The Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies of the University of Bucharest is hosting an international conference in June 2023, with both virtual and in-person participation.
The conference is organised in collaboration with The Institute for International Journalism of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University, and Yuriy Fed’kovych Chernivtsi National University of Ukraine.
From the organisers:
“The current context in Europe and around the world seems to be marked by a sense of perpetual, although uneven and differently experienced, crisis and uncertainty. On the background of (post)Covid pandemic situation, issues that have been put on hold – climate change, food insecurity, population aging and migration, to name just a few – are reappearing, with a greater force, powered by the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing inequalities. These difficult challenges have triggered populist discourses, favor nationalism and extremism, mainly because the digital informational ecosystem favors the simplicity and emotionality of those responses.
In these boisterous times, trustworthy communication is essential; the high capacity of conspiracy theories to go viral, the threat of exposure to contradictory information and fake-news/disinformation might contribute to making people more vulnerable and confused and also might persuade them to accept and to disseminate ideologically-driven content and polarized information.
The purpose of this conference is to consider the state of digital informational ecosystem and communications research in the times of (poly)crisis and uncertainty. The conference theme focuses on the intersection between the role of quality press, traditional journalism, political/public communication and digital technologies, all understood as potential enhancers of democracy, yet vulnerable when under attack.
We invite participants to submit theoretical and empirical proposals that might contribute to a critical discussion on the reconfiguration of journalistic and political/public communication practices in a hybridized and polarized networked media environment.
— How can the emerging disruptive forms of communication and information be meaningfully delineated
— How do strategies and tactics change in relation to the construction of (alternative) agendas, claims and politics?
— How do journalists engage in (re)enforcing public confidence and accountability?
— How has the proliferation of digital populism, misinformation and disinformation/fake news transformed political communication?”
Special Panel: Exploring (dis)continuities in work, gender and technology
More information about this session can be found in the Call for Contributions. This panel welcomes empirical and theoretical approaches connected to the following areas:
• Work in communication industries
• Knowledge workers and communication practices
• Technology and paid/unpaid labor in the platform economy
• Work and intersectional (digital) inequalities
• Designing technology and policy for digital wellbeing
Call for Contributions: Download the full document
Abstract Submission
Deadline: 23 April 2023
at the address: conference@fjsc.ro
Abstracts can be submitted in Romanian and in English.
For any further questions, contact the organizers at the address conference@fjsc.ro.