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[Commlist] RIPE@2022 CfP Between the Fourth Estate and the Fifth Power: Conservation and Innovation in PSM Journalism
Mon Jan 10 13:40:51 GMT 2022
*_Between the Fourth Estate and the Fifth Power: Conservation and
Innovation in PSM Journalism_*
Call for Paper Proposals
RIPE@2022 conference
**18 – 21 September 2022 in Vienna, Austria**
The 11th biennial RIPE conference is sponsored by ORF, Austria’s public
service media (PSM) provider, and hosted by the University of Vienna.
The conference theme invites paper proposals that are relevant for
advancing understandings of journalistic theory and practice in the
context of a complicated set of challenges related to digital
disruption, globalization, commercialization, information disorder, and
the importance of fair, free and independent information and news
provision that has been a persistent responsibility of public service
media organizations over the decades.
Elaboration of the Conference Theme
Digital technologies have created enormous disruptions for media systems
and companies, and ushered in consequential shifts in economic as well
as political power. More media of more types are motivated by commercial
imperatives even as the editorial function has become endangered. New
media platforms are increasingly influential and used sources for ‘news’
and information and resist being defined as media companies. The big
tech big data corporations have substantial influence on public
communication today. National PSM providers remain important in
principle but are often at severe disadvantage in many respects,
including economic funding, political support, commercial pressure and
competition, channel proliferation, and fundamentally as a consequence
of the enormity of changes in the scope and scale of competition.
Countries and populations around the world are challenged by trends
summarized as fake news, mis- and disinformation campaigns, filter
bubbles and the algorithmic production of personalized content –
especially news. The collapse of editorial responsibility has resulted
in a systemic condition characterized by nontransparency and
unaccountability. All of this gravely endangers the health and vitalbity
of the public sphere for democratic societies, and undermines PSM in
both institutional and operational aspects. As people increasingly
cruise the internet universe of commercial social media, trust and
performance for quality journalism is seriously at risk.
The historic paradigm has prioritized the creation and maintenance of
independent media based on professional, accountable journalistic skills
and practices as an essential for democratic practice. For this reason,
the press has been conceptualized as the Fourth Estate of power
(alongside Executive, Legislative and Judicial) in democratic societies.
This understanding of the institutional framework that has protected
PSM’s role in the Fourth Estate is under attack from political and
business interests in an increasing number of countries. PSM is under
stress in traditional broadcasting and even more so in the online
environment that is largely governed by commercial interests that manage
a corporatized Internet with profound potential consequences given the
powerful influences of social media. At the same time, societies are
struggling to cope with massive social disruption manifest in
polarization and fragmentation, nationalistic protectionism, xenophobic
politics, sophisticated new forms of clandestine propaganda and
cyber-strategies that seek to undermine democracy and foment unrest.
A series of crucial questions invite serious consideration: How can PSM
keep pace with these dynamics and mitigate the damaging consequences of
digital transformation? How can PSM effectively compete with the
dominance of digital media giants and serve as a counterbalance? How can
PSM resist the alarming constellation of pressures opposing them and
develop appropriate answers to maintain their role and function as
independent, trusted sources of truthful, fair and balanced information
dedicated to serving the whole of society? How can PSM be distinctive
in providing and defending Quality Journalism in the digital age, avoid
being caught up in the problem of filter bubbles, escape the risk of
unwittingly engaging with fake news, safeguard independence and advance
media pluralism and content diversity?
The RIPE@2022 conference will address one of the most challenging
contemporary topics facing PSM in the digital age. We invite paper
proposals that are relevant to these concerns about the role of public
service journalism as an essential and foundational part of the Fourth
Estate to effectively challenge the negative impact of the fifth power.
Topics of Specified Interest
Empirical and comparative research is especially needed that addresses
the following topics that will ultimately frame the workgroup structure
for the RIPE@2022 conference in Vienna:
1. Policy developments affecting news and journalism for PSM organizations
• Comparative and/or indepth analysis of
trends and changes in media policy affecting PSM’s role and function as
a news and current affairs provider
• Challenges in the growth of populist
politics and the politization of information for partisan interests
• Complications and potential solutions
for policy affecting domestic information and news provision given the
proliferation of transnational actors and pressures
• Other topics and aspects related to
media policy and legal developments affecting PSM news and current
affairs journalism, especially challenges to safeguards for independence
2. Developments in journalistic and editorial practice in the digital
media environment
• Addressing sophisticated forms of
propaganda from domestic and international sources that are intentional
and strategically designed to stir unrest and undermine democracy
• Internal strategies and policies
developed by PSM organizations to cope with a range of challenges
involving fake news, filter bubbles, mis- and disinformation, etc.
