International Symposium of the Institute of Press and Information Sciences
Call for papers
The Institute of Press and Information Sciences and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation organize the international conference of the IPSI on the topic: The phenomenon of terrorism through the media discourse: references, representations and empty spaces.
Objectives of the conference:
The symposium aims at observing the communicative potentialities and characteristics of media discourse as mechanisms and content with social, economic and cultural dimensions, specifically to address the phenomenon of terrorism, in excess of common sense to define the nature of the phenomenon as violence affecting the normal course of life.
The conference aims to review the communicative dimension of the current media discourse by determining its ability to dismantle the common meaning of the phenomenon of terrorism and to meet the specific characteristics of media discourse.
The symposium, even if the motivations of violence are not the same, and these motivations do not return to the same meaning, is called to review methods of media coverage from a multidisciplinary perspective.
INTRODUCTION:
Individuals, human groups and societies do not represent the reality and its various components objectively and uniformly. They take into consideration in this intellectual operation, consciously or unconsciously, several variables: history, membership groups, basic training, intellectual references and profit.
The media and communication groups, key actors in society, sometimes adopt the same ideas and opinions and sometimes adopt contradictory ones.
We note that the different means of communication tend to serve static media discourse trivializing social reality, then it tends to be complicated by the day.
This trend, popularizing the reality, affects the treatment of the phenomenon of terrorism, which has several aspects throughout history and spaces (spheres) geographical and cultural.
Current visions of the phenomenon worldwide are based on a political, official, technical and safety representation disregarding the subjective and symbolic significance of the phenomenon.
The various references (ideological, political and cultural) treat the phenomenon of terrorism from narrow angles, either by giving more scope to some aspects or by neglecting others.
The result of these limited visions is creating major gaps in media discourse which affects the receiver by creating in him a state of uncertainty and weakening their potential analysis and stance.
The question arises: what do these media and communication discourse produce?
The majority of research focuses on the "gaps" that characterize these unilateral discourses that are irrelevant to the conditions and characteristics of the reality on ground.
So, what are the implications of these prevailing media / communication discourse on the audience with all their categories and their various types?
And what are the effects resulting from these empty spaces? What are the new positions (ideological, terrorist or others) that filled in those spaces?
The axes of the conference:
Axis 1 -The impact of semiotic characteristics of media discourse on reception modes:
The scientists and philosophers of discourse interpretation are unanimous on the fact that the relationship is not arbitrary between the structure of discourse and the meanings it produces in the audience.
The first observation reveals the existence of groups of public opinion and different positions and sometimes contradictory ones vis-à-vis the phenomenon of terrorism. This is due to several approaches to media discourse: semiotic, structural and functional.
Axis 2 -The security strategies and media discourse: intersections and grade levels face to the fight against terrorism:
The institutions naturally differ in terms of assumed functions and roles which is the case for the security agency and the media. However, both companies seek to implement the government's strategy.
The two institutions have to achieve the major objective: to achieve the state's strategy to fight against terrorism. They are called to work together while keeping each one’s specific characteristics and nature.
Axis 3 -The ideological advertising of media actors and blank spaces:
The ethical charters in democratic countries insist that freedom and journalist's responsibility go together and are inseparable. The lack of freedom impedes the responsible practice. Thus, it is essential to neutralize the ideological advertising of media actors in order to preserve the citizen's right to accurate and objective information without leaving gaps that have negative impact on the audience levels of consciousness.
Axis 4- Competition rules and the trap of propaganda for the strategies of terrorists:
The development of means of communication has forced the journalistic work to be governed by the law of the stream; making it impossible to balance this rapid speed and quality of processing the information with the accuracy of reporting and the journalistic coverage.
In examining the current media discourse, we realize that it takes most of the time the emotional aspect which often makes them act in the sphere of propaganda for the strategies and tactics of the forces of international terrorism.
The media often markets disseminating written and audiovisual press and rave documentary of terrorists. The current treatment mode of information on terrorism casts doubt on the future of rules of conduct, self-commitment and limits of competition between different media players.
This axis will study all these points in order to diagnose the causes and modes of "compensation".
The Scientific Committee:
- Professor Hatem ALAWNEH (Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Communication - Imam University - Saudi Arabia)
The organizing committee:
TERMS OF SUBMISSION OF PAPER PROPOSALS:
- A cover page containing the contact information: name, email, university, the axis and the title of the paper.
- A proposal for contribution between 1,500 to 3,000 characters’ maximum (no spaces)
- An indicative bibliography (one page)
- Proposals for papers and the final texts should be sent by email to: colloqueipsi2017@gmail.com
PROCEDURES OF PAPERS’ SELECTION:
- Paper proposals will be appraised double-blind
LANGUAGES OF THE CONFERENCE:
- Arabic, French and English
CALENDAR:
- December 15, 2016: Submission of abstracts
- January 15, 2017: Decision on selected abstracts
- March 15, 2017: Final date for receipt of contributions
- April 13-14-15, 2017: THE SYMPOSIUM.