fr))

PROVISIONAL CALENDAR
19 février 	Deadline for papers (in French or 
English). 4000 signs including presentation of 
the fieldwork and theoretical background on which the author bases his text.

Address: (helene.romeyer /at/ u-grenoble3.fr) et (benoit.lafon /at/ u-grenoble3.fr)
25 mars	Meeting of the scientific comity.
26 mars 	Notification to the authors of their admission or refusal.
13 mai	Deadline for conference papers. They will 
exclusively be published in French.
26 et 27 mai	Conference.


PUBLICATION
Articles resulting from the conference 
presentations will be published in Les Enjeux de 
l?information et de la communication.
A selection of papers and a synthesis of the 
debates will then be published in a book.

----------------
ECREA-Mailing list
----------------
This mailing list is a free service from ECREA.
---
To unsubscribe, please visit http://www.ecrea.eu/mailinglist
---
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Postal address:
ECREA
Université Libre de Bruxelles
c/o Dept. of Information and Communication Sciences
CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, b-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------