“Communication and Media Policy in the Era of the Internet and Digitization” (March 16-17, 2012)

The section’s 2012 workshop will be hosted and organized by the Department of Communication Science and Media Research of Munich’s Ludwig Maximilians University(Dr. Maria Löblich, Dr. Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger). It is supported by the Munich Center on Governance, Communication, Public Policy and Law (Prof. Dr. Carsten Reinemann).

The workshop will be dedicated to the challenges faced by communication and media policy due to digitization and, in particular, due to the internet, which can be seen as the most important platform for convergence developments and as a driver of numerous changes in the communication and media industries. The transition from the analog to the digital age and the interrelations between the technological evolution and sociocultural, economic and political processes have been discussed for many years. However, it is necessary to continue to reflect on the demanding situation media policy currently finds itself in because digital information and communication technologies have become critical resources inEuropeand beyond. Economy, health, public administration, to name but a few areas of society, are increasingly dependent on the internet, and everyday life can no longer be imagined without this medium. The permanent evolution of digital technologies and user behavior has led to a wide range of controversial issues, for instance the future of public service broadcasting, net neutrality, online business models, copyright or data protection. These debates reflect the societal search for a regulatory framework for societal communication under the conditions of digitization and the internet.

The main aim of the conference is to continue the academic discourse about changing communication and media structures and their impact on communication and media policy. In addition to discussing media policy from the perspective of change – change of policy issues, of regulatory approaches or of actors constellations – there will be a focus on trying to find out how far guiding principles, institutions and regulatory arrangements have shown either resilience or adaptability to new technological possibilities.

For futher information:

Dr. Maria Löblich & Dr. Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger

Department of Communication Science and Media Research /LudwigMaximiliansUniversityMunich

Schellingstr. 3, 80799 Munich, Germany

loeblich@ifkw.lmu.de, pfaff@ifkw.lmu.de

Special issue on Media Governance

The journal Communication, Culture & Critique is publishing in its latest number (3.2) a special issue on the topic of ‘Media Governance’. A link to the online version of the journal and a table of contents follows below:

Communication, Culture & Critique
A journal of the International Communication Association
Volume 3 Issue 2 (June 2010)
Special Issue: Media Governance: New Policies for Changing Media Landscape

• Editor’s Introduction (p 131-133), by Leen d’Haenens, Robin Mansell, and Katharine Sarikakis
• Media Governance: A New Concept for the Analysis of Media Policy and Regulation (p 134-149), by Manuel Puppis
• Mapping Global Media Policy: Concepts, Frameworks, Methods* (p 150-169), by Marc Raboy and Claudia Padovani
• Reopening the Postwar Settlement for U.S. Media: The Origins and Implications of the Social Contract Between Media, the State, and the Polity (p 170-189), by Victor Pickard
• Between Public Responsibility and Public Relations: A Case Study of Editors’ Attitudes Toward Media Accountability in Sweden (p 190-206), by Torbjörn von Krogh and Lars W. Nord
• Governing Public Service Broadcasting: “Public Value Tests” in Different National Contexts (p 207-223), by Hallvard Moe

CFP: Exporting the Public Value Test (Brussels, 25 May 2010)

Dear colleagues,

Within ECREA’s Communications Law and Policy Section, IBBT‐SMIT (Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology-Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and the IES (Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) have the pleasure to invite you to a one‐day conference on ‘Exporting the Public Value Test: assessing EU Member States’ evaluation of public broadcasters’ new media services’. This conference will take place on 25 May 2010 (08.30‐18.30h) at the IBBT‐SMIT offices in Brussels (Pleinlaan 9, Floor 2).

The aim of this one‐day conference is to reflect about the introduction of different ex ante evaluation instruments to assess both the public value and market impact of public broadcasters new offers. As public broadcasters are expanding activities to new media markets and, as such, a public service media project is gradually replacing the traditional public service broadcasting policy project, a discussion of this highly topical issue is very relevant. The conference will address the use of ex ante evaluations in several EU Member States. Each session is devoted to one selected Member State (Member States that are certainly included in the programme are the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium, but other Member States will be added to this list) and consists of a paper presentation (approx. 20 minutes) and a sector representative’s comments (approx. 10 minutes). The remainder of the time is reserved for discussion.

