[ecrea] CFP ECREA 2018 Preconference: Dissolving Boundaries of Hybrid Journalism

*
ECREA 2018 Preconference
Call for Papers: Dissolving Boundaries of Hybrid Journalism*

In 2013, Arianna Huffington wrote about the future of journalism: “The 
future will definitely be a hybrid one, combining the best practices of 
traditional journalism –  fairness, accuracy, storytelling, deep 
investigations – with the best tools available to the digital world – 
speed, transparency, and, above all, engagement.” As journalism becomes 
increasingly networked and participatory – produced by different actors, 
professionals and amateurs alike, with different backgrounds, 
intentions, forms, discourses and genres, and often grounded on 
diverging norms – new types of /hybrid journalism/ arise. On the one 
hand, this trend towards hybrid forms of journalism transcends 
traditional and monolithic conceptions of journalism, making the already 
difficult task to define journalism even less straightforward. On the 
other hand, it enables new forms of journalistic truth-telling (Baym, 
2017) at the intersection of journalism, storytelling and activism. 
Therefore, this pre-conference wants to explore, discuss and shed light 
on the different types and forms of hybrid journalism, what hybridity 
actually means and what consequences it entails for news work.

Scholars like Carlson (2015, 2016) or Lewis (2012, see also Carlson & 
Lewis, 2015) have shown that the boundaries of journalism are more and 
more contested as journalists are forced to renegotiate the space 
between producers and users in a digital environment characterized by 
high choice (Van Aelst et al., 2017) and a participatory culture 
(Jenkins, 2013). The established news production with its specific set 
of epistemological beliefs is thus confronted with new actors and 
professional roles such as data journalists, hackers, cybersecurity 
experts, activists or whistleblowing platforms that turn journalism into 
an ambiguous term. These circumstances might result in tensions over 
definitions of journalism or it spheres of influence as cultures, role 
conceptions, epistemologies, norms and educational paths increasingly 
differ. However, they can also entail wilful attempts of boundary 
crossing (Beckett & Mansell, 2008), for instance through 
institutionalized collaborations between newsrooms and whistleblowing 
platforms, making the boundaries even more porous.

The preconference aims at exploring uncovered and new forms of hybrid 
journalism in order to map potential instances of boundary crossing or 
dissolving boundaries in the field*. *Overall, the preconference wants 
to challenge conventional and oversimplifying concepts of journalism, 
particularly with regard to the use of data. Hybrid journalism requires 
us to rethink theories about how to define journalism, and some of its 
most central notions such as autonomy, collaboration, objectivity, the 
separation of news and entertainment or the separation between fact and 
fiction (or disinformation). This preconference wants therefore to 
discuss, with a specific emphasis on the role of data-driven journalism, 
cybersecurity and the role of coders/hackers in the newsroom, the 
different kinds of hybrid journalism, what hybrid journalism actually 
means and what consequences it entails for news work. In addition we 
would like to explore collaborative news production between journalists 
and actors outside the established journalistic field, and how they 
shape the culture(s) of journalism. We also encourage scholars to submit 
papers that cover non-Western countries, given that hybrid journalism 
can also be observed in countries such as China (Dai, 2013).

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  * The role of data-driven reporting in shaping the journalistic culture
  * The borderline between activism and journalism
  * Hybrid journalism and investigative journalism
  * The importance of cybersecurity for and its impact on journalism
  * Alternative technologies and networks for reporting and news-making
  * The consequences of dissolving boundaries and shifting norms for
    journalistic authority
  * Ethical challenges of hybrid journalism
  * The amalgamation of pop culture and news reporting
  * The consequences for newsmaking of different role conceptions of
    actors participating in the networked news production
  * Specific genres of hybrid journalism
  * Hybrid forms of journalism and advertising
  * The organizational implementation of hybrid journalism

The preconference would like to bring together researchers from 
different backgrounds. Also experts from outside academia are welcome, 
particularly in order to foster the discussion between scholars and 
practitioners on hybrid forms of journalism. In addition, the 
preconference wants to bring together young and established scholars. 
Consequently, we specifically encourage submissions from young and 
emerging scholars, particularly from the YECREA network.

Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to (hybridjournalism2018 /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(hybridjournalism2018 /at/ gmail.com)> by 30 April, 2018. The abstracts 
should include the main idea/argument, research questions, a short 
literature review and/or theoretical perspectives, information on 
methodology and empirical findings (if relevant). Again, we welcome all 
different kinds of approaches, including discussions of literature, 
concepts and theories, historical perspectives and empirical analyses. 
All submitted abstracts must be anonymous with no reference to authors. 
Please include your names, affiliations and contact details either in 
the mail or in a separate attachment.

All submissions will be blindly peer-reviewed and acceptance 
notifications will be sent out on May 31, 2018.

The preconference will take place 31 October, 2018, in Lugano, 
Switzerland. More information can be found at: 
https://ecrea2018hybridjournalism.wordpress.com/ 
<https://ecrea2018hybridjournalism.wordpress.com/>

Organizing Committee:

Colin Porlezza - University of Zurich, Department of Communication and 
Media Research IKMZ

Philip Di Salvo - Università della Svizzera italiana, Institute of Media 
and Journalism IMeG



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