Inter/Transnational Media Policy and Regulation in Digital Environments
October 24-25, 2019
Erich-Brost Institute, Dortmund/Germany
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). Alternative economic models for mass media funding
in a digital age, such as the public financing of the private press, are
discussed controversially (Kiefer 2011, Schweizer & Puppis 2018).
Conference contributions are asked to address commonalities and differences of
economic challenges in the private and PSM sector and discuss alternative
funding schemes. The question to what extent the nexus between economy and
media quality is addressed in media strategies will be addressed. Technological
innovations such as recommender systems allow for personalized user experience,
audience interaction and may also foster participation as a core requirement of
democracies.
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.
However, the establishment of 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
the online content, public value and the ethics of journalism in the digital
media world. Contributions may inquire in how far 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.
Conference organizers: Dr. Christine Horz (Ruhr University Bochum, (christine.horz@rub.de) and Dr. Julia Lönnendonker (Vrije Universiteit Brussels, (julia.loennendonker@vub.be).
Deadline for proposal submission: 1 July 2019
Submissions in English via email to: (iic-conference2019@rub.de)
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.
Submissions and further inquiries via: (iic-conference2019@rub.de)
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