Concretely, this means that we invite interested scholars to submit an abstract concerning the ex ante evaluation of new media services in a specific Member State before 15 February 2010 (please send to karen.donders@vub.ac.be). Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and address the research question, method and structure of the paper. Before the end of February, we communicate on the list of selected papers. Finalised papers have to be submitted to the conference organisors before 17 May 2010. Papers should focus on: the legal aspects of the ex ante evaluation, the main procedural aspects of the instrument, the services subject to an evaluation, the role of different stakeholders in conducting the ex ante evaluation, a status quaestionis of the test (potentially addressing the results of already conducted tests) and the problems that arise when performing an ex ante evaluation.

In order to ensure vivid and interactive debates, the number of participants will be limited to 40. An early registration is therefore advisable. You can register once the papers for the conference are selected (from 1 March 2010 onwards). Registration is free of charge. Travel costs and other costs are to be taken care for by the participants themselves.

Best regards,
Prof. Dr. Caroline Pauwels, IBBT‐SMIT
Dr. Jan Loisen, IBBT‐SMIT and Steunpunt Buitenlands Beleid
Karen Donders, IES

…

Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication (SMIT), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, part of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT).

http://smit.vub.ac.be/st/stdefault.aspx

The Institute for European Studies,Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

http://www.ies.be/

[Download this invitation in PDF]

Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre: Spaces, Connections, Control

Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre: Spaces, Connections, Control

Inaugural Symposium: Media, Diversity and Cosmopolitanism in Europe

Saturday 28 November 2009, 9:30 – 17:30

Ian Gulland Lecture Theatre Goldsmiths, University of London

Programme:

9:30 – 10:00 Registration

10: 00 – 10:20 Opening

James Curran (Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre) Kevin Robins (Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre)

10:20 – 11:50 Cosmopolitanism and Diversity in Europe

Chair: Monika Metykova (Goldsmiths)

Adrian Favell (Aarhus University): The Cosmopolitan and the Provincial: London as a Hub of Intra-EU Mobility

Katharine Sarikakis (University of Leeds): The Citizen-at-Large: Cultural and Communication Rights in the European Context

Ksenija Vidmar Horvat (University of Ljubljana): Is There a Cosmopolitan Patriotism? Spaces of Belonging and Citizenship in a Post-national Era

11:50 – 12:00 Refreshments

12:00 – 13:00 Plenary

Zygmunt Bauman: From Assimilation to…? A Brief History of European Ambitions and Their Frustrations

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:50 Media and Diversity

Chair: Kevin Robins (Goldsmiths)

Connie Christiansen (Roskilde University): Homepages of Hometowns: Forging the Transnational Village, Forging Transnational Citizenship?

Aniko Imre (University of Southern California): Paradoxes of Minority Stardom in Post-Wall Europe

Monika Metykova (Goldsmiths): European Catholic Media: A Challenge to Media Policy?

Isabelle Rigoni (Université de Poitiers): Muslims in the European Mediascape 15:50 – 16:10 Refreshments

16:10 – 17:10 Asu Aksoy (Goldsmiths) in conversation with Timea Junghaus (Curator, art historian)

17:10 – 17: 30 Closing Remarks

17:30 Wine reception

CPBF Conference: Media for all? The Challenge of Convergence

The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) Conference:
Media for all? The Challenge of Convergence

Friday evening 30 October and Saturday 31 October 2009

School of Pharmacy, 29 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX

Download full programme in PDF

More information at the CPBF website

——-

Friday 30 October
7.00 – 10.45 pm

The Miners’ Strike & Politics Today and Reception
FRIDAY NIGHT FILM, SPEAKERS & RECEPTION
Which side are you on?
Ken Loach’s anthology of striking miners’ poems and songs

• Introduced by Tony Benn, with Lee Hall, John Nichols, Marc Vallee & Paul Lewis
• Chair: Frances O’Grady, Deputy GS TUC

Saturday 31 October
10 am – 5 pm    CONFERENCE
Registration and networking 9 am

Opening Plenary 10am
Media Ownership and Democracy in the Age of Convergence
Chair: Granville Williams, CPBF National Committee

• John Nichols, Correspondent, The Nation
• Professor Alexander Stille, Journalism School, Colombia University
• Dr Katharine Sarikakis, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds

11.20 – 12.30   Breakout Sessions

Decline of Public Service Broadcasting
Chair: Janice Turner, Editor of BECTU’s Stage Screen and Radio

• Ray Fitzwalter, Author – The Dream that Died – the rise and fall of ITV
• Tom O’Malley, Professor of Media Studies Aberystwyth University
• Keith Stokes, Chair BECTU’s Independent Broadcasting Division

