[ecrea] CFP: Journalism across Borders

Journalism across Borders
The Production and “Produsage” of News in the Era of 
Transnationalization, Destabilization and Algorithmization
September 26th – 28th, 2018 | Ilmenau, Germany

Joint Conference of the Journalism Studies Division and the 
International and Intercultural Communication Division of the German 
Communication Association (DGPuK)

Hosted by the Institute of Media and Communication Science, Technische 
Universität Ilmenau, in collaboration with the Media School, Indiana 
University Bloomington
Conference chairs: Martin LÖFFELHOLZ, Liane ROTHENBERGER, and David H. 
WEAVER
Chairs, International and Intercultural Communication Division: Carola 
RICHTER and Indira DUPUIS
Chairs, Journalism Studies Division: Annika SEHL, Klaus MEIER, and Nina 
SPRINGER

“The media, politicians, social actors, business leaders, and decision 
makers continue to talk about the information society or the network 
society or whatever they want to call it, in terms that are those of 
futurology and uninformed journalism, as if the transformations were 
still in the future.” (Castells 2005, 6)

Conference theme

Journalism is crossing borders since mass media and nation-states 
co-emerged in the 17th century. Both news agencies and the professional 
role of the “foreign correspondent” first appeared in the 19th century 
contributing to the institutionalization of “foreign news coverage”. 
Since cross-border journalism stems from the “increasing connectedness, 
boundarylessness and mobility in the world” (Berglez 2008, 855), the era 
of the internet has further advanced and expanded the 
border-transcending production, dissemination and reception of news. 
Transnational co-operations like the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), 
Eurosport, 3sat, or BBC World News demonstrate different kinds of 
cross-border journalism.
According to Castells, the “network society diffuses in the entire 
world, but does not include all people. In fact, in this early 21st 
century, it excludes most of humankind, although all of humankind is 
affected by its logic, and by the power relationships that interact in 
the global networks of social organization.” (Castells 2005, 5) 
Likewise, we may argue that the global networks of communication, 
including cross-border journalism, do not reach out to everyone; 
however, directly or indirectly all news producers and news consumers 
alike are affected by the opportunities, obstacles and outcomes of 
transnational journalism.
Against this background, the conference “Journalism across Borders” 
intends to critically analyze both cross-border news production and 
“transnational journalism cultures” (Hellmueller 2017) challenged by 
technological advances, the wide-ranging transformation of traditional 
media, innovative forms of news production (Jallow 2015) and the ongoing 
economic globalization despite political instabilities related to the 
success of parties and politicians claiming to re-nationalize politics 
and policies. The various forms of social media, for instance, encourage 
the development of “news networks” (Domingo & Wiard 2016) comprising 
actors beyond classical newsrooms.
More than a decade ago, scholars from across the globe discussed various 
aspects of transnational news production at Technische Universität 
Ilmenau, Germany. The conference paved the way for the publication of an 
overview on the theories, methods, findings, and future of global 
journalism research (Löffelholz & Weaver 2008). Now, almost ten years 
after publishing this volume, it is time to follow up on the state of 
globalization and transnationalization of journalism taking into 
consideration recent changes and current developments particularly 
relating to the new digital media environment.

Thus, we are inviting a broad range of papers analyzing cross-border 
journalism from conceptual as well as empirical angles. Papers can 
include various perspectives such as the systemic contexts of 
cross-border journalism, its structures and routines, changes in 
production processes, or the shifting roles of actors in digital 
environments. Furthermore, we are encouraging submissions dealing with 
theoretical and or methodological challenges of cross-border journalism 
research as well as submissions addressing new trends and developments. 
Hence, your contribution might answer one or several of the following 
questions, among others:

1. Conceptualization of cross-border journalism
How do we define cross-border / transnational journalism in the early 
21st century?
Which dimensions characterize cross-border / transnational journalism 
regarding the micro-level (e.g. journalistic role, practices, routines), 
meso-level (e.g. transnational organizations), or macro/systems-level 
(e.g. influence of culture / ideology)?
How does the understanding of cross-border journalism change over the 
course of time or in different regions / cultures?
How does cross-border journalism relate to journalism cultures in 
nation-states?
If cross-border journalism is conceptualized as the collaboration 
between individuals or organizations from different journalistic 
cultures, how does this collaboration work, and who collaborates with whom?
Which factors stand against such collaborations, e.g. differences 
regarding professional standards and ethics, role perceptions, etc.?

