[ecrea] CFP: Special Issue AJMS on the coverage of the migration crisis

CALL FOR PAPERS
Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies

SPECIAL ISSUE
Should I post that picture or issue that story? Journalistic practices 
in the representation of the migrant crisis

Guest editors: Vittoria Sacco and Valérie Gorin

Human migration is not a new phenomenon. However, recently it has gained 
substantial space in media coverage. In particular, the images of the 
little Aylan, a child escaping Syria with his family, lying dead on 
Bodrum's beach, have raised old ethical questions of journalistic 
practices. Aylan's pictures were extremely powerful and not without 
symbolism, becoming icons of Syria's tragedy. They went viral on social 
media, but they were also criticized. Several media opted not to show 
the images. The criticism centered on whether it was justifiable or 
ethical to direct readers' attention to the conflict in Syria with stark 
images of an innocent victim. There were parallels to the images of Kim 
Phuc, the little girl running naked and screaming in Vietnam in 1972.

This very issue of audience engagement with crisis is a topic of heated 
debate in academia. In her book "Compassion fatigue: how the media sell 
disease, famine, war and death" (1999), Susan Moeller discusses audience 
engagement with the news coverage of war, conflict or other types of 
violence. The media has thus the potential to stress particular forms of 
engagement to mobilize the public and create a collective memory amongst 
audiences. Exposed daily to distant suffering, the audience can develop 
apathy and disengage with events, resulting in compassion fatigue.

Kerry Moore, Bernhard Gross and Terry Threadgold drive same message home 
in their book on "Migration and the Media" (2012). They try to trace the 
reporting practices that produce migration coverage. A large part of 
academic studies has otherwise explored visual representations of 
migrants and refugees in humanitarian appeals (Mannik 2012), emphasizing 
the role of aid agencies in framing visual stereotypes of helpless 
people (Rajaram 2002) or racializing, victimizing and feminizing the 
refugees (Johnson 2011). However, the questions around how the problem 
of compassion fatigue challenges journalistic practices, and what the 
news boundaries and standards when reporting crises should be in a 
digital online age, has had less attention in academic research.

This special issue of the "Journal of Applied Journalism and Media 
Studies" (AJMS) aims to shed some light on the complex ecosystem 
journalists covering the crisis face. It invites contributions on the 
relationship between journalistic practices and audience compassion 
fatigue, as well as the role of social media and new technologies on how 
to have it alleviated.

The guest editor welcomes contributions from both scholars and 
practitioners in the field of media and journalism studies and practice. 
Scholarly submissions can have a theoretical, analytic, critical, 
empirical or comparative angle. Other topics may include:
. Practices, cultures and ethics of covering migration crisis
. Economics, political, and social situations impacting journalistic 
practices
. Audience understanding of the crisis, its coverage and relevance for 
audiences
. The challenges the migration crisis has posed to citizen and 
user-generated content
. What transformations the crisis has brought about as far as the 
relationship between journalists, their organizations and their audience 
is concerned
. Has the crisis had a bearing on freedom of expression and social media
. Economic imperatives and the migration crisis
. Visual communication and photojournalism vis-à-vis the migration crisis

High-quality and original submissions are expected to be conceptually 
relevant to the topical relation between journalistic practices, 
migration crisis and the notion of compassion fatigue. They can develop 
communication and media theories, report empirical and analytical 
research, present critical discourses, apply theories to case studies 
and set out innovative research methodologies.

Contributions from both academics and practitioners are welcome.

Questions regarding the special issue can be directed to the guest editors.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES AND MILESTONES
Prospective authors should submit an abstract not exceeding 250 words 
directly by email to the guest editors Vittoria Sacco 
((vittoria.sacco /at/ unine.ch)) and Valérie Gorin ((valerie.gorin /at/ unige.ch)) by 
end of March 2016. Please mark your submission as "Special Issue on the 
migration crisis".

Following peer-review, a selection of authors will be invited to submit 
a full paper (from 5000 to 8000 words) by end of September 2016. Full 
details about the journal and the prescribed format for manuscript 
submissions can be found at: 
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/page/index,name=journalstyleguide/

Please note that acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee 
publication, given that all papers will be put through the journal's 
peer-review process.

Tentative publication date: Third issue of 2017.

Vittoria Sacco
Postdoctoral assistant
Académie du Journalisme et des médias
Université de Neuchâtel
Bureau R 118
A. -L. Breguet 2
CH - 2000 Neuchâtel
Email: (vittoria.sacco /at/ unine.ch)

Valérie Gorin
SNF Senior Researcher and Lecturer Center for Education and Research in 
Humanitarian Action
University of Geneva and Graduate Institute
Rue de Rothschild 22
1211 Genève 1
Email: (valerie.gorin /at/ unige.ch)








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