2020 Moscow Readings
IAMCR co-sponsored the 12th International Media Readings in Moscow ‘Mass Media and Communications 2020’ organised by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University from 19-20 November.
The partners of the conference included IAMCR Digital Divide Working Group, IAMCR Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group, UNESCO chair for communication and National Association of Mass Media Researchers (NAMMI). The event was supported by the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.
More than 150 speakers took part in plenary and thematic sessions, and a total of more than two hundred people from 25 countries attended the online conference.
On the first day of the conference, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism Professor Elena Vartanova (Lomonosov Moscow State University) and IAMCR President Professor Nico Carpentier (Charles University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Uppsala University) greeted the participants, drawing the audience's attention to the importance of maintaining international scholar relations despite the limitations of the pandemic. Under such conditions, the role of media is particularly important, and thus the importance and responsibility of media researchers are also growing.
The first plenary session was opened with a presentation by Professor Oscar Westlund (Oslo Metropolitan University, Volda University College and University of Gothenburg). Professor Weslund, as Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Journalism journal spoke about the publication principles of the journal and invited conference participants to submit their articles to Digital Journalism. The session continued with a presentation by Professor Daya K. Thussu (Hong Kong Baptist University). The speaker talked about the polycentric nature of the modern world and its effects on the global media space and journalistic practices around the world. The plenary session of the first day was concluded by a presentation give by Professor Shi-xu (Hangzhou Normal University), Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Multicultural Discourses about Cultural Discourse Studies theoretical paradigm of research.
The plenary session on November 20 also included a number of interesting talks. Professor Elena Vartanova (Lomonosov Moscow State University) shared the results of her work devoted to youth media consumption of content in social networks and the development of a new digital culture. Dr. Andrea Medrado (Westminster University), IAMCR Vice President presented the project about the intersection of art and science, dedicated to the problems of the Global South. Professor Gerard Goggin (Nanyang Technological University), IAMCR Secretary General described the specifics of digital platforms in the Asian region. Finally, Professor Sabina Mihelj (Loughborough University) demonstrated an extensive empirical study on communication strategies of the Global South media during the pandemic.
In addition to plenary sessions, the conference featured 22 thematic sessions, including special panel sessions: ‘Digital, social, and cultural divides: Interrelations and interdependencies’ (moderated by Professor Elena Vartanova, Dr. Anna Gladkova and Dr. Massimo Ragnedda),’Digital safety of journalists in the Global South’ (moderated by Dr. Sadia Jamil), ‘Ethnic Journalism in the Global South’ (moderated by Dr. Anna Gladkova and Dr. Sadia Jamil), ‘Media and communication in post- and neo-authoritarian societies: Global trends, local formats’ (moderated by Dr. Anastasia Grusha and Dr. Katja Lehtisaari), ‘Media communication between the state and youth in Russia’ (moderated by Dr. Anna Gureeva), ‘Digital culture of media consumption: Theoretical approaches and practices of young Russians’ (moderated by Dr. Denis Dunas).
IAMCR/Palgrave series 'Palgrave Studies in Journalism and the Global South' was also presented at the conference. Professor Saba Bebawi (University of Technology Sydney) spoke about the book series and invited conference participants to submit original book proposals. The conference included a session ‘Ethnic Journalism in the Global South’ (moderated by Dr. Anna Gladkova and Dr. Sadia Jamil), which brought together contributors to the ‘Ethnic Journalism in the Global South’ book, submitted to the Palgrave Studies in Journalism and the Global South book series earlier this year.