[Commlist] CFP: Conference Media Policy and Regulation

Joint conference of the section International and Intercultural 
Communication (DGPuK) and the network Media Structures
**Inter/Transnational Media Policy and Regulation in Digital 
Environments: Debates, Strategies, Innovations**
October 24-25, 2019
Venue: Erich-Brost Institute, Dortmund/Germany
Affiliation: Institute for Media Studies (IfM), Ruhr-University, Bochum 
(Germany),

Extended deadline for proposal submission: 20. July 2019

The disruptive transformations of the media ecology are in the focus of 
media scholars and politicians world-wide. Technological and cultural 
changes as well as major shifts in audience behaviour are core drivers 
of these transformations, which can be observed in various sectors, 
refer to different aspects of media systems, and are based on 
intertwined, but often contradictory and dialectical dynamics 
(D'Haenens, Sousa & Trappel 2018). Transformations of the media ecology 
have to be considered in a wider scope of challenges of democracies in 
the digital age. The planned conference aims to bring together research 
that addresses current developments and challenges with regard to four 
dimensions:
1. Media policy, strategies and regulation are crucially challenged by 
meta-narratives such as globalization and digitization, since they have 
historically evolved through national regulatory routines (Holtz-Bacha 
1994). Scholars and politicians alike critically assess questions 
whether the information available to citizens is sufficient to build an 
informed citizenry and what kind of regulation of digital media 
contributes to plurality and diversity. Moreover, civil society demands 
for more involvement and participation in content creation and 
regulation. Contributions to the planned conference will debate the 
(re-)formulation of public service media (PSM and the extent to what a 
„Civic Commons Online“ is necessary. A possible point of discussion is 
whether public service media (PSM) are in the position to establish such 
a deliberative space complementing both public sphere and parliamentary 
debate (e.g. Ramsey 2013; Schweizer 2016).
2. At the economic and innovations level, commercial media in Europe 
have always been challenged to balance between fulfilling the 
professional norms of journalism by acting as a watchdog to the 
government while at the same time making profit. However, with the loss 
in revenues, this tension became more intense. Many media institutions 
cut costs and reduced the number of staff, which in consequence limited 
the ability of the media to act as a watchdog (McChesney & Nichols, 
2010; Pickard, 2011; Siles & Boczkowski, 2012; Starkman, 2014). 
Conference contributions are asked to address commonalities and 
differences of economic challenges in the private and PSM sector and 
discuss alternative funding schemes (Kiefer 2011, Schweizer & Puppis 
2018). The question to what extent the nexus between economy and media 
quality is addressed in media strategies will be of interest.
3. At the content level, despite the described crisis in journalism, it 
has never been easier for the audience to receive and publish 
information, while at the same time it has never been more difficult to 
evaluate the quality of information gained. The number of digital media 
outlets, blogs and social media posts seems to be expanding continuously 
and technological innovations such as recommender systems allow for 
personalized user experience, audience interaction and may also foster 
user participation on the content level.However, the establishment of so 
called social networks has been accompanied by undesired developments 
such as the rise of hate speech, an increased influence of populist spin 
on the formation of public opinion (Sponholz 2018) and disinformation 
(Report of the High-Level Group on Fake News and online disinformation 
2018). Paradoxically, while governments and regulators discuss how to 
hold social networks accountable, established and publicly funded media 
have become customers of these companies in the meantime, because they 
enable, for example, PSM to reach younger audiences in order to fulfil 
their public remit (Sehl, Cornia & Kleis Nielsen 2018). Conference 
contributions are asked to assess content innovations, public value and 
the ethics of journalism in the digital media world. Contributions may 
inquire in how far gamification or the automatization of journalistic 
content is in the public interest and address advantages and 
disadvantages of personalized information. What kind of debates and 
measures are necessary to tackle the future of the public remit of media 
in general and PSM in particular?
4. On an international comparative level, it is important to analyze how 
different media systems adapt to the current changes in the media 
landscape. In the non-Western world, digitization causes different 
problems and advantages; e.g. in post-conflict and developing countries 
well-established regulation structures and strategies do not exist. 
Comparative research can shed light on the question, in how far the 
digital era challenges the establishment of regulation patterns in 
various countries and regions (Sousa et al. 2013). We welcome conference 
contributions that discuss the most pressing challenges and/or 
innovations for deliberation, political representation and participation 
in the media in international comparison. We further invite 
contributions that aim at identifying patterns of similarities and 
differences across countries concerning press freedom, media subsidies, 
and the framework in which media act.
This international conference, hence, aims to bring together scholars 
and practitioners working on a variety of theoretical, methodological 
and practical issues arising from the investigation of media policy and 
regulation in digital environments. Questions to be discussed during the 
conference should be rooted in theoretical approaches and at the same 
time inform these approaches to broaden not only the scope of research, 
but also deliver key factors and messages to media practitioners, policy 
makers and regulators. The conference especially welcomes international 
comparative research, but is not limited to it, as case studies may be 
crucial to understand trends. Also, proposals with a transnational 
perspective dealing with trends and topics crossing borders are welcome. 
The call is open to theoretical contributions as well as various 
empirical designs.

There will be two lines of submission:
Proposals for individual papers: abstracts of no more than 500 words 
addressing one of the issues outlined below.
Proposals for panels with 4-5 papers in a panel: abstracts of no more 
than 1000 words.
Activating formats (i.e. Worldcafe, Workshop) are welcome.
Submissions in English via email to: (iic-conference2019 /at/ rub.de)

Conference organizers: Dr. Christine Horz (Ruhr University Bochum), Dr. 
Julia Lönnendonker (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) and Dr. Florian 
Meissner (Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf)

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------