*CFP* "DESINFORMACIÓN Y TRATAMIENTO DE LA MEMORIA DEMOCRÁTICA EN REDES SOCIALES", VOL. 13, Nº 2, REVISTA MEDITERRÁNEA DE COMUNICACIÓN

´Posverdad´, ´desinformación´, ´bulos´, ´fake news´, son conceptos que se han consolidado en la agenda mediática acompañados del ascenso de partidos vinculados a la extrema derecha, experimentado de manera universal, y que han provocado una creciente polarización política. La agenda mediática de estas nuevas opciones políticas amparadas por las sociedades democráticas se limita a unos pocos temas, pero con alta tensión social, que pretenden conseguir un objetivo de movilización emocional del electorado. Entre ellos, destaca el de la Memoria Democrática, referida en España a los crímenes institucionales cometidos durante la dictadura franquista. Pero más allá de España, en otros muchos países con un pasado de padecimiento bajo el influjo de regímenes totalitarios, la memoria también está adquiriendo un papel protagonista en los medios, centralizada en la difusión a través de las redes sociales (Argentina, Chile, Alemania, Israel, Italia, Sáhara, Cuba, etc.).

El presente monográfico, con clara motivación internacional, pretende promover la reflexión crítica y el debate en torno a la utilización de la memoria como temática incluida en la agenda política en diferentes países con pasado o presente absolutista. Algunas de las cuestiones a investigar que planteamos en esta llamada a la publicación son:

• Tratamiento y difusión de información sobre personajes y cuestiones históricas.

*CFP* "COMMUNICATION AND DISSENT: COMPETING VOICES IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD", ISSUE 14.2 (FALL 2022), CATALAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL STUDIES

Traditional media were for a long time seen as institutions that had to avoid challenges to the system in order to guarantee the maintenance of the social structure, which was dependant on broad consensus around certain issues. Making news was key to the social construction of reality in a complex world (Tuchman, 1983). The impact of the media on public opinion, approached at first as a desirable influence for the functioning of society (Lippmann, 2011), was later identified as an instrument of control and propaganda (Herman & Chomsky, 2013). However, the media have also proven to be essential in questioning discourses of power. Alternative journalism has offered a discordant as well as rigorous proposal of framing reality (Couldry & Curran, 2003; Barranquero Carretero & Sánchez Mocanda, 2018). And, occasionally, media outlets have also been responsible for the generation of dissent in the public sphere, promoting social protests (Milne, 2005). The expression of dissent has been strengthened thanks to the digital media (Loader, 2018), which have given rise to connective actions (Bennett & Segerberg, 2012); this is, online mobilizations that coexist with collective action in offline world, as the anti-racial protests in the US or the new impetus of the feminist movement have recently shown.

But dissent expressed on the Internet often establishes problematic relationships with factual truths, as COVID-19 denialism has demonstrated in the first pandemic of the post-truth era (Parmet & Paul, 2020). Digital sphere has emerged as a perfect ally for the dissemination of hoaxes and misinformation (Magallón, 2020; Salaverría et al., 2020), conspiracies that tune in with messages delivered by celebrities and politicians such as Bolsonaro (Ricard & Medeiros, 2020) and Trump, who first talked about “alternative facts” to deny data provided by journalists, discredited as fake news. 

*CFP* "EL PARADIGMA DEL DIGITAL LITERACY: RETOS Y EXPERIENCIAS", NÚMERO 21, COMMUNICATION PAPERS: SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH JOURNAL

La de 2020 no ha sido la primera pandemia que ha atravesado la Humanidad, como tampoco será la última, al menos, eso aseguran las voces expertas. Lo que sí ha sido una novedad es que esta tragedia sanitaria global coincide con el mayor periodo de interconectividad que hemos experimentado como especie.

