Journalism Research in the Public Interest

13-03-2009

Call for papers for the International Conference « Journalism Research in the Public Interest«  (19-21 November 2009, Winterthur/Zurich, Switzerland).

The international conference « Journalism Research in the Public Interest » intends to provide a venue for the theoretical, critical and empirical engagement with the social relevance and applicability of journalism research in both national and international contexts. A central goal of the conference is to address the question : what does the field of journalism research have to offer to issues of public interest and debate, and what are the key factors for a successful transfer of knowledge between journalism research and its social contexts ?

Submission deadline : April 1, 2009
The following topics shall be seen as some suggestions that the papers could be focused on (but they should not be seen as
restrictions) :

– Journalism research and social intervention : e.g. the advocacy of civic journalism, peace journalism, development journalism ;
– Journalism research and transfer of knowledge : e.g. journalism education and training ; application for media organizations or public relations ;
– Journalism research and global inequality : e.g. knowledge transfer from the north to the south ; applications of comparative research ;
– Journalism research and democracy : e.g. strengthening journalism’s role in deliberative democracy ; the development of concepts for transitional democracies ;
– Journalism research and its public image : e.g. the media coverage of journalism research as academic discipline.

Proposals should be submitted in abstract form (approximately 500 words) and in English, along with contact information by April 1, 2009. Panel submissions should provide a rationale and brief descriptions of all presentations (at least three, up to four). All abstracts will be subjected to peer review ; notification of accepted pro-posals will be sent out by June 1, 2009. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by October 1, 2009.

Submissions and inquiries should be addressed to the joint organizing chairs, Vinzenz Wyss (vinzenz.wyss@zhaw.ch) und Thomas Hanitzsch
(th.hanitzsch@ipmz.uzh.ch).

Co-hosted by ZHAW Zurich Universities of Applied Sciences and the University of Zurich, the conference is a joint effort of the Journalism Studies Sections of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), the Swiss Association Communication and Media Research (SGKM) and the German Communication Association (DGPuK), with the support of the Journalism Studies Division, International Communication Association (ICA) and the Journalism Research and Education Section, International Association
for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).