Research and Impact Agenda for UNPA on Safety of Journalists

Organised by UNESCO, the Journalism Safety Research Network and the Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield, this session explores how academia can be mobilised to foster the continued implementation of the UN Plan of Action (UNPA) on the Safety of Journalists through effective knowledge exchange and impactful collaboration between academic and non-academic actors to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Moderator: Andrea Cairola (Programme Specialist, Section for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists Section, UNESCO)

Chair: Prof. Jackie Harrison (UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity, Chair of Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield)

Part 1: Possibilities for academic impact and multi-stakeholder collaboration: strengthening the monitoring of violations against journalists to support shadow reporting of SDG Indicator 16.10.1 

• Dr Sara Torsner (Research Associate and Coordinator of the Journalism Safety Research Network, Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield)
• Dr Diana Maynard (Senior Research Fellow, Department of Computer Science, Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield)
• Leon Willems (Senior advisor international partnerships, Free Press Unlimited)

Part 2. Possibilities for academic impact and multi-stakeholder collaboration: the experience of international human rights organisation Article 19 

Dr Silvia Chocarro (Head of Protection of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders, Article 19)

Flash talk facilitators: 

• Dr Sara Torsner (Research Associate and Coordinator of the Journalism Safety Research Network, Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield)
• Prof. Jackie Harrison (UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity, Chair of Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield)

Flash talk speakers:

Professor Kristin Skare Orgeret and Professor Roy Krovel (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway), Professor Cherian George (Hong Kong Baptist University), Dr William Tayeebwa (Senior Lecturer, Makerere University, Uganda), Dr Maja Simunjak (Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University London, United Kingdom), Professor Ed Carter (Brigham Young University, United States), Dr George Nyabuga (Associate Professor, University of Nairobi, Kenya), Dr Philip di Salvo (Post-doctoral researcher, London School of Economics, United Kingdom and Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland), Dr Fiona Martin (Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Australia), Professor Jaap de Jong (University of Leiden) and Dr. Bruce Mutsvairo (Associate Professor, Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Professor Claudia Lago (University of São Paulo, Brazil), Dr Reeta Pöyhtäri (Senior Research Fellow, Tampere University, Finland)

Engendering National Mechanisms for the Safety of Women Journalists

Based on GAMAG’s gender assessment of national mechanisms for the protection and safety of journalists in Mexico, Iraq, and Afghanistan, this session focuses on highlighting key recommendations on engendering these mechanisms. These, as well as the support to secure the lives and work of Afghan women journalists in and outside Afghanistan, are presented.  

Chair: Aimée Vega Montiel (GAMAG, UNAM, México)

Moderator: Sarah Macharia (WACC, FOJO, Nairobi)

Engendering mechanisms for the protection of women journalists in Mexico, Iraq, and Afghanistan
Aimée Vega Montiel (GAMAG, UNAM, México) 

Situation of Afghan women journalists before and after the Taliban occupation
Ruchi Kumar – (Independent journalist, India)

Media corporations’ accountability to ensure women’s journalists' safety and freedom of expression
Carolyn Byerly (Scholar, Howard University, USA)

What networks of women journalists can do
Albana Shala (Media Development Specialist, Netherlands)

Collaborating for the Internationalization of Journalism & Communication Education

This session will focus on the internationalization of journalism and communication education. It calls for collaboration among educators across the globe to respond to the challenges and opportunities brought by the paradigm shift of education in the era of neo-globalization. For journalism and communication education, the issue of pedagogy has been discussed intensively in the past years, yet the shift to online teaching, triggered by the pandemic, brings unprecedented challenges. Journalism and communication education in transition requires collaboration among educators globally, and further internationalization is needed to build global mindsets of future media professionals. Therefore, the session will invite panelists from around the world to propose a framework of international collaboration for a shared future of journalism and communication education.

Prof. B.J. (Jeroen) de Kloet, Head of the Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Prof. Min HANG, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University

Prof. Ben Lee, Associate Director, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California

Prof. Jessica Neff, Co-Director, Master of Science in Communication Data Science program, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California

Prof. Yu HUANG, Chair Professor, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University

Emerging New World Order: Perspectives from BRICS

This special session will focus on global media perspectives from the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and their grouping, which is now preparing for their 14th annual summit in China. The growth of BRICS media within a 'multi-polar' world has posed challenges to the Western-dominated world order and its media systems. Whilst fighting against the pandemic, there have been increasing changes of media’s roles and responsibilities. This session will draw on the expertise and experience of leading scholars from a BRICS media studies network to address the new dynamics in the BRICS media landscape and to discuss strategies and challenges for a post-Covid world. Meanwhile, it will highlight the 65th anniversary of the IAMCR.