A principios de mayo de ese año, la Organización Mundial de la Salud publicó una hoja informativa titulada Entender la Infodemia y la Desinformación en la lucha contra la Covid-19, en la que se advierte sobre las consecuencias tanto de la infodemia (flujo excesivo de información, verídica o no) como de la desinformación deliberada.

Porque la extraordinaria difusión de las tecnologías de la información está suponiendo la quiebra de muchos paradigmas educativos tradicionales. En este contexto global, los medios digitales -Internet- han disipado las fronteras entre la comunicación de masas y la comunicación interpersonal y, las diferencias entre los productores y los consumidores de productos culturales y de entretenimiento, son cada vez más difusas. Muchas de estas transformaciones implican inexorablemente a la infancia, adolescencia y juventud, usuarios intensivos de las tecnologías, que provenientes de las pantallas audiovisuales, han migrado a las interficies digitales.

*CFP* "COMUNICACIÓN POLÍTICA Y TECNOLOGÍAS APLICADAS: DESINFORMACIÓN, NOTICIAS FALSAS Y VERIFICACIÓN DE HECHOS", VOL. 25, Nº 112, REVISTA RAZÓN Y PALABRA

La facilidad de propagación de las noticias falsas en la sociedad digital constituye un peligro para la salud o la economía, pero también para la democracia en su conjunto. Esta es una consecuencia más de la popularización de la computación, de la robotización o de la segmentación algorítmica. En el marco de la Comunicación Política, sus consecuencias nocivas preocupan a instituciones, medios de comunicación y ciudadanía, muy especialmente en época electoral.

La crisis originada por la pandemia de COVID-19 ha generado un debate sobre la necesidad de establecer mecanismos de control que eviten la desinformación, así como el desarrollo de instrumentos que permitan verificar hechos. El “fact-checking”, pues, es una de las principales tareas de la comunicación, constituyéndose como pieza angular de la responsabilidad social: automatiza la corroboración de las noticias a través de la detección de la fuente, del análisis de contenido y de la dirección de los distintos flujos informativos. Y es que, en este contexto de miedo colectivo, la proliferación de datos inexactos y la utilización con fines de intoxicación de las redes sociales por parte de actores políticos erosiona la estabilidad social, la convivencia pacífica y las bases sobre las que se construyen las democracias liberales, también las iberoamericanas.

*CFP* "COMUNICACIÓN Y CRISIS EN EL ESPACIO PÚBLICO", VOL. 31, Nº 3, REVISTA EL PROFESIONAL DE LA INFORMACIÓN

En los últimos años hemos asistido a un proceso de creciente polarización y descrédito de las instituciones que tradicionalmente han sido representativas de un sistema democrático (Bennett; Pfetsch, 2018), tanto en la esfera internacional como en el contexto español. La irrupción de los populismos, la atomización del voto (Stroud, 2010) y las dificultades para alcanzar mayorías que permitan la formación de gobiernos sólidos plantean serias incógnitas de futuro en un escenario comunicativo híbrido, en el que la desinformación (Guess; Nyhan; Reifler, 2018) empieza a alcanzar niveles preocupantes para una mayoría de ciudadanos.

La pérdida de credibilidad de los medios de comunicación tradicionales, en paralelo a las posibilidades de creación y distribución de mensajes en la esfera pública a través de las redes sociales, ha abierto la puerta a actores políticos y sociales que habían quedado excluidos de la misma, pero también ha rebajado los estándares para la circulación de mensajes centrados en la divulgación de falsedades o en el discurso del odio. En este contexto, lejos de facilitar el consenso y la unidad en torno a valores democráticos, han contribuido a la polarización y disgregación (Sunstein, 2019), así como a una mayor presencia y visibilidad de posturas políticas que confrontan directamente con estos principios. La irrupción de un partido que comulga con los principios de la extrema derecha en el panorama político español -con representación en las instituciones tras casi cuatro décadas de presencia marginal, plantea la necesidad de reflexionar sobre un escenario político, social y mediático que se retroalimenta, y sobre las implicaciones en el sistema democrático.

