Call for Papers: A special issue of/Global Media and China/(A Sage
journal)
Theme: “Citizen Journalism in Asian Countries”
Guest Editors: Xin Zeng, Stuart Allan, Savyasaachi Jain and An Nguyen
Target issue: Winter 2018 (December)
Deadline: Submission of Extended Abstracts: March 30, 2018 (500 words)
OVERVIEW
In the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami of 26 December 2004, the
term ‘citizen journalism’ quickly gained currency with news
organisations finding themselves in the difficult position of being
largely dependent on ‘amateur content’ to tell the story of what was
transpiring on the ground in the most severely affected areas. Despite
its ambiguities, the term was widely perceived to capture the
countervailing ethos of the ordinary person’s capacity to contribute
to professional news coverage, thereby providing commentators with a
useful label to characterise an ostensibly new genre of reportage.
Over the years since, it has become increasingly apparent that for
varied reasons, priorities and motivations, so-called ‘accidental
journalists’ – be they survivors, bystanders, first-responders, law
enforcement, combatants, activists or the like – feel compelled to
bear witness, often at considerable personal risk. The implications
for news organisations have been profound.
This special issue focuses on citizen journalism in Asian countries in
order to identify and explore a range of important questions regarding
its significance for the changing nature of journalism and society.
Possible topics to be examined may include:
• the perceived impact of citizen journalism on
established Asian news organisations
• how Asian journalists re-evaluate their professional
identities, duties and ethics in response to citizen journalism
• the role of citizen journalism in crisis situations
• “fake news” masquerading as citizen journalism spreading
through social media
• Asian citizen journalists’ use of global online social
networks – such as Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat – and the creation of
sustainable alternatives (such as Weibo and WeChat in China)
• citizen journalism as a form of empowerment, such as in
the advancement of human rights
• viewers, listeners or readers perceptions of citizen
journalism in Asian countries
• innovation and experimentation in citizen journalism
Other topics are welcome, of course; the above list is suggestive of
possibilities.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND REVIEW PROCESS:
The deadline for submitting abstracts is March 30, 2018. Abstracts
should be 500 words in length, detailing the purpose, methods, and
main points of research. The abstracts should be submitted to Dr Xin
Zeng by email (atzxbarbara36 /at/ hotmail.com) <mailto:(zxbarbara36 /at/ hotmail.com)>.
Following peer-review, a selection of authors will be invited to
submit a full paper in accordance with the journal’s ‘Instructions for
authors.’ Please note acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee
publication, given that all papers will be put through the journal’s
peer review process.
Please refer to the full submission guidelines available
at:https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/asi/global-media-and-china/journal202494#submission-guidelines
GUEST EDITORS
Stuart Allan is Professor and Head of the School of Journalism, Media
and Culture (JOMEC) at Cardiff University, UK. Stuart’s publications
include the authored book Citizen Witnessing: Revisioning Journalism
in Times of Crisis (2013), as well as the edited collections Citizen
Journalism: Global Perspectives (co-edited with Einar Thorsen, Vol. 1,
2009; Vol. 2, 2014) and Photojournalism and Citizen Journalism:
Co-operation, Collaboration and Connectivity (2017). Much of his
current research focuses on the evolving ecology of citizen media in a
digital age, particularly in war, conflict and crisis situations.
Xin Zeng is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Journalism and
Communication Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Science. She holds a
PhD from Bournemouth University, UK, and was a visiting scholar in
National Chengchi University, Taiwan in 2017. Her research interests
include citizen journalism, media literacy, youth culture in the
cyberspace, young people and their political engagement on multimedia
platforms. Her publications include: Young people’s consumption of
news on social media and demands on news literacy education in the
digital age; Young people’s online culture and the Internet literacy
education in the digital age.
Savyasaachi Jain is Senior Lecturer at the School of Journalism, Media
and Cultural Studies (JOMEC) in Cardiff University, UK. He specialises
in journalism and documentary, drawing upon more than two decades as a
print and television journalist and documentary filmmaker. He also has
extensive experience of initiating and leading media development
projects on behalf of international organisations, supervising
documentary co-productions and conducting workshops for journalists
and programme makers. His research interests encompass journalism, its
practices and standards, and international media systems.
An Nguyen is Associate Professor of Journalism at Bournemouth
University, UK. A former Vietnamese science journalist and an
Australian-educated journalism scholar, he has published three books
and about 40 papers in the areas of online journalism, digital news
consumption, citizen journalism, science journalism, data and
statistics in the news, and global media coverage of development
issues. His most recent work, News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a
Data-Driven World (Bloomsbury, 2018), is an edited volume on how data
and statistics are used by journalists and received by news audiences.
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Global Media and China is a peer reviewed, open access, scholarly
journal that provides a dedicated, interdisciplinary forum for
international research on communication and media with a focus on
China. It covers both Chinese communication and media from a global
perspective, and global communication and media from a Chinese
perspective. The journal actively encourages both quantitative and
qualitative approaches to media, communications and social studies
while seeking to advance the field by publishing innovative and
thought-provoking papers, reviews and discussions that open up new
directions or shed new light on significant issues.
