Chair, Communication and Media Studies
Common Ground Research Networks is inviting presentation proposals as well as calling for registration for the seventh International Conference on Communication and Media Studies taking place at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, on August 25 and 26, 2022.
The conference which will be made up of blended formats calls for research addressing the following annual themes and special focus: Democratic Disorder: Disinformation, the Media and Crisis in a Time of Change.
Giving a background to the issues, the organisers noted that: “Globalised society is battling with multiple crises including a global pandemic, climate change and increasing democratic unrest driven by inequality and rise in populism. Misinformation and disinformation, often spread on social media networks and by top-down influencers, are fuelling the crises, as antivaxxers, climate deniers and populists protest against public health measures, moves to protect the environment, and election results.”
Going further, they pointed out that the news media, too, is facing multiple existential crises: crises of confidence as trust in media drops; crises of legitimacy as they struggle to maintain impartiality in the face of populism; and financial crises as the business model to support news, hammered by a perfect storm of changing consumer behaviour, a digital advertising duopoly by tech titans, and a failure to innovate, threatens their future.
These two interlinked crises threaten democracy itself: without independent, trusted media there can be no democracy. Without trusted media, the world faces a piece of dystopian future information it becomes ‘weaponised’ in the fight for supremacy.
These issues will be debated by a host of speakers in the two-day conference. This special international interdisciplinary conference brings together researchers, practitioners, and scholars from a wide range of disciplines who have a shared interest in the themes and concerns of this research network. As a result, topics are broached from a variety of perspectives, interdisciplinary methods are applauded, and mutual respect and collaboration are encouraged. The conference committee therefore welcomes initial proposals for papers and panels.
The conference is taking on these challenges by offering a blended conference experience, with session types explicitly designed to make the most of both online and in-person social knowledge processes. The blended conference experience is delivered on the CGScholar platform – developed by the Common Ground Media Lab, the research and technology arm of Common Ground Research Networks.
Detailed information about the conference including registration to participate and or submit presentation proposal are available at https://oncommunicationmedia.com/2022-conference.
Founded in 2015, the Communication & Media Studies Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of the role of the media and communications in society. It seeks to build an epistemic community where linkages can be made across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries.