*CFP* "DESINFORMATION STUDIES AS AN EMERGING RESEARCH FIELD", SPECIAL ISSUE, JOURNALISM PRACTICE

This special issue of Journalism Practice looks at the complexities of disinformation and its implications on society. The number of studies that were already growing increased exponentially with Covid-19. The main goal of this special issue is to develop a set of studies and policies that allow us to identify and contribute to combat and effectively minimize the phenomena of disinformation, misinformation and manipulation in the journalistic field.

The contributions to this special issue, from different national and international contexts, can focus (among others) on the following topics:

• Identifying through case studies, examples of media whether revealing weaknesses or, instead, using strategies particularly directed to fight the phenomenon;
• Discussing new manipulation and disinformation strategies, considering in those the study of the audience from the perspective of their manipulation through the mobilization of emotions;

*CFP* "HISTORY OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND DIGITAL MEDIA HISTORIOGRAPHY", ECREA COMMUNICATION HISTORY SECTION WORKSHOP

History of Digital Media and Digital Media Historiography

A ECREA Communication History Section Workshop 

co-sponsored by the ICA Communication History Division

Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH), University of Luxembourg

Luxembourg, 2-4 February 2022

 

The digital turn has had a transformative effect on all media, and it has also influenced the way in which media and communication history is shaped, written and disseminated. First, it has had an impact in terms of devices, distribution, production and content, as well as access and participation. Looking at these changes with the lenses of history is beneficial, because it helps contextualizing “revolutions” and continuities with the past. Consequently, the history of digital media can be seen as a new label for media histories related to digital politics, economics, technologies and cultures shaped by digitalisation. But it also deals with analogue media which have been digitised or have resisted digitisation is a new and relevant field.

*CFP* "THE FUTURE OF MEDIA IN AFRICA: BUILDING RESILIENCE IN A COVID19 WORLD", AWIM 2021 CONFERENCE

AWiM 2021 Conference

The Future of Media in Africa: Building Resilience in a COVID19 World

2-3 November 2021, online

 

In this year’s virtual conference, we invite presentations on the impact of COVID19 on media in Africa, the gaps it revealed for media industries, women in media, and forward-looking solutions to address these.

COVID-19 has no doubt changed media industries. Our research into the impact of COVID-19 on East African women journalists found that a staggering 63% of respondents said their jobs had been affected during the pandemic. 52% of respondents were placed on unpaid leave. The industry also saw many organisational casualties, with some newsrooms shutting down completely. Alongside these impacts were changes in how we work and gather news. Sexual harassment also increased on the digital platforms which respondents were now using to engage with colleagues. According to a 2021 UNESCO report on online violence against women journalists, 73% of survey respondents said they had experienced online violence.

*CFP* "AFRICA'S DIGITAL YOUTH: EXPLORING MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY COMPETENCIES AND PRACTICES", TRENDS IN MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE

Africa's digital youth: Exploring media and information literacy competencies and practices

Trends in Media and Communication Conference, 2021

19-20th October 2021

 

 

The conference will seek to catalogue scholarship on trends emerging around African youth’s digital media practices with a focus on their ability to access, analyze, create, share and use information from digital sources. We invite abstracts of empirical and conceptual papers relating to the theme. 

 

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• African youth’s fact checking practices
• Youth and social media activism in Africa

*CFP* "DIFUSIÓN SOCIAL DE NOTICIAS: PLATAFORMAS, PÚBLICOS Y DIMENSIONES DE NEWS SHARING", NÚMERO ESPECIAL (ABRIL 2022), REVISTA COMUNICACIÓN Y SOCIEDAD

Internet, las redes sociales y los dispositivos móviles han impulsado el papel activo del público en la difusión, el consumo y la interpretación de los medios. Los públicos ya no son simples receptores finales de un mensaje, sino que actúan como nodos en una red en la que seleccionan, moldean y difunden noticias y otros contenidos mediáticos.  Este nuevo contexto desafía la influencia de los medios de masas y hace que sea vital entender el modo en el que la audiencia comparte y distribuye noticias entre sus contactos.

