New Perspectives on News: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges to
Contemporary News Research Conference,
28-29 May
Södertörn University, Stockholm
News, for a long time considered a distinct commodity produced by
journalists and established media organisations, is currently often considered
a concept in flux. This is prompted by changes in news production, including
altering practices of journalists and the opportunities for media users to
produce and share their own content, but it is equally a result of novel forms
of news distribution, where social media platforms, micro-celebrities and
alternative and viral news sites have gained a prominent role in news
dissemination.
Alongside transformations in the production and distribution of news
have followed changing use patterns, leading to renewed questions about
participation, trust and civic engagement in the public sphere. It is arguable,
furthermore, that the altered context for news consumption interlinks not only
with new behaviours around news, but also with more varied understandings of
the concept itself – with a range of different sources of information competing
for what is to be considered ‘news’.
While these developments have been widely discussed as impacting on
democracy and the public sphere, they seem to necessitate a further re-thinking
of the features and functions of news today, in relation not only to
technological developments and the digitized media landscape, but also with
regard to different kinds of societies and geo-cultural contexts for news.
The overall aim of this conference is to make a contribution to ongoing
scholarly debates about news and democracy in digitized society, by providing a
rethinking of the concept and societal role of news, from a range of analytical
and geo-cultural perspectives. The conference aims to bring together
researchers from different academic disciplines and geographical areas, with
expertise that could bring new perspectives to the inherently Western field of
news research, as well as advancing the research agenda around news both
theoretically and empirically.
Papers may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Considerations of news as a concept, in relation to theoretical or empirical areas of investigation, and in connection to news production, content or audiences
- Empirical studies of news outside of the Western world
- The role of social media, viral news sites and apps as platforms for news
- Algorithmic news selection
- The relationship between news journalism and social media
- Alternative and populist news sites and their role in the public sphere
- Transforming news audiences and emerging practices around news
- Micro-celebrities and ‘influencers’ as disseminators and sources of news
- Global, local and hyperlocal news contexts
- News in relation to different cultural and geographical contexts
- Current developments around journalism and journalists
- Historical perspectives on news
- Issues of truth and trust in news
The conference will entail a combination of keynote speakers, research
dialogues with invited speakers and parallel papers sessions. Abstracts for
presentations are to be submitted by the 15th of March, for the selection of
conference contributions to be confirmed by the 27th of March. Abstracts should
be a maximum of 300 words, submitted alongside a short presenter’s bio of no
more than 100 words.
Submit abstracts to: sofia.johansson@sh.se and stina.bengtsson@sh.se.
Conference registration will be open between the 30th of March to the
15th of April. Registration is free.
Hosted by the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University, with funding by the university’s Centre for Baltic and East
European Studies.
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