Syndicate: Media Ownership and Control in East-Central Europe

[Phil Agre <pagre@alpha.oac.ucla.edu> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

[forwarded from [RRE]; abroeck]


Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 09:00:51 +0100 (CET)
From: Slavko Splichal <slavko.splichal@UNI-LJ.SI>
Subject: EURICOM COLLOQUIA: sfor contributions

Javnost-The Public
Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture
http://www2.arnes.si/guest/ljjavno1/euricom.html


EURICOM--WACC COLLOQUIUM ON
MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL IN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE

Piran, Slovenia, April 8-10, 1999

The European Institute for Communication and Culture and World
Association for Christian Communication will hold a colloquium
in Piran, Slovenia on media ownership and control in East-Central
Europe. With the end of the communist utopia at the turn of the
1980's, East-Central European countries have been undergoing
fundamental changes -- in politics, economy, as well as social
consciousness. The media followed suit: A few thousand newspapers
and magazines changed their owners, many went out of business and
even more new ones were launched. Dozens of commercial radio and TV
stations have appeared on the market. Nowhere in the world were these
changes more dramatic than in East-Central Europe. While the process
is still far from complete, there is no doubt that these region has
the richest experience of democratisation and its impact on the mass
media. The abstract debates about the ideal relationship between the
media and democracy have a concreteness and an urgency which are is
sometimes lacking in discussions about more stable societies, either
democratic or dictatorial. These processes of democratisation have
taken place more or less at the same time as the growth of new media,
and have clearly influenced both governments and citizens in their
thinking about the role and functions of the media. The questions
of commercialisation, ideologisation, objectivism, politicisation,
private ownership, monopoly, state control, the role of church and,
generally, the relationship between the mass media and democracy are
hotly debated topics, both by scholars and by political and social
actors. This colloquium will address those themes.

We welcome papers that look at the experience of the media and
democratisation, and the new media and democracy, in both East-Central
Europe and other regions to enable a comparative perspective. We are
interested in detailed country studies, comparisons of two or more
countries either within the region or between regions, and attempts
to draw more general theoretical lessons from the concrete experiences
in question. As is always the case in Colloquia organised by or with
Euricom, we do not intend to prioritise any particular approach or
method. We welcome papers from any perspective, or employing any
methodology. It is one of the strengths of the kinds of gathering we
organise that these differences can be debated and discussed in an
open and friendly way, to the benefit of all participants.

Abstracts due: January 1, 1998
Papers due: April 1, 1998

Abstracts of approximately 250 words should be submitted to:
Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Kardeljeva pl. 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija. Fax: +386 61 721 193.
E-Mail: slavko.splichal@uni-lj.si



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