Este número especial aborda cuestiones que han sido relativamente poco estudiadas, así como la búsqueda de hipótesis contrarias a la intuición que podrían poner en tela de juicio paradigmas establecidos y ampliamente aceptados en la investigación sobre news sharing, como las cámaras de eco, los discursos de incitación al odio, el social news gap o el papel de los líderes de opinión. Si bien la mayor parte de la investigación sobre redes sociales se ha centrado en Twitter, algunos estudios han puesto de relieve que el público comparte y comenta cada vez con más frecuencia las noticias en entornos más privados y de menor tamaño, como los servicios de mensajería instantánea (WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.), los grupos   de Facebook y otros espacios digitales privados o semiprivados.  Además, existe un vacío en la literatura científica en cuanto al aspecto visual de la difusión social de noticias. Se ha de tener en cuenta el peso cada vez mayor de lo audiovisual en la cultura digital contemporánea y el énfasis en los contenidos gráficos en las redes sociales para entender el fenómeno del news sharing. Asimismo, los trabajos sobre difusión social de noticias han tendido a centrarse fundamentalmente en la información política, a menudo relacionados con preocupaciones sobre la vida democrática, la confianza en los medios de comunicación o la desinformación.  Las pautas y rutinas de intercambio de información económica, científica o sobre salud han sido menos exploradas.

*CFP* "PANDEMEDIA. HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN SOCIETY", SPECIAL ISSUE, MEDIEKULTUR JOURNAL

Fundamentally, media technologies facilitate communication between two parties or more across vast distances - synchronously and asynchronously. During the Covid-19 pandemic era, these properties have proven important towards organizing mass testing as well as providing news, updates, and information. In addition to this, the many facets of digital communication in the modern workplace have become even more important. Aside from the many practical aspects where media technologies have proven valuable or necessary, social lives have been mediated as well through familiar social media platforms, message apps, and video conference software. 

 

Moreover, the Covid-19 era has highlighted debates over misinformation, conspiracy theories, fringe online cultures, and the role of surveillance technologies in society. None of these practices represent entirely new forms of media use, but due to the pandemic they have become necessary and apparent in new ways. In summation, this special issue will be open to a wide range of topics within the scope of media culture through the prism of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Suggested topics:

*CFP* "THE SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS IN TIMES OF INFODEMICS", MEKK CONFERENCE

The safety of journalists in times of infodemics

Oslo 2 and 3 November 2021

The research group MEKK

Oslo Metropolitan University

 

The term ‘infodemics’ had its breakthrough in 2020. The term – a combination of information and pandemics – describes a rapid and important spread of both factual and false information in a situation marked by uncertainty, also for those who are expected to disseminate information about the pandemic. In some countries journalists are being deprived of the right to report on the pandemic and experience increased risk associated with covering the governments’ social and economic policies. Several organizations working with the safety of journalists, such as Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) have repeatedly documented in 2020 attacks and direct violence against journalists covering Covid-19. This includes both coverage of the actual situation at a given time, as well as for instance coverage of demonstrations against strict Covid measures.

*CFP* "CRISIS SANITARIA Y CRISIS DE LA COMUNICACIÓN EN LA ERA COVID-19", 9ª REUNIÓN DE LA RED DE LAS CÁTEDRAS UNESCO EN COMUNICACIÓN (ORBICOM)

 

Crisis sanitaria y crisis de la comunicación en la era Covid-19

9ª Reunión Anual de la Red de las Cátedras UNESCO en Comunicación (ORBICOM)

3-5 de Septiembre, 2021

 

 

En medio de la pandemia que estamos viviendo creemos que se hace necesario reflexionar sobre los procesos de comunicación generados en torno a la crisis sanitaria, los fenómenos de desinformación y noticias falsas que vivimos día a día, dificultades en las dinámicas de consenso en la opinión pública y retos institucionales y éticos para gestionar la información en la actualidad.

