The new landscape of global communication
An International Conference Organised by
School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China and the
China Media Centre, University of Westminster
Beijing 1st ? 3rd July 2011
Keynote Speakers include: Zhao Qizeng (Renmin
U); Oliver Boyd-Barrett (Bowling Green SU);
Michael Curtin (UC Santa Barbara); Daya Thussu (Westminster)
The shifting patterns of the world economy also
mean shifts in the global circulation of media
products. The economic crisis in many parts of
the world, and the rapid growth of new
competitors, above all China, has created new
opportunities for entry into the world media
markets. This conference aims to bring together
Chinese and international experts to discuss the
changes of the recent past and the prospects for the next decade.
News provides the best example
of the changes going on. When Unesco
investigated the international flow of news 30
years ago, it was clear that the market was
dominated by a few organisations based in the
developed world. The first satellite news
channels, notably CNN, seemed to confirm the
western domination of the news agenda. Who got
reported, what got reported, how it was
reported, and how it was interpreted, were
determined by organisations whose corporate
homes and main markets were in the rich
countries of the global north. Over the last
twenty years, that domination has been
challenged by new entrants. The first was the
Arabic-language version of Al Jazeera, based in
Qatar but using journalists and journalistic
methods taken from western news
organisations. The new channel immediately
attracted a substantial audience in the Arab
world and came to challenge the dominant
western versions of many important events. The
company launched an English-language channel
that, in its own words: ?aims to give voice to
untold stories, promote debate, and challenge
established perceptions.? Over the last
decade, it has been joined by many other
channels, from Russia, from Iran and also from
China. CCTV 9 has been revamped and given
greater resources, and in 2010 Xinhua, the main
Chinese news agency, launched its own
international satellite channel. These new
voices are still not as strong as CNN or the
BBC, but today people around the world have an
increasing choice about where they will get their news.
Changes in other areas of the
media are equally obvious. While the US still
dominates the global trade in television
programmes, there are strong markets for
programmes originating within a particular
region, for example Latin America or East
Asia. The growth of the trade in programme
formats also means that national television
producers have a much more creative role in
producing versions of successful international
programmes. Thus, Yo Soy Betty, la Fea became
Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, Ugly Betty, Chu Nu Wu
Din and many other versions, each of them with
significant adaptations to local tastes and conventions.
Printed media have proved less
mobile, but newspapers like the Financial Times
and the Wall Street Journal have small but
extremely influential readerships around the
world. The Chinese press, too, is increasingly
producing international editions of its main
titles, for example Global Times, aimed at
presenting Chinese reporting of international
affairs to a English-reading audience. In
magazine publishing, famous international
titles have established subsidiaries and joint
ventures in many countries to produce new
editions with the same brand but very often different content.
At the same time, new media
increasingly facilitate new means of
circulating cultural products. Music, films
and TV programmes are downloaded around the
world, sometimes legally, sometimes
illegally. Computer games, online and offline,
are developed and marketed in patterns that are
a complex mixture of inputs from around the
world. Some technical aspects of a popular
game might originate in a major international
software company, other aspects may be regional
in character, and the game will be hosted and
marketed by a company firmly located in one
country. Individuals around the world take
advantage of social media to produce new kinds
of content that can be viewed anywhere.
The landscape of available
media today is a rich mixture of material
generated locally and nationally, elements
imported from elsewhere, sometimes transformed
and sometimes merely dubbed, and products that have a genuinely global reach.
The organisers invite proposals
for scholarly papers that address any aspect of
current patterns of global media and
communication, including both new and
traditional media forms. In particular, we are
keen to receive papers addressing the following issues:
· The development of internationally oriented news channels
· Audience responses to international news channels
· Changing notions of journalistic practice and of news values
· Patterns of trade in programmes and formats
· Problems of localizing acquired programme formats
· Developing international markets for new programmes and channels
· Use of the internet to access media
content and its consequences for intellectual property
· Patterns of production and consumption in computer gaming
· Social media and new forms of content production
We welcome papers that address international
trends and problems as well as those that
examine production and consumption within one
country. We are particularly, but not
exclusively, interested in work that address the
consequences of China?s increasing economic and
political power and the ways in which that is
influencing cultural life both internally and on the international stage.
Abstracts of around 250 words will be accepted
in either English or Chinese. Please send
Chinese abstracts to Professor Lei Weizhen at
Renmin University
(<mailto:(leiweizhen /at/ gmail.com)>(leiweizhen /at/ gmail.com))
and English abstracts to Professor Colin Sparks
at the University of Westminster
(<mailto:(sparksc /at/ wmin.ac.uk)>(sparksc /at/ wmin.ac.uk)).
The deadline for abstracts in English is 1st
February 2011. Successful authors will be notified by 1st March .
The University of Westminster is a charity and a
company limited by guarantee. Registration
number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.
