 |
 |
You are warmly invited to join us for: Anti-Austerity and Media Activism - an IAMCR 2016 pre-conference at GOLDSMITHS, University of London Austerity refers to the specific sets of policies designed ostensibly to reduce public debt through a decrease in government expenditure on public services and welfare systems. Austerity programmes have, however, been heavily criticized for facilitating the growth of corporate welfare at the expense of a safety net for the poorest, for bringing about the systematic entrenchment of a market logic into as many areas of public life as possible, and for being precisely the wrong approach to stimulate economic growth. The media are implicated in creating and circulating this narrative about the current crisis in many ways. All over the world publicly funded media are facing increasing deregulation and privatisation as well as growing political interference, declining budgets and even outright closure. News media have also been some of the most vociferous cheerleaders for austerity.There has also been a growth in populist television programmes that have been criticised for attacking the principle of welfare and demonising the poor. Alongside the popular presentation that austerity makes good economic sense, despite arguments to the contrary, there has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been a surge in anti-austerity protests from those groups who bear the brunt of austerity policies and want to resist a future of cuts, privatization and commercialization. Frequently such groups have turned to social media as a means both of mobilisation of protest but also of information sharing. The conference will seek to highlight the connections between austerity and the media and, in particular, to highlight the role of communications in fostering anti-austerity movements. We invite papers that illustrate how: Media outlets have helped to construct contemporary narratives of austerity Mainstream media have related to discourses of austerity Non-mainstream media have attempted to counter austerity narratives Activists and campaigners have sought to mobilise against both media and political elites in order to press for media reform, to secure democratic gains and to protect public spaces. Date and time: Saturday 23 July 2016. 10:00 - 17:00 Proposal requirements: Proposals can be made for single papers or panels. Abstracts for single papers must be no more than 300 words. A complete panel proposal will include four (4) abstracts of up to 300 words each plus a supporting rationale of up to 300 words. Proposals must be submitted by 15 February 2016 at midnight GMT here: http://iamcr.org/leicester2016/preconf/anti-austerity We look forward to welcoming you to Goldsmiths in the summertime! All best Natalie Fenton -------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA mailing list -------------------------------------------------------- To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1 ------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation. MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html). Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list. For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/ --------------------------------------------------------