The conference will be structured according to a number of major themes. We have invited paper and panel proposals that relate to these particular themes.
Conference sessions around the media systems theme will review the applicability of existing models of media systems analysis, including the model proposed by Hallin and Mancini, and discuss options for enhancing such frameworks to reflect conditions in Central/Eastern Europe.
Sessions on the policy theme will address the effectiveness of current regulatory policies and instruments; the risks to normative expectations such as freedom of expression, media pluralism, equal communication rights; intellectual property rights; structural aspects of regulation (such as media ownership and concentration, media subsidy schemes, public service media); and aspects related to content (protection of minors, shielding of national and independent production, minority provision).
Sessions on the new media theme concern communication in online environments and methodological issues for conducting diverse forms of empirical study in online venues. Questions that illustrate relevant concerns include: How does Web 2.0 and social networking incorporate into forms of political expression? How do citizens use mobile phones during political actions? What are the challenges and innovations of e-Research and e-Science?
The popular culture theme will consist of two strands. The first one, entitled 'Popular Culture, Media Uses and Media Literacy', will focus on the potential impact of audiences on media programs, in the light of changing media technologies, the blurring of boundaries between producers and consumers, and intense regulatory attempts to foster participation and media pluralism. The second one, entitled 'Popular Culture, Socialism(s) and Nostalgia', will explore the history of popular culture in socialist Eastern Europe.
Sessions on political communication will examine how the transition to democracy in CEE countries has been accompanied by, on the one hand, a hasty introduction of market perspectives and, on the other hand, ongoing control over the media by political forces and institutions. What are the results and implications for establishing a media democracy? What is the role of Western media industries? How has journalism developed? What scientific evidence exists of the media impact on public opinions?
The CEE region has a well-documented history of alternative media practices (Samizdat). Sessions on the alternative/community media theme will ask: What new forms of underground, tactical, citizen-based media expressions have emerged since 1989? How do they relate to previous experiences? How are ‘new’ and ‘old’ technologies used? Have media laws and policies recognized community media? What is the role of alternative media in a context of persisting political influence and new commercial pressures on the media?
Two decades of media development and media research in the CEE region have generated lessons for an analysis of communication in transition. Sessions on the global communications theme will ask: How do the CEE developments compare with other regions in the world that are undergoing in social, economic and political transformations? Which connections can research on media and development draw?
Since 1989, governments and foundations have invested heavily in1 media assistance in emerging democracies. Sessions on this theme will ask: What has been the impact of these programs? How have they affected the work of journalists, their media organizations, the field of mass communication and the society? How valuable have assessments of those programs been?
Sessions under the theme "Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Information" will focus on one of the most fundamental changes in the democratic transitions in Central and Eastern European public spheres. One of the driving forces for change was to dissolve the overall system of censorship combined with a lack of state transparency, and to create an open public discourse while enhancing access to public data. Sessions will examine the encountered challenges as well as some successful efforts to enable the political communities of former dictatorships to develop the culture of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and their precondition, freedom of information.
Further themes: Journalism and Public Service Broadcasting
Due to popular demand and to a number of highly interesting paper submissions that do not directly deal with the above themes, two additional themes have been established:
Changing Practices in Journalism will look at the challenges to jouranlism in the region and at specific developments in reporting, and is convened by Kate Coyer, Central European University and Annenberg School for Communication, University of Philadelphia
Public Service Broadcasting in East and West compares the respective situations and challenges of public service media, and is convened by Karen Arriaza Ibarra, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.