2. Political, legal, economic, and normative context of cross-border 
journalism
How do developments in the economic sector influence cross-border 
journalism?
How do political or legal realignments set the frame of reference for 
advances, or regressions in cross-border journalism?
Who sets the (legal) boundaries for journalism across borders?
How transnational are the audiences of transnational journalism?
Are there interconnections between cross-border journalism and emerging 
populism, and political as well as social destabilization?
Of which value is cross-border journalism, and to whom (audiences, 
politics, economy, etc.)?
Does it come at a cost, such as an information overload or eroding trust 
in supranational organizations?
3. Organizations, structures and routines of cross-border journalism
What are the limitations and opportunities of cross-border journalism on 
the organizational level?
Which structures and routines do enable or constrain cross-border 
journalism?
How do foreign news coverage, international news agencies, foreign 
correspondents or international broadcasting change in the digital age?
How does cross-border journalism adjust to structures such as online 
journalism, blogs, SNS?
4. Production, produsage and products of cross-border journalism
How do we define “transnational products” of journalism?
How did production processes of cross-border journalism develop in the 
era of digitalization?
How does the “produsage” of news via social media affect transnational 
journalism?
How do cross-border media projects benefit from their transnational 
audience?
What are the quality criteria of cross-border journalism?
5. Actors and networks of cross-border journalism
Who are the (new) actors in cross-border journalism?
How do production networks of cross-border journalism change?
How do transnational journalists collaborate with each other and in 
automated production environments?
Which qualifications and education do journalists working in 
transnational environments require?
Which social and cultural milieus do influence journalists working in 
the transnational arena?
6. Trends and future of cross-border journalism
How does cross-border journalism cope with automation and algorithmic 
journalism?
Does computational journalism influence actors’ roles, routines, and 
structures of cross-border journalism?
How do cross-border journalists handle the Internet of Things and Services?
What further effects do globalization and digitalization have on 
cross-border journalism?
Does virtual and immersive journalism contribute to an expansion of 
cross-border journalism?
Which role do platforms and search engines play in cross-border 
journalism, shaping journalistic coverage and the awareness, 
availability, and reception of this coverage by means of algorithms?
How do cross-border journalists deal with social bots and fake news?
7. Methodological and theoretical challenges of cross-border journalism 
research
How can we incorporate phenomena like social media, algorithmization, 
and produsage into models of cross-border journalism?
What are the methodological challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of 
transnational journalism research?
Which models and contributions to empirical studies and theoretical 
impulses are initiated by scholars who do not belong to the “Western” 
spectrum?
Do we still have a bias in our scientific community and publishing 
system that inhibits a De-Westernization and real transnationalization 
of cross-border journalism research?

Submission of proposals
Please upload your proposal for a presentation of 20 minutes (max.) at 
www.tu-ilmenau.de/mw/ conference no later than April 15th, 2018. Your 
proposal should contain 8.000 characters maximum (including spaces, 
references, tables, figures). The proposal must relate to the conference 
topic and elaborate on the subject’s relevance and originality. Please 
add a title page to the abstract containing the name(s) and address(es) 
of the presenter(s) and the title of the presentation.
By submitting the proposal, you agree to present your paper at the 
conference. Suggestions for innovative presentation formats such as 
roundtables or others are welcome. Please contact us as soon as possible 
if you would like to suggest other presentation formats.
Submissions will go through an anonymous peer-review process taking into 
account the originality, relevance, distinctiveness, and conciseness of 
the proposal as well as its theoretical foundation and the adequateness 
of research methods. The general fit with the conference topic will be 
considered, too. You will be informed about the acceptance or rejection 
of your proposal no later than May 30th, 2018.
PhD Workshop
Prior to the conference, we will organize a workshop for PhD candidates 
on Wednesday, September 26th. The number of participants is limited. 
Proposals must be forwarded to the organizing committee no later than 
May 30th, 2018. For further information, please consult the separate 
call which is also available at the conference homepage.
Organization
The conference language will be English. We strongly encourage 
submissions of non-Western scholars.
Travel and accommodation expenses cannot be reimbursed. The conference 
fee will be calculated as low as possible.
Conference chairs Professor Dr. Martin Löffelholz, Dr. Liane 
Rothenberger, Professor em. David H. Weaver, PhD
Head of Organizing Committee Dr. Liane Rothenberger
Committee assistance Ines Birnschein
Address Technische Universität Ilmenau, Institut für Medien und 
Kommunikationswissenschaft, D-98694 Ilmenau, Germany
E-mail (liane.rothenberger /at/ tu-ilmenau.de)
(ines.birnschein /at/ tu-ilmenau.de)
Telephone +49 (0) 3677- 69 4669 (Organization)
+49 (0) 3677- 69 4703 (Conference assistance)
Fax +49 (0) 3677- 69 4645

References
Berglez, P. (2008). What is Global Journalism? Journalism Studies 9(6), 
845-858.
Castells, M. (2005). The Network Society: from Knowledge to Policy. 
Castells, M. & Cardoso, G. (eds.). The Network Society: From Knowledge 
to Policy. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic 
Relations, 3–22.
Domingo, D. & Wiard, V. (2016). News Networks. Witschge, T., Anderson, 
C. W., Domingo, D., Hermida, A. (eds.): The SAGE Handbook of Digital 
Journalism. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Singapore: Sage, 397–409.
Hellmueller, L. (2017). Gatekeeping beyond geographical borders: 
Developing an analytical model of transnational journalism cultures. 
International Communication Gazette, 79(1), 3–25.
Jallow, A. Y. (2015). The Emerging of Global Journalism and Social 
Media. Global Media Journal: American Edition, 13(25), 1–10.
Löffelholz, M. & Weaver, D. H. (2008) (eds.). Global journalism 
research. Theories, methods, findings, future. Malden (USA), Oxford 
(UK), Victoria (Australia): Blackwell-Wiley.



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