Speakers:

• Prof. Kaarle Nordenstreng, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Finland: Chair
• Prof. Raquel Paiva, Professor Emerita, Communication School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro: perspective from Brazil
• Prof. Elena Vartanova, Dean, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University: perspective from Russia
• Prof. Sanjay Bharthur, Professor, Manipal Institute of Communication, University of Hyderabad: perspective from India
• Prof. Zhengrong Hu, Director, Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: perspective from China
• Prof. Herman Wasserman, Professor, University of Cape Town: perspective from South Africa

Global Regionalization of Communication Scholarship

This panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities of decentering of communication scholarship from Western theories, methods and institutions. The four panelists have engaged extensively with communication scholarships outside the West.

Chair: Noshir Contractor (Northwestern University, USA)

Speakers:

• Sister Professor Agnes Lucy Lando (Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya)
• Hanan Badr (University of Salzburg, Austria)
• Olessia Koltsova (National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia)
• Jack Qiu (National University of Singapore)

10 years of Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research

IAMCR's Publication Committee and the outgoing editors of the Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research series, Marjan de Bruin and Claudia Padovani, celebrated ten years work on IAMCR and Palgrave/Macmillan’s series and gave a warm welcome to the new editors, Sadia Jamil and Bruce Mutsvairo.

Introduction

Marjan de Bruin (Palgrave/IAMCR series editor, outgoing), Claudia Padovani (Palgrave/IAMCR series editor, outgoing), Maria Michalis (IAMCR, chair Public Committee), Lauriane Piette (Palgrave)

Part I 

What’s in the pipeline? Bridging communication governance and decolonial approaches. The upcoming volumes in the series
Editors of volumes in progress: Minna Horowitz, Veronique Wavre and Sarah Ganter 

Part II 

Of communication and fundamental rights. The series’ trajectory on social justice
Editors of volumes in progress: Cees Hamelink, Anna Gladkova, Sandra Jeppesen and Andrew Calabrese

Former IAMCR Presidents: Annabelle Sreberny, Robin Mansell, Janet Wasko and Cees Hamelink

Part III 

Media systems, structures and trends. The series' best sellers
Editors of volumes in progress: Sergio Sparviero and Chris Paterson

Other interventions

Usha Raman (member of IAMCR Executive Board), Francesca Musiani (Member of the Palgrave/IAMCR series Advisory Board), Marc Raboy (Member of the Palgrave/IAMCR series Advisory Board)

Part IV 

Sharing knowledge across cultural landscapes: Palgrave/IAMCR translated volumes
Editors of volumes in progress: Luis Albornoz

Sadia Jamil (Palgrave/IAMCR series editor, incoming) and Bruce Mutsvairo (Palgrave/IAMCR series editor, incoming)

Communication, Cultural Heritage and Community Building

Heritage is pivotal in the shaping of identities and in the building of communities, particularly in the context of increasingly multi-cultural societies and in the post-pandemic world. This special session brings together six multi-disciplinary contributors from within and without China to examine and analyze the communication and consumption of Chinese cultural heritage in terms of discourses, forms, components and function. Each paper explores diverse narratives, actors, platforms, interactions in the communication of cultural heritage, and their multi-dimensional implications for identity shaping and community building, ranging from local to international. The session hopes to advance the study of ‘heritagization’ as well as intercultural dialogue.

Chair: Xianwen Kuang (Department of Media and Communication, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China)

Beyond Technology: digital heritage and online cultural practices in China
Yujie Zhu and Junmin Liu (Australian National University, Australia)

This paper examines what digital heritage does to societies and its ethical and political implications for communities and their cultural practices. This paper argues that digitalisation of cultural heritage allows different social groups to perform and present their cultural practices to a vast audience.

China’s cultural heritage saves the world: Narrative functions of Chinese ideology in contemporary Hollywood sci-fi films
Stephen Andriano-Moore (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University)

This paper argues that in the world of post-2016 Hollywood science fiction, China is presented as the savior of the world through the spread of its cultural heritage rather than by applying its advanced technologies. In these global disaster Sci-Fi films, the concepts of filial piety, collectivism, and the Confucius notion of harmony both directly and indirectly guide characters and nations to make world saving decisions.