Gaps in reporting and News Impartiality
Chair: Des Freedman, Snr Lecturer in Communications & Cultural Studies Goldsmiths, University of London

• Greg Philo, Professor University of Glasgow
• Arun Kundnani, Editor Race & Class, Institute of Race Relations
• Julian Petley, Brunel University Professor of Film & TV and Chair of CPBF

Politics and the Media Online
Chair: Natalie Fenton, Reader & Co-Director of Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre

• Nick Jones, CPBF National Committee
• John Nichols, Correspondent, The Nation

PR and Lobbying
Chair: Sian Jones, NUJ Press & PR Branch

• Tamasin Cave, Lobbying Campaigner

12.30 – 1.30 LUNCH in the Refectory

Plenary Two 1.30 – 2.30
The media as a public service?
Chair:  Julian Petley, Chair of CPBF and Brunel University Professor of Film & TV

• Carole Tongue, Chair UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity
• Steve Barnett, Professor of Communications University of Westminster
• Graham Murdock, Author Media in the Age of Marketization

2.40 – 3.40   Breakout Sessions

Digital Futures: UK Government policies
Chair:  Pat Holland, CPBF National Committee

• Andrew Currah,  School of Geography & the Environment, Worcester College Oxford
• Tony Lennon, President of BECTU
• Sylvia Harvey, Professor of Broadcasting Policy, University of Lincoln

Threats to local and regional media
Chair: Joy Johnson, CPBF National Committee, former BBC journalist and Director of Media for Mayor of London Ken Livingstone

• Tim Gopsill, Editor The Journalist, NUJ
• Bob Franklin, Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies

European Media Rules
Chair: Jonathan Hardy, Senior Lecturer in Media, University of East London and Secretary, CPBF

• Alison Harcourt, Snr Lecturer University of Exeter and Jean Monnet Chair of the Information Society
• Aidan White, GS International Federation of Journalists (invited)

Alternative Media
Chair: Sean Tunney, CPBF National Committee

• Jackie Devereux, Director Community Media Association
• Dr Bart Cammaerts, Lecturer LSE Dept of Media & Communications, Chair Communications & Democracy Section ECREA

Closing Plenary 4pm
Protecting and campaigning for a high quality and diverse media
Chair: Christine Payne, General Secretary of Equity

• Jeremy Dear, GS National Union Journalists
• Natalie Fenton, Reader & Co-Director of Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre
• Granville Williams, CPBF National Committee

Conference closes 5pm

###

Symposium Programme: Public Interest under threat? Media Policy Responses

Is the Public Interest under threat? Media Policy responses to the private sector recession in Europe

A Symposium jointly organised by the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) at the University of Westminster, and the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)

2 October 2009

University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW

DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Matteo Maggiore (BBC Group Controller, European and International Policy)
Carole Tongue (Chair, UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity)

SESSIONS ON:
- Threats to pluralism: ownership, content, and public service ethos
- Policy developments within the EU
- Individual country perspectives

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME

9.00-9.25:  Registration and Coffee

9.25: Welcome

9.30- 11.00:
Session 1: Threats to pluralism: ownership, content, and public service ethos

Petros Iosifidis (City University, London)
Plurality of Public Service Provision across Europe

Carles Llorens (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona)
Recent developments on Spanish Media Concentration Policy: how commercial broadcasters have become co-regulators of media policy.

Steve Barnett (University of Westminster)
Media ownership policy in a recession: redefining the public interest

Thomas Lyons (University of Lincoln)
From Public Service Publisher to 4IP

Alessandro D’Arma and Jeanette Steemers (University of Westminster)
Children’s Television and the Public Interest: Assessing Media Policy Responses for the Provision of Children’s Content

Lynn Whitaker (University of Glasgow)
‘Creative bloody futures’: Ofcom, the BBC and the sharp end of UK children’s programme making

11.00-11.30:  Coffee break

11.30-13.00:
Session 2: Keynote speakers and plenary discussion

Matteo Maggiore (BBC Group Controller, European and International Policy)
Carole Tongue (Chair, UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity)

13.00-14.00:  Lunch

14.00-15.30:
Session 3: Policy developments within the EU

Peter Humphreys  (University of Manchester)
EU Competition Policy and Public Service Broadcasting

Maria Michalis (University of Westminster)
Is the public interest under threat? An evaluation of the EU policy.

