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[Commlist] Symposium: "Journalism, Media and the Normalization of (Right-Wing) Populism and Nativist Authoritarianism"
Wed Jan 13 15:05:50 GMT 2021
*/Journalism, Media and the Normalization of (Right-Wing) Populism and
Nativist Authoritarianism: Analysis of Practices and Counteracting
Strategies before and during the COVID-19./ *International Symposium,
4-5 February 2021 (online, via Zoom)
ORGANIZERS
Professor Michał Krzyżanowski, Department of Informatics and Media,
Uppsala University, Sweden & Professor Mats Ekström, Department of
Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), Gothenburg University, Sweden.
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM
This International Symposium is co-organised by the Department of
Informatics and Media, Media and Communication Studies at Uppsala
University, Sweden, and Department of Journalism and Communication
(JMG), Gothenburg University, Sweden.
*The Symposium brings together a group of leading international
scholars* currently working on the intersections of journalism, media
and authoritarian/nativist populism in the wider context of
transformations of media, politics and democracy. It bridges several key
projects covering these topics and funded by the Swedish Research
Council i.e. “Immigration and the Normalization of Racism: Discursive
Shifts in Swedish Media and Politics
<https://im.uu.se/research/projects/immigration-and-the-normalization-of-racism/>”
(led by Michał Krzyżanowski, Uppsala University, 2020-23) and
“Right-wing populism in the news media: A cross-cultural study of
journalist practices and news discourse
<https://www.gu.se/en/research/right-wing-populism-in-the-news-media>”
(led by Mats Ekström, Gothenburg University, 2018-20).
*The general aim for the Symposium* is to discuss to what extent
authoritarian and nativist populism posed very significant challenges to
contemporary media and journalism. We see two overall trends as crucial.
First, populist politicians have seriously and repeatedly challenged the
established status of professional journalism in rhetorical attacks,
disruptions of news reporting routines, and in specific policies aimed
at restricting the freedom of speech and journalism or controlling media
organizations. Secondly, the success of the many right-wing populist
parties’ media strategies and the related circulation of political views
and language have effectively sparked critical discussions about the
norms and practices of journalism and the role of the media in often
effectively normalizing the nationalist and nativist discourse openly
undermining values and norms of liberal democracy.
We argue that the exchange on those topics is not only continuously
necessary given the sustained electoral success of authoritarian,
right-wing populism or its wider and indeed persistent, global presence,
but also in view of several new trajectories ignited by the COVID-19 crisis.
On the one hand, namely, the COVID 19 situation has to some extent
challenged and weakened the ideological positioning of far-right and
right-wing populism with media and journalists ‘calling the bluff’ of
populist and authoritarian politicians unable to cope with the pandemic
as a ‘real’ and indeed global – rather than just ‘imagined’ or local –
crisis. Moreover, as often exposed by journalists and the media, many
aspects of distinctive populist rhetoric (scapegoating, appeals to
crisis, questioning of expertise, etc.) seem to have lost potency in the
COVID context. However, while the above logics have indeed weakened the
populist dynamics, COVID-19 has at the same time also initiated several
reverse tendencies. The closure of physical borders and limits on
cross-national mobility, namely, often reignited the strongly
reinvigorated nationalistic rhetoric in many countries. They often
re-enabled and normalized the strongly nativist thinking – in everyday
and public/media discourse – which not only pertained to the
pandemic-related emergency response issues/actions but also to more
profound thinking about society, community and trans/national
responsibility.
Given the above and indeed very complex as well as still rapidly
evolving context, the ambition of our Symposium is to consolidate the
scholarship on the above topics and to propose strategies for future
research with regard to analysing/deconstructing media/journalism and
right-wing populism/authoritarianism connection especially under the
newly created and unprecedented dynamics of the COVID-19. However, we
also aim to discuss how our research can foster strategies of
counteracting authoritarian populism and nationalism, and how it can
inform ongoing and sustainable actions aimed to reverse the ongoing
normalization processes, especially in a cross-national dimension, and
as they accelerate during the COVID-19 crisis.