The Challenge of Representing Regional and local Heritage in a Post-Pandemic World
Yat Ming Loo (University of Nottingham Ningbo, China)

This paper ponders on two inter-related issues in a post-pandemic world: how effective the physicality of architecture – compared with digital images – in communicating local cultural heritage, memory and identity; and how could a post-pandemic world post a challenge or enhance the practice of regionalism - using architecture as an example – in preserving regional identity and shaping the city-images of local cities.

The Refashioning of Suzhou Pingtan
Hui Miao & Kelvin Ke Jinde (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China)

This paper shows that heritage such as Pingtan rediscovers its value not simply as an art heritage to be kept, but as part of a social fabric sustaining a cultural identity for local community. It argues that the changes and transformations of Pingtan is not a story of radical resistance of global cultural influence; the changing social and cultural contexts are seen as enabling forces that encourage self-discovery, self-perception, self-representation, and self-acknowledgement, and generate new lives of a traditional art form.

Re/En-Visioning the ‘Silk Road(s)’: ‘shared heritage’ and parallax perspectives in ‘Silk Road’ tourism in Europe
David O’Brien and Melissa Shani Brown (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)  

This paper explores the communication of national and transnational heritage in tourism by exploring ‘Silk Roads’ tourism in Europe, including the ‘Western Silk Road’ tourism project (UNWTO/EU), as a counterpoint to the representation of the 'Silk Road' in China.

Cultural Heritage, Heritagization and Artistic Expressions
Xiaoling Zhang (Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University, China)

This paper evaluates China’s official representation of its cultural heritage, using the 40 years’ Spring Festival Gala and the two Olympic Games’ opening ceremonies as its case studies. It argues that the changing representation of cultural heritage mirrors a China that has changed from being anxious for ‘a right to speak’ in the world order to a wealthy, powerful and determined China at the centre of the world stage. 

Concepts of Journalism and Historical Roots

The special session will focus on norms and ideas for journalism practice within various historical contexts. Special attention will be given to the comparison between how the concepts of contemporary journalism have been forged and enshrined in China and the West respectively. We will invite both conceptual discussions and papers with strong empirical basis on the issue. The goal of the special session is to achieve mutual understanding between Chinese and Western scholars and explore possibilities for the construction of a conceptual framework for journalism studies with multicultural sensibilities.

Speakers:

• Prof. Michael Schudson (Professor, Columbia Journalism School, Columbia University)
• Prof. Chris W. Anderson (Professor, School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds)
• Prof. Runze WANG (Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China)
• Prof. Jiang CHANG (Professor, School of Media and Communication, Shenzhen University)

Communication Rights, Access to Information and Culture: Agenda and debates towards the future

On November 17, 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared September 28 as the International Day for Universal Access to Information. Freedom of information is recognized as a fundamental freedom and as a human right.

The right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in these terms: “Every individual has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the right not to be disturbed because of his/her opinions, to investigate and receive information and opinions, and to disseminate them, without limitation of borders, by any means of expression”. The participants have had different roles at International Organizations. The aim is to explore how they have contributed or can contribute in the future to the topic of the panel.

Moderator: Patricia Núñez Gómez (Complutense University, Spain)

Panellists:

• Daniela Inés Monje (Latin American Association of Communication Researchers (ALAIC)/ Cordoba University, Argentina)
• Rodrigo Cetina Presuel (Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School, USA)
• Sifiso Zondo (Head of School Communication, University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
• Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Film Museum Society/Beaconhouse National University, Pakistan, Co-Chair IAMCR Gender and Communication Section)
• Fernando Oliveira Paulino (Brasilia University, Brasil, Vice-president of ALAIC)

Decolonize and Add: Communication, Dialogues and Cooperation among Researchers and Associations

This panel explores proposals and actions that can intensify cooperation between research associations and researchers based on practices related to the recognition of differences and similarities. Such actions are linked to languages, legitimized knowledge, evaluation, and measurement systems that define ways of circulating knowledge. This discussion is set on the premise that the institutions that coordinate and stimulate the activity of researchers at the national, regional, and international levels have an important role in the academic and political discussion of these problems and must also develop social and historical responsibility in relation to the construction of a field of study.