Mark Wheeler (London Metropolitan University)
The European Union’s Competition Directorate’s 2009 Communication on the application of state aid rules to Public Service Broadcasting: principles, recommendations and consultation for EU PSB policy in the new media environment

Benedetta Brevini (University of Westminster)
European Commission’s policy making in crisis: the revised 2009 Communication on State Aid to Public Service Broadcaster and its pro-market inclination

Irini Katsirea (Middlesex University)
State Aids to Public Broadcasting: The End of the Debate?

15.30-16.00:  Coffee break

16.00-17.30:
Session 4: Individual country perspectives

David Fernández-Quijada (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Roberto Suárez Candel (Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona)
Spain: Television policies at the service of private interest

Karen Arriaza Ibarra (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
The Cases of France and Spain: The Promotion of Public Interest Through New Policy Initiatives for Public Television

Hannu Nieminen (University of Helsinki)
The future of the Public Service Media: lessons from the Finnish case

Des Freedman (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Media Policy Inaction as a Response to the Recession

Sue Wallace (Bournemouth University)
Counting The Cost

Maarja Lõhmus and Helle Tiikmaa (University of Tartu, Estonia)
From totalitarian state media to PSB:  the straining and clarification of Public Service Broadcasting and consequences of genesis of private commercial sector in Broadcasting

17.45 – 19.30
Reception

CFP: Public interest under threat? (London, October 2009)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Is the public interest under threat?
Media policy responses to the private sector recession in Europe

Symposium jointly organised by the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster, and the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)

Date: 2 October, 2009

Deadline for abstracts: 6 July 2009

Venue: University of Westminster, Regent Str Campus, 309 Regent Str, London W1B 2UW

THE TOPIC

In virtually every European country, the private media sector is suffering intense economic pressure from the cyclical downturn in advertising and the structural shift of advertising revenue to the web. As a result, corporations are pursuing every avenue to exploit new and existing means of generating revenue, and of maximising the potential of digitalisation. This is having a direct impact on the policy making process at both national and supranational levels as governments and regulatory agencies are coming under increasing pressure to restrict new initiatives in the public sector, to apply the strictest possible criteria to publicly funded media organizations, and to relax overall regulatory oversight of the private sector.

This symposium will seek to bring together scholars and regulators from around Europe to discuss the nature of new policy initiatives being canvassed or implemented, and their repercussions for promoting (or foreclosing) the public interest. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

.         Means of exploiting the “public” to alleviate pressures on the “private” (partnership deals, sharing proceeds of public funding etc.)

.         Limits on expansion or interpretation of public service broadcaster remits

.         Circumscribing funding opportunities for Public Service Media (PSM)

.         Proposals to change or reduce advertising controls or restrictions

.         Relaxing restrictions on concentration of ownership

.         Proposals to change or relax cross-ownership regimes at local, regional or national levels

.         Initiatives and responses at the EU level

There will be three themed sessions and one plenary session consisting of two keynote speakers. The precise themes will depend on abstracts received, but are provisionally designated as

i.                     relaxation of regulatory regimes and potential consequences

ii.                   pressures on PSBs and regimes of public funding

iii.                  ownership, consolidation and threats to pluralism

The model for this symposium will be short position papers of no more than 10 minutes in length designed to prompt cross-national discussion and debate. Our objective is to promote a better understanding of how governments and regulators within Europe are responding to the inevitable pressure to accommodate the private sector, and perhaps to anticipate some of the consequences. The emphasis will therefore be on discussion and exchange.

Our intention is then to select around 10 papers to be written up for an edited collection arising out of the symposium.

PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION

The symposium will take place from 9.30 to 5.30 on Friday, October 2nd. There will be three sessions consisting of concurrent panels and one plenary session. Online registration will open in September 2009.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS

Abstracts (between 300 and 500 words) addressing one or more of the above topics, and including a brief set of questions posed by the proposed paper, should be emailed in Word-format to Journalism@wmin.ac.uk by Monday July 6th, 2009. Each abstract must include the presenter’s name, affiliation, email and postal address, together with the title of the paper and a brief biographical note on the presenter.

The selection committee will comprise members of CAMRI’s Policy Group and ECREA’s Communication Law & Policy Group.  Applicants will be advised by the end of July 2009 of the outcome of their submissions.