Entre los aspectos a tratar en el evento podrán incluirse, aunque no exclusivamente:

• Conocimientos y experiencias sobre el valor de la investigación en comunicación para el diálogo en sociedades en crisis. 

*CFP* "MIS- AND DISINFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19: CHALLENGES FOR HEALTH COMMUNICATION", SPECIAL ISSUE, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION

Millions of lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). However, scientific knowledge on how to effectively respond to COVID-19 outbreaks has also increased considerably in a very short time (Weiner at al., 2020). For example, several research teams have developed promising COVID-19 vaccines, and, as of April 2021, about 732 million vaccination doses have been administered worldwide (WHO, 2021). Further success in reducing the COVID-19 burden relies on the public’s awareness and acceptance of scientific knowledge. Health communication plays an essential role in the complex relationship between scientific knowledge and individuals’ beliefs and behaviours. However, attempts by health communicators to inform and educate individuals about the characteristics of the disease and effective prevention measures compete with persuasive mis- and disinformation, especially online (Lewandowsky et al., 2021). Studies reveal that misinformation about COVID-19 undermines trust in institutions (Pummerer et al., 2020), decreases willingness to undertake effective prevention measures such as vaccination (Loomba et al., 2021) and adds to the overabundance of (mis-)information that makes it difficult for individuals to find trustworthy sources – an overabundance known as an infodemic (WHO, 2020). That is, mis- and disinformation pose major challenges for health communication around the globe.

To master these challenges and prepare for future public health crises, it is vital to understand mis- and disinformation surrounding COVID-19. What kinds of mis- and disinformation do individuals encounter off- and online? What impact do these have on cognition, emotions, attitudes and behaviours? Which groups are specifically susceptible to mis- and disinformation, and how can theory-based interventions be designed to combat mis- and disinformation surrounding COVID-19?

*CFP* "SOCIEDAD DE LA DESINFORMACIÓN: EL IMPACTO DE LAS FAKE NEWS EN LA ESFERA PÚBLICA", NÚMERO 72, COMUNICAR: REVISTA CIENTÍFICA DE COMUNICACIÓN Y EDUCACIÓN

Los procesos de comunicación tecnológica han experimentado importantes cambios desde antaño, dando lugar a un sistema de medios amplio, diverso y abierto. Los ciclos de noticias se han acelerado, la preeminencia de los medios de comunicación se ha reducido, los comunicadores se han transformado y han emergido nuevos emisores, y la capacidad de selección del público ha aumentado significativamente. En este contexto, el concepto de desinformación ha adquirido especial relevancia, puesto que el flujo incesante de mensajes con orígenes, objetivos y recorridos tan diversos dan cabida a informaciones erróneas, sesgadas o falsas; en ocasiones, se trata de errores involuntarios (misinformation), pero  a  menudo tienen el propósito explícito (disinformation) de confundir al público receptor y transmitirle mensajes falsos −fake news− para conseguir un resultado específico, como orientar y transformar la opinión pública. 

 

Descriptores

*CFP* "SDG18 - COMMUNICATION FOR ALL", BOOK CHAPTER

The 2030 agenda for development or what is known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is perhaps the most ambitious agenda collectively agreed by 193 countries in human history. In 2015, the UN Member States adopted the 17 SDGs as a framework that would help address the challenges being faced by humanity. From eradicating poverty, ending hunger, providing universal access to healthcare and education, addressing climate change; to the partnering of individuals, philanthropists and nation states to achieve the global goals. Yet, the framers of the 2030 agenda for development comprising key stakeholders from all sectors of all life forgot to dedicate one goal on the role of communication in achieving the SDGs. Such an oversight has attracted the attention of media and communication scholars alike, journalists and policy makers who understand that it is nearly impossible to achieve the SDGs without the articulation and embrace of the role of communication in development.

