[ecrea] CfP for London conference on Journalism in India 12 September

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*UNIVERSITY** OF WESTMINSTER***

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*INDIA** MEDIA CENTRE*

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*CALL FOR PAPERS*

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The India Media Centre, University of Westminster presents

an International Conference**

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*The changing face of journalism in India*

*Date*: Monday 12 September 2011

*Venue*: University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London

*Conference organizer*: Professor Daya Thussu, Co-Director of India 
Media Centre, University of Westminster

The transformation of journalism in India -- the world's largest 
democracy and one of its fastest growing economies -- has implications 
for journalism around the world. With approaching 100 round-the-clock 
news channels - unrivalled in any other country - India boasts the 
world's most linguistically diverse news landscape. This offers exciting 
opportunities, as well as challenges to professional journalists and 
scholars of international journalism.

The India Media Centre, the world's first academic centre dedicated to 
study globalizing tendencies of media in India, is organizing a 
pioneering conference to address the implications of this major media 
development. This international gathering will bring together 
journalists and journalism scholars from around the world to examine the 
changing face of journalism in India and its impact on the rest of the 
world.

According to the World Association of Newspapers, the sale of newspapers 
in India is booming: circulation grew by 46 per cent between 2000 and 
2008 and more than 99 million copies of newspapers are sold in India 
every day. /The Times of India/ is now the world's largest circulated, 
English-language 'quality' newspaper. From FM and community radio to 
on-line media, journalists are finding new ways to communicate with a 
demanding and fragmenting audience, including a young and vocal, 
middle-class diaspora. International media conglomerates -- from 
financial, to sport journalism to entertainment news -- are extending 
and embedding their operations into what is one of the world's biggest 
news bazaars.

The study of journalism has scarcely kept up with this massive expansion 
and proliferation of media outlets. Although in the past decade, India 
has witnessed a mushrooming of mostly private, vocationally-oriented 
journalism institutes, academic research in this field remains at a very 
early stage. Internationally, too, the study of journalism in India has 
rarely moved beyond the superficial. The journalism scene in India 
raises some key questions: has excessive marketization and competition 
encouraged journalists to move away from a public-service news agenda to 
a 'soft,' version of news, with its emphasis on consumer journalism, 
sports and entertainment? Is a market-driven news media eroding the 
public sphere in a Habermasian sense, in a country where a majority of 
the people still live in poverty? Given the scale and globalizing 
tendencies of media in India, what are the international implications of 
these developments for journalism?

Suggested topics for papers include, but are not restricted to, the 
following:

   * Marketization of news and commentary
   * Journalism ethics and professionalism
   * Infotainment and Bollywoodization of news
   * The future of public broadcasting news
   * The rise of FM radio
   * Transnational journalism in India
   * The phenomenon of 'Paid news'
   * Globalizing tendencies of Indian journalism
   * The revolution in vernacular press
   * News on-line
   * Sting operations and changing cultures of investigative journalism
   * Alternative news journalism
   * The demise of development news?

*Plenary* *speakers to include*:

Dr Sarmila Bose, University of Oxford

Andrew Whitehead, Editor, News and Current Affairs, BBC World Service

Abhik Sen, /The Economist/, London

William Crawley, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of London

Dr Zareer Masani, formerly of the BBC

*Conference fee*: £90, with a concessionary rate of £45 for students, to 
cover attendance at all sessions, refreshments and lunches as well as 
conference documentation. Conference registration will be open to all 
and not conditional upon presenting a paper.

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*Abstracts: *These should be between 200-350 words and must include the 
presenter's name, institutional affiliation, email and postal address, 
together with the title of the paper and a brief biographical note. 
Please submit in word format and include your name when saving the 
document. Deadline for submission: *Friday July 1*, *2011*. Please email 
these to Helen Cohen, Events Administrator at 
(indiamediaconferences /at/ westminster.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(indiamediaconferences /at/ westminster.ac.uk)>

Conference team: Professor Daya Thussu, Dr Daisy Hasan, Savyasaachi Jain 
and Helen Cohen.

For general academic enquiries please contact Professor Daya Thussu at 
(D.K.Thussu /at/ westminster.ac.uk) <mailto:(D.K.Thussu /at/ westminster.ac.uk)>

Dr. Daya Thussu
Professor of International Communication and Co-Director of India Media 
Centre

Communication and Media Research Institute
School of Media, Arts and Design
University of Westminster
Northwick Park, Harrow HA1 3TP
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 79115000 ext. 4157
Fax: 020 79115943
(D.K.Thussu /at/ westminster.ac.uk)
www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/camri/research-staff/thussu,-daya

Managing Editor
/Global Media and Communication
/http://gmc.sagepub.com 
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