More information will be available in due time on the conference websites:

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/camri

http://commlawpolicy.wordpress.com

cfp: Media Governance: New Policies for Changing Media Landscapes

Call for Papers for Special Issue of Communciation, Culture and Critique to be published in 2010

 

Topic:   Media Governance: New Policies for Changing Media Landscapes

 

This call invites submissions for a special issue of Communication, Culture & Critique on Media Governance. This special issue strives to deepen our understanding of media governance, admittedly a somewhat elusive concept, but one that has gained importance over the recent years. Having witnessed a shift from vertical (sector-specific) to horizontal media regulation as well as a transition from national to supra- and international policy(ing), it became clear that (national) legislation is not the only way to protect citizens and the public interest. Used to describe those changing polities, politics and policies, media governance can serve as a tool to analyze media policy from a more inclusive approach.  Due to rapidly changing societal and technological contexts, there are good grounds for introducing more flexibility in the regulatory mechanisms aimed at preventing excessive industry control and ensuring pluralism and diversity in converged media platforms. Moreover, the constitutional reasons for a distance between politics and the media, as well as the fact that goals of pluralism and diversity are difficult to enshrine into effective laws, make the change from the State to co-regulation and self-regulation necessary. Therefore, finding the right balance is of paramount importance. Additionally, media governance is sometimes understood as a normative demand for involving civic and professional groups in the process of media regulation and adopting inclusive mechanisms like public hearings.

 

In this special issue we welcome theoretical and empirical submissions which explore the contours of the multifaceted concept of media governance from different perspectives (economical, societal, political, organizational, journalistic, civil society) and in different geographical and cultural contexts, preferably also with the goal to compare. In this issue it is our intention to redefine the role of media governance as a set of new ways to come to terms with regulatory aspects of issues such as the internet becoming the essential medium encompassing television, information and entertainment, the growing concentration of ownership within and between media at national and global levels or the question whether global public service media are needed as a counterweight to commercial transnational media. Media governance should also be approached as a future-proof tool for the analysis of changing media policy in a changing media landscape, looking at critical issues such as conditions for connecting citizens and ensuring their communication rights beyond business model solutions.

 

Expressions of interest should be submitted to all guest editors as an e-mail attachment by no later than Friday 17 April, 2009.  This should include a 300-500 word abstract, full contact information, and a biographical note (up to 75 words) on each of the authors.  Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by Friday 29 May 2009 and will then be invited to submit a full paper to the guest editors.  Manuscripts should be no longer than 8,000 words, including notes and references, should conform to APA style, and be submitted by October 31, 2009.  All papers will be subject to double-blind peer review following submission with no guarantee of eventual publication.

 

Guest editors: 

Leen D’Haenens – leen.dhaenens@soc.kuleuven.be

Robin Mansell – R.E.Mansell@lse.ac.uk

Katharine Sarikakis – k.sarikakis@leeds.ac.uk

Global Internet Governance – Brussels 11 May 2009

Second International Workshop on

Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction

Organized by GigaNet, in cooperation with ECREA IIC, CD and CLP Sections Brussels, Belgium — 11 May 2009

 

Preliminary Announcement and Call for Contributions

 

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) invites you to participate in a scholarly workshop to be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 May 2009. This full day workshop is organized in cooperation with three thematic sections of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA): International and Intercultural Communication (IIC), Communication and Democracy (CD), Communication, Law and Policy (CLP) sections.

 

Building on the success of its first edition in Paris, France, in June 2008, the purpose of this workshop is the presentation and discussion of work-in-progress in Internet Governance-related research with the aim to identify emerging research themes and design a research agenda. We are interested in exchanging information and ideas about national and regional projects and networks currently pursuing research on global Internet governance, but also in identifying academic syllabi or other education programs dedicated to these issues, in order to share ideas and forge possible collaborations. Scholars from various academic disciplines and all regions of the world are welcome to contribute to this reflexive exercise, with the long-term objective of collectively building this interdisciplinary research field.

 

Rather than featuring academic paper presentations, the workshop aims at providing a survey of current academic activities in the field of global Internet governance. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topics: involved actors and their interactions; Internet governance institutions and regimes; legal, socio-economical, behavioral and technical regulation means; Internet governance policy issues.

 

Submissions should be sent by 20 March 2009 to Meryem Marzouki (Meryem.Marzouki@lip6.fr). They should include the name, affiliation, e-mail address and short bio of author(s), along with no more than 500 words of research work description. The program committee will notify applicants by 15 April 2009. To encourage knowledge dissemination, all relevant submissions will be published on the workshop website. Authors of selected submissions will participate at the workshop panel discussions.