The COVID-19 pandemic which struck in 2019 has shown why communication is essential to human survival. The Pandemic which started as a health crisis and later metamorphosed into a full-blown economic crisis is now having a direct and indirect impact on the possibility of achieving each of the SDGs. The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2021 says the global economy has experienced the worst recession in 90 years, with the most vulnerable segments of societies disproportionately affected. An estimated 114 million jobs have been lost, and about 120 million people have been plunged back into extreme poverty.

*CFP* CALL FOR PARTICIPATION, THE DIGITAL INCLUSION, POLICY AND RESEARCH CONFERENCE

The Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference (DIPRC)

Tuesday, September 14 2021

The conference will be free to attend and held online

 

In this third edition of the Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference (DIPRC) 2021, we invite scholars and practitioners to talk about their latest work in what many consider as a crucial point for digital inclusion, digital divides and data literacy. Who got left behind and struggled the most during the pandemic? What new digital practices emerged from the pandemic to help people manage their well-being and survival? Did technology interventions such as contact tracing apps actually help manage the pandemic? How did different communities organise to assist each other via digital means? How did different governments and local municipalities respond to digital literacy challenges? How is mainstream media implicated in how we understand what is happening?

*CFP* "OLD MEDIA PERSISTENCE", ECREA VIRTUAL POSTCONFERENCE

Old Media Persistence

An ECREA virtual postconference co-organized by three ECREA Thematic Sections:

Communication History, Radio & Sound section, Television Studies

 

Media and communication studies today especially focus on questions surrounding how digital media and digitization have changed and revolutionized previous media ecologies. Funding opportunities, PhD dissertations, journals and books on digitization and the relevance of digital media are overwhelming. This joint ECREA post conference, organized by the Communication History, Radio & Sound, and Television Studies Sections, invites colleagues to focus on and discuss claims that studying old media is imperative and still fully relevant to understand our contemporary media landscapes. In several media sectors, traditional media, such as television and radio, printing, analog photography and music, are still the most profitable businesses. The integration of old and new media seems to be more effective than disruptive models, and the so-called “old media” are still used and appreciated by media audiences worldwide. This post conference invites empirical and theoretical contributions from different angles. Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

*CFP* "COMMENTS, HATE SPEECH, DISINFORMATION, AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATION REGULATION", INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE

International scientific conference

Comments, hate speech, disinformation, and public communication regulation

(Zagreb, Croatia, Sheraton hotel, 16 and 17 September 2021)

 

In case of an unfavorable epidemiological situation, the conference will be held online.

We invite you to contribute with your scientific papers to theoretical discussions on issues of freedom of speech and censorship of public speech, comments on news portals and social networks, hate speech, disinformation as well as questions about media freedom, right to information, internet neutrality. At the conference, we would like to discuss, among other topics, issues such as how to contribute to the fight against disinformation and hate speech in the age of digital communication, which strategies are acceptable, which stakeholders should be involved and which place belongs to self-regulation and which to the regulatory system? How should legislation participate in this? What are the experiences of different national legal regulations? Information about the conference and how to apply for participation is available via this link.

*CFP* CALL FOR CANDIDATES, THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SUMMER

School of Journalism and Mass Communications of Aristotle University Thessaloniki (AUTh), Jean Monet of European Union Public Diplomacy along with other partners, University of Zagreb, University of Novi-Sad, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Hallym University (Korea), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Center for Media and Information Literacy at Temple University, Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW Akademie), Panteio University, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Proof organization “Media for Social Justice” and “Digital Communication Network Global” and VII Academy organise every year Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy.

Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy is a major forum where current issues and research developments around media and communication are presented. In today’s world, accurate information is an increasingly critical resource for our understanding of the world. This year the 5th Thessaloniki International Summer Academy on Media will take place on 16-23 July 2021 under the title: “New trends in Media and Journalism: Turning crisis into opportunity”. 

Special emphasis will be given on the topics: