Call for Papers - Converging Media, Diverging Politics

Call for Papers

Converging Media, Diverging Politics:
Political Economy of News in the United States and Canada

Editors:
David Skinner, York University <skinnerd@xxxxxxx>
James Compton, University of Western Ontario <jcompto3@xxxxxx>
Mike Gasher, Concordia <gashmj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

The editors are seeking manuscripts for an edited book on how corporate
and technological convergence in the news industry in the United States
and Canada poses a potential threat to journalism?s expressed role as a
medium of democratic communication. The prime motivation for compiling
this collection is to fill a gap in the critical analysis of recent
trends in the political economy of news production.  The editors take
the position that critical scholarship should not simply point to the
existence of social relations of power within media structures and
practices, but that it should also consider and develop possibilities
for the reform of the current media regime, as well as contribute to
developing alternatives to it.

We are particularly interested in receiving manuscripts in three areas
of research.  First, work that provides historical context and sketches
the precise dimensions of the contemporary mediascape, drawing parallels
between the Canadian and American news environments.  Second, research
that critically evaluates the oft-touted possibilities for media reform,
with particular attention to the ways in which the Internet has been
promoted as a panacea to corporate power.  Finally, we seek manuscripts
that consider the possibilities for news media reform and the
development of alternatives to the current corporate regime.

We encourage a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches
including, but not limited to: political economy, critical and cultural
theory, historical analysis and critique, cultural policy studies, media
ethnography, and audience studies.

Topics might include:

* Evolving ownership patterns pertaining to concentration,
corporatization and convergence
* Changing logics of media operation
* New national and transnational regulatory regimes
* Shifts in audience patterns and consumption habits
* Changes in news and information markets
* Impacts on labour and work routines
* Technological determinism
* The relationship between advertising and editorial content
* Relegation of journalism ethics to front-line workers
* Community or public journalism
* On-line journalism
* The relationship between new social movements and independent media
* Public policy measures to foster independent and community media
* Journalism practice and the new democracy movement
* The democratic potential of community radio, public-access television
and the independent press
* The Internet as an ?alternative? news medium
* Journalism education reforms

Deadline for submission of abstract (500 words) and CV: January 15, 2003

Send submissions to:

David Skinner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Communication Studies
Division of Social Science
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M3J 1P3
email: skinnerd@xxxxxxx






--
James Compton
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Information and Media Studies
University Of Western Ontario
London, Ont
N6A 5B7
Tel: (519) 661-2111 x86658
Email: jcompto3@xxxxxx




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