• New approaches to news and current
affairs provision and programming, including formats and genres intended
to serve either general or particular populations
• PSM’s role and ambitions in news
provision at the international level
• Challenges and developments in
journalistic codes of ethics for PSM today, and the need for
independence in practice and provision
• Other topics and aspects affecting PSM
news and current affairs journalism
3. Challenges and opportunities posed by commercial interests as the
fifth power
• Ways and degrees to which the rise of
commercial power and pressures can be reasonably understood as posing a
5th power or estate in contemporary democracies
• Strategies, developments and impact of
commercial news on PSM’s position and capacity. May be targeted to one
or more levels of engagement (local, national, global, etc.)
• Changing competitive dynamics and
related challenges as well as opportunities this creats for PSM news
organizations and operations
• Linkages between state interests and
commercial interests affecting the capacity of PSM journalism to remain
free, truthful, critical and independent
• Other topics and aspects related to the
rise of commercial pressures on PSM journalism
4. Challenges and developments in news and current affairs across
relevant platforms
• Cross-platform journalistic and
editorial strategies and practices in news provision today
• Emerging technological opportunities
and threats for PSM news production and provision
• Organizational and operational
restructuring initiatives in the area of news and current affairs,
especially as these are a response to commercial and other competitive
pressures
• Requirements, complications and
competencies related to online news provision by PSM companies
• Partnerships with other public and
private sector organizations or companies in the development of
strategies and operations to enhance PSM news and current affairs services
• Other topics and aspects related to
organizational and operational developments in PSM journalism
5. Criteria for PSM as the Fourth Estate in the digital ecology
• The role and regulatory framework of
PSM in terms of requirements or expectations for distinctiveness in its
mission and remits in the digital ecology
• Criteria for safeguarding
accountability and independence from political and business interests in
the governance and practice of journalism today
• Approaches for guaranteeing
universality and accessibility for society with a focus on innovation
• Strategies and practices for building
and maintaining public trust and institutional credibility in PSM news
and current affairs provision
• Other topics and aspects related to
strengthening PSM’s essential role and functions as a vital part of the
4th Estate for democracies in the era of digital media
6. Declining trust in public institutions, alternative publics and
strategic alliances
• Explaining the decline of public trust
in institutions and the implications for PSM both as an institution and
especially in news and public affairs provision
• Challenges and opportunities for PSM
journalism in supporting the exercise of citizenship in the digital
media environment
• The nature, concerns and dynamics of
alternative publics with a focus on relationships with established
institutions
• How mistrust is being handled by PSM
news and journalism in organizational and content provision in
increasingly polarized environments
• The identification, construction and
management of strategic alliances to combat mistrust and strengthen the
journalistic value of PSM news and current affairs provision
Submission Requirement
Paper proposals can be submitted via a link that will be available on
the conference website (https://ripe2022.univie.ac.at
<https://ripe2022.univie.ac.at/>) shortly (third week of January 2022).
You need to register in the internal system of the University of Vienna
before you can submit a proposal. A registration link can be found at
the bottom of the registration page, to which you will be redirected
after clicking on the submission link mentioned above.
During the registration process you will have to enter information about
you and your institution. If there are several authors, you can add them
and their institutions during the later submission process.
Please enter the following information into the online submission form:
• the paper’s working title,
• an extended abstract (max 1,000 words)
addressing the six elements for evaluation (provided below)
• the two working group topics the paper
is most closely related to.
Additionally, the abstract (including the paper’s working title) needs
to be uploaded as a Microsoft Word file. Please make sure that your Word
file is anonymized and does not contain any indication of the author(s)
either in the text or in meta data.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed (double-blind) by a scientific
committee. The evaluation criteria are:
• Relevance to the conference theme and
fit with one of the working group topics.
• Newness or originality of the research
(empirical) or essay (philosophical)
• Theorization and general importance
• Research methods and design (for
empirical papers)
• Key findings and implications for theory
• Relevance for PSM management and practice
Empirical research is highly valued, but we also welcome insightful
philosophical, critical and theory-driven papers. Comparative research
is important.
RIPE conferences focus on substance, dialogue and results. We therefore
limit acceptance to about 60 papers and each is assigned to one of the
workgroups.
**Submissions are due 7 March 2022**.
Decisions about acceptance will announced on 11 April 2022 including
further details regarding the submission of the completed papers.
Completed papers are due on 15 August 2022.
The conference happens over 2.5 days with a welcoming reception the
night before the first day and the inaugural RIPE General Assembly on
the afternoon of the third day. The conference language is English.
Conference fees will be announced at a later date. The fee will cover
conference meals, events and materials, but not hotel accommodation or
travel. Based on the level of interest, a non-obligatory social
programme might be planned for the day after the conference at an
additional cost for those interested to participate. The RIPE conference
does not supplement personal travel costs.
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