INVITED SPEAKERS AND MAIN TOPICS
Our symposium gathers a group of globally leading expert academics
working on the topics/issues above from a variety of disciplinary and
cross-disciplinary backgrounds as well as in and across different contexts.
Confirmed invited speakers include:
* *Bart Cammaerts*, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
* *Harry Dugmore*, University of Sunshine Coast, Australia
* *Mats Ekström*, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
* *Johan Farkas*, Malmö University, Sweden
* *Tine Ustad Figenschou*, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
* *Lena Frischlich*, University of Münster / LMU Munich, Germany
* *Philip Graham*, University of Sunshine Coast, Australia
* *Juha Herkman*, University of Helsinki, Finland
* *Michael Higgins*, University of Strathclyde, UK
* *Karoline Andrea Ihlbæk*, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
* *Léonie de Jonge*, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
* *Michał Krzyżanowski*, Uppsala University, Sweden
* *Gina Masullo*, University of Texas at Austin, USA
* *Benjamin Moffitt*, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne,
Australia
* *Marianna Patrona*, Hellenic Military Academy, Athens, Greece
* *Sean Phelan*, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
and University of Antwerp, Belgium
* *Thorsten Quandt*, University of Münster, Germany
* *Jason Roberts*, Cardiff University, UK
* *Dominik Stecuła*, Colorado State University, USA
* *Joanna Thornborrow*, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France
* *Cristian Vaccari*, Loughborough University, UK
* *Karin Wahl-Jorgensen*, Cardiff University, UK
* *Silvio Waisbord*, George Washington University, USA
* *Scott Wright*, Monash University, Australia
Topics to be discussed at the symposium – from either
nationally-specific or cross-national perspective – include:
* the wider and more specific relationships between journalism and
right-wing populism in various contexts, especially before and/or
during/after the COVID-19 crisis
* journalistic norms and news values and how these apply to and evolve
in the reporting on right-wing populism and nativist
authoritarianism before and during/after the recent global pandemic
* mediation of misinformation and ‘fake news’ as the underlying factor
in normalization and solidification of far-right populist ideologies
and politics
* populist attacks on professional journalism and how these evolve
across various contexts and are articulated and/or counteracted in
the context/framing of ‘crisis’
* recontextualisation of political strategies of normalizing
authoritarianism, extreme nationalism and nativist and xenophobic
discourses in /via media and journalistic practice
* discourses of counteracting and resisting normalization of
right-wing populism and authoritarianism at the intersection of
social media and mainstream news media reporting
* meta-discourse on journalism and political populism in society
before and during/after COVID-19
PROGRAMME
The Symposium will be held online on 4-5 February 2020. Preliminary
version of the Symposium Programme.
Day I, Thursday 4 February 2021
Time: 13:00-18:00 CET / 12:00-17:00 GMT Theme: Journalism, Right-Wing
Populism and the Pandemic: Interactions between Mainstream and
Alternative Sites of Mediation Chair: Michał Krzyżanowski – Uppsala
University, Sweden
*13:00-13:15 CET / 12:00-12:15 GMT: Welcome and Opening by the Organizers*
*13:15-14:00 CET / 12:15-13:00 GMT: Opening/Input Presentation*
* The failure of magic realism: Right-wing populism, the pandemic, and
the collapse of the communicative commons – (Presenter: Silvio
Waisbord - George Washington University, Washington DC, USA;
Comment/Open Questions: Mats Ekström – Gothenburg University, Sweden)
*14:00-16:00 CET / 13:00-1500 GMT: Session I*
* The limits of critical news journalism and the normalization of a
‘politics of fear’ (Mats Ekström - Gothenburg University, Sweden;
Marianna Patrona - Hellenic Military Academy, Athens, Greece &
Joanna Thornborrow – Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France)
* Morality, the political and contemporary media cultures (Sean Phelan
– Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand & University of
Antwerp, Belgium)
* The Populist Radical Right & The Media – Friend or Foe? (Léonie de
Jonge – University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
* “Join Me on Parler!”: Populist discourses around the conservative
exodus from Facebook and Twitter in the United States (Gina Masullo
– University of Texas at Austin, USA)
*1600-1800 CET / 1500-1700 GMT: Session II*
* Alternative and mainstream news media during the Coronvirus crisis:
Insights from a largescale computational content analysis (Thorsten
Quandt & Svenja Boberg, University of Münster, Germany)
* Gender, Expertise and Gender in Times of Populism: A study of
government communications of COVID in Scotland and England (Michael
Higgins – University of Strathclyde, UK)
* How populism and conservative media fuel conspiracy beliefs about
COVID-19 and what it means for COVID-19 behaviors? (Dominik Stecuła
– Colorado State University, USA)
* Alternative realities? Alternative news, populist sentiments, and
disinformation during the COVID-19 crisis (Lena Frischlich –
University of Münster & Ludwig Maximillians University, Munich,
Germany)
DAY II: Friday 5 February 2021
Time: 08:00-13:30 CET / 07:00-12:30 GMT Theme: (Re-)Defining
Normalization and Mainstreaming in Media, Journalism and Political
Communication Chair: Mats Ekström – Gothenburg University, Sweden
*08:00-08:40 CET / 07:00-07:40 GMT – Input Presentation*
* Normalization, Mainstreaming, and Crisis: Discursive Strategies in
Politics, Media and Journalism (Presenter: Michał Krzyżanowski -
Uppsala University, Sweden; Comment/Open Questions: Cristian Vaccari
– Loughborough University, UK)
*08:50-10:50 CET / 07:50-09:50 GMT: Session III*
* Normalising extremist pedagogies in post-literate cultures (Philip
Graham & Harry Dugmore – University of Sunshine Coast, Australia)
* How Do Mainstream Parties ‘Become’ Mainstream, and Pariah Parties
‘Become’ Pariahs? Conceptualising the Processes of Mainstreaming and
Pariahing in the Labelling of Political Parties (Benjamin Moffitt –
Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia)
* ‘We Try to Avoid Fake News’: Examining Journalistic Reflections on
Fake News (Johan Farkas – Malmö University, Sweden)
* Attack the (Watch) Dog: A longitudinal analysis of how Australian
politicians attack journalists on Twitter (Scott Wright – Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia)
*11:10-13:10 CET / 10:10-12:10 GMT: Session IV*
* Is ignoring the neo-fascist politics of provocation the way forward?
(Bart Cammaerts – London School of Economics & Political Science, UK)
* Building authority and legitimacy for alt-right media: The
discursive strategies of Breitbart and the attack on the
establishment (Karin Wahl-Jorgensen & Jason Roberts – Cardiff
University, UK)
* Far-right alternative media, mainstreaming processes and
institutional boundary struggles (Tine Ustad Figenschou & Karoline
Andrea Ihlbæk – Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway)
* Framings of populism in media: comparison in time and between six
countries (Juha Herkman – University of Helsinki, Finland)
*13:15-13:30 CET / 12:15-12:30 GMT: Closing Remarks by the Organizers*
EXTERNAL PARTICIPANTS AND REGISTRATION
External participants (other than invited speakers/presenters) will be
able to take part in the Symposium online, via the Zoom Webinar format.
Registration for all external participants is obligatory. *Deadline for
registration is 1 February 2021*.
Register for the International Symposium Journalism, Media and the
Normalization of (Right-Wing) Populism and Nativist Authoritarianism:
Analysis of Practices and Counteracting Strategies before and during the
COVID-19 <https://forms.im.uu.se/t/r/51W35v>
CONTACT AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Please direct any questions concerning the Symposium to Professor Michał
Krzyżanowski, Uppsala University, (michal.krzyzanowski /at/ im.uu.se)
<mailto:(michal.krzyzanowski /at/ im.uu.se)> and Professor Mats Ekström,
Gothenburg University, (mats.ekstrom /at/ gu.se) <mailto:(mats.ekstrom /at/ gu.se)>.
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