This Thursday will see the start of two conferences, Mediadagar i Göteborg (“Media Days in Gothenburg”, MEG) in Sweden, and Communication Programs in Search for Identity, in Trier, Germany. The first is an independent, professional conference, while the latter is organized by European Communication Research and Education Association’s (ECREA) temporary working group on Journalism & Communication Education. Both are two-day events, and the following are our digest of their offerings.
MEG has multiple tracks, but most of the program is in Swedish – for English speaking conference-goers it’s a single-track event. The topics range from advertising business to societal and regulatory issues. Below are summarized the English-language sessions of interest to journalism scholars.
[spoiler title=’Show picks for Thursday at MEG’]
11.00 – 11.45
“Watergate, surveillance and journalism” with Carl Bernstein and Britt-Marie Mattsson.
14.00 – 14.45
“The Digital Transformation – from The New York Times to The Guardian”, a discussion moderated by Thomas Mattsson. Keynote speech by Aron Pilhofer.
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[spoiler title=’Show picks for Friday at MEG’]
12.00 – 12.45
“Photojournalism and free speech” with Victoria Ivleva.
14.00 – 14.45
“Absolute Control vs the Free Press” with Glenn Greenwald. Introductions by Jan Helin.
15.00 – 16.00
“Greenwald meets Bernstein – From Watergate to Snowden”, with Glenn Greenwald and Carl Bernstein. Introductions by Fredrik Laurin.
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The full English-language program for MEG is available online here, and the full Swedish-language program here. Some of the conference’s program is freely available online under the title MegOpen (in Swedish). The Twitter account for this branch is @MegOpen15 and the hashtag is #MegOpen. Its own homepage can be found here, Facebook page here and Instagram account here.
The Communication in Programs Search for Identity is a single-track, fully English-speaking conference. Since the entire program should be of interest to journalism educators, what follows here is a concised version of the conference’s program (evening activities omitted).
[spoiler title=’Show program for Thursday at ECREA conference’]
12.00 – 13.00 Registration
13.00 – 13.30 Welcoming address by Michael Harnischmacher, of University of Trier.
13.30 – 15.00
Panel 1. “What we are facing: International perspectives on challenges to journalism education”.
“Adapting Journalism Education to the dynamics of the profession: New formats, practices and skills”, by Irene Da Rocha and Carles Singla, both of Pompeu Fabra University.
“Master-programs as a way of formation of professional identity”, by Natalia Makarova and Veronika Yarnykh, both of the Russian State University for the Humanities.
“Rise and fall of media MacGyvers in Czech Republic: Challenges of Journalism Education”, by Filip Láb and Alice Nemcová Tejkalová, both of Charles University in Prague.
15.00 – 16.30
Workshop 1. “Journalism Education in the age of Convergence: How to adapt to new challenges, without losing the core journalistic values?”, with Sonja Kretzschmar, Anne Röpke and Sissi Pitzer, all of BW University.
16.30 – 16.45 Break
16.45 – 18.15
Workshop 2. “Hypes or trends? Anchoring the young professional”, with Lucienne Kleisen, Majel Ruyters and Ingrid Jacobs, all of Fontys University.
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[spoiler title=’Show program for Friday at ECREA conference’]
09.00 – 10.30
Panel 2 (Breakfast-Roundtable). “Fostering interdisciplinary and international research in professional communication education”, with Harmen Groenhart, of Fontys University, and Michael Harnischmacher, of University of Trier.
10.30 – 12.30
Workshop 3. “Use of Online Visualisation Tools in Journalism Education”, with Inge Beekmans and Alexander Pleijter, both of Fontys University.
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch.
13.30 – 15.