 

Program Committee

Bart Cammaerts (ECREA-CD), London School of Economics, UK; Raquel Gatto (GigaNet), Pontifícia U. Católica de São Paulo, Brazil; Nanette S. Levinson (GigaNet), American U., USA; Meryem Marzouki (GigaNet), CNRS & U. Pierre et Marie Curie, France; Luciano Morganti (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC), Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium; Katharine Sarikakis (ECREA-CLP), U. of Leeds, UK; JP Singh (GigaNet), Georgetown U., USA; Leo Van Audenhove (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC) , Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium.

 

There is no registration fee for this event. A registration form will be circulated with the program. Practical information on accommodation and low cost travel to Brussels are available on the workshop website:

http://giganet.igloogroups.org/publiclibr/giganetcos/2009brusse.

About GigaNet: giganet.igloogroups.org — About ECREA: www.ecrea.eu

Cfp: ECREA CLP SECTION: New Directions for Communication Policy Research Zurich 6-7 November 2009

ECREA-CLP Workshop 2009 / Call for Papers 23.02.2009 / 1
2009 Workshop of the ECREA’s “Communication Law and Policy” Section
New Directions for Communication Policy Research
Call for Papers
 The “Communication Law and Policy” Section of ECREA invites abstracts for theoretical andempirical papers on the topic of New Directions for Communication Policy Research. The section’s 2009 workshop takes place in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 6-7, 2009. It is
hosted and jointly organized by the divisions “Media & Politics” and “Media Change & Innovation”
of the University of Zurich’s Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research
(IPMZ).
The state of the art of communication policy research is well documented, but where do we
go from here? How do we theoretically and methodologically approach new policy issues?
What policy challenges are emerging and what insights can we gain from the application of
theories and methods of cognate areas?
The workshop focuses on the following four topics:
􀂃 New Theories: Scholars in communication policy research are specialized in applying a
variety of theoretical approaches (e.g. policy analysis, regulation theory). Abstracts addressing
this topic should either present possible enhancements of these theories or highlight
how other theories can be helpful for the analysis of policy and regulation (e.g. governance,
organization theory, institutionalism, innovation theory). Presentations should focus
mainly on the application of these theories to our subjects of research.
􀂃 New Methods: While much research is of a comparative nature, methods are not always
well elaborated. Similarly, document analysis is one of the mostly used methods but rarely
covered in textbooks. Abstracts addressing this topic should reflect ontological and epistemological
questions, discuss how data collection and data analysis work in practice and
point out benefits and challenges for communication policy research. Abstracts based on
already performed research projects are welcome but should not focus on empirical results
alone.
􀂃 New Subjects: New policy challenges arising from media change are manifold and widespread
in communication policy research. Abstracts addressing new subjects should analyze
specific new and emerging policy challenges and show how communication policy research
approaches these issues. Presentations may include but are not limited to competition
policy, policies for new content platforms, intellectual property rights, privacy, public
ECREA-CLP Workshop 2009 / Call for Papers 23.02.2009 / 2
service media, data protection, spectrum policy, user generated content (Web 2.0), social
networks, and civil liberties.
􀂃 New Regulatory Structures and Instruments: New regulatory structures and instruments
have emerged as specific features of the changing communication landscape. Abstracts addressing
this topic should provide insights into the workings, impact and effectiveness of
these new institutional arrangements. Presentations may include but are not limited to new
forms of governance, independent and integrated regulatory authorities, the interrelationship
between various regulatory bodies (competition vs. sectoral regulators; state regulation
vs. self- and co-regulation), and the understanding of common or different governance
patterns across nations.
The workshop’s aim is to stimulate reflection and discussion on New Directions for Communication
Policy Research. The sessions will thus be thematically focused and leave room for
discussion and exchange.
Abstracts of no more than 400 words should be submitted in Word-format directly to the organizers
of the conference by June 1, 2009 (Manuel Puppis, m.puppis@ipmz.uzh.ch, and Natascha
Just, n.just@ipmz.uzh.ch). Each abstract must address one of the above topics in a
sound theoretical and methodological manner, include a title as well as the name(s), institutional
affiliation(s) and e-mail address(es) of the author(s). Colleagues will be notified of
acceptance by June 30, 2009, and registration is required by September 1, 2009. Full papers
are due no later than October 15, 2009.
More information will be available in due time on the conference website:
http://www.mediapolicy.uzh.ch/ecrea/