Moderators: Daniela Monje (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) and Fernando Oliveira Paulino (University of Brasilia)

Panellists:

• Gabriel Kaplún (president of ALAIC)
• Nico Carpentier (president of IAMCR)
• Patricia Nuñez Gomez (member of the ECREA Directive)
• Beate Josephi (The University of Sydney)
• viola milton ( University of South Africa) 
• Deqiang Ji (Communication University of China) 

Communication Research in Asian-Pacific Regions: Culture, Connection, and Collaboration

Hosted in collaboration with the Asian-Pacific Communication Alliance (APCA) and the Asian Network for Public Opinion Research (ANPOR)

In recent years, communication and media scholars in the Asian-Pacific regions have made conscious efforts to situate communication research within unique cultural, social, political, and economic contexts, seeking to contribute theoretically and practically to individual well-being as well as global development from Asian perspectives. This session will focus on how communication scholars of Asian-Pacific origins and research interests can continue to collectively promote academic collaborations and increase the global influence of Asia-Pacific media and communication scholarship. 

Speakers:

• Prof. Jack Linchuan QIU (Professor and Research Director, Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore)
• Prof. Dorien Kartikawangi (Associate Professor and Head of the School of Communication, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia)
• Prof. Sung Kyum Cho (Professor, Department of Communication, Chungnam National University)
• Prof. Shuhua ZHOU (Professor, Leonard H. Goldenson Endowed Chair in Radio and Television, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri)
• Prof. Rowena Capulong Reyes (Dean, Institute of Arts and Sciences Faculty, Department of Communication Faculty, Institute of Education, Far Eastern University)

New Era of Intelligent Communication: Data Science, Smart Computing, and the Metaverse - with Huawei, Tencent, and Xinhua Zhiyun

This session will focus on the new era of intelligent communication, including data science, smart computing, and the metaverse. It calls for collaboration from the media industry across the globe to respond to advancements in various fast-growing information and communication technologies, affecting our relationships with knowledge, politics, and society. Ubiquitous computing as a paradigm, a lifestyle, and a technological innovation all at once, essentially refers to the sorts of technologies that can reach every aspect of a user’s life and then operate in the background of their activities, providing value without getting in the way. Computational construction of meaning and understanding requires collaboration from the media industry. Therefore, in conversation with panelists from around the world, the session will explore how intelligent communication is transforming human society and what it means for us all.

Teng LI (Director, China Media & Internet Account Dept, Huawei)

Wenqi SHU (Cloud Media Industry General Manager,Tencent)

Changliang XU (CEO, Xinhua Zhiyun Technology Company)

Digital Ethics in the Era of Ubiquitous Media: Communication Rights, Information Access, and Digital Inclusion

This session focuses on communication rights, information access, and digital inclusion in the era of ubiquitous media. It calls for conversation and collaboration between media industry and academia to address and guide the readiness of communities to fully embrace the digital age. As information and communication technologies (ICTs) become increasingly embedded in the lives of individuals, communities, and vulnerable groups, including the most disadvantaged, universal access is more important than ever. The United Nations has identified the Internet as a basic human right that should be extended to all citizens of the world. Digital equity is a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society. Being a full participant in the new era will enrich the lives of individuals and communities as a whole and make sure that no one is left behind. As the digital revolution intensifies and grows, media ethics, communication rights, information access, and digital inclusion is discussed in this session to create a more enabling and competitive global society.

Qing WEI (Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft, China)

Xiaofeng JIA (Head of Data Management Department, Beijing Institute of Big Data Research)

Jing MENG (Head of International Communications, Baidu)

Lee Miller (Editor-at-large, Bloomberg, and Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University)

Connecting Global and Asian Academic Journals in Journalism and Communication: Trends and Future Directions

The emergence of locally based academic journals is influencing the landscape of academic publishing, which, traditionally, has been dominated by Eurocentric publishers, editorial procedures, and peer-review processes. How do media and communication scholars promote the success of regional journals rooted within Asian and other cultural contexts? How can we learn from the experience and success of Western academic journals and publishing systems that have a much longer history but also possibly inherited biases against scholarship by researchers from the Global South? What are the views of media and communication scholars on the internationalization of Asian academic journals? How can regional journals adapt to international trends while reflecting regional characteristics? 

This special session focuses on connecting global and Asian academic journal editors and leaders in journalism and communication to discuss existing trends and future directions of journals founded and developed locally but connected globally with broader international communication scholarship. 

Prof. Xiguang LI, Director of Editing Committee, Global Journal of Media Studies, Tsinghua University, China

Prof. Christine Y.H. HUANG, Editor-in-Chief, Communication and the Public, City University of Hong Kong, China

Prof. Louisa Ha, Editor-in-Chief, Online Media and Global Communication, Bowling Green State University, USA

Prof. Brian Bantugan, Editor-in-Chief, Asia-Pacific Journal on Compassion Studies, St. Paul University Manila, Philippines

Prof. Gopalan Ravindran, Head of the Department of Media and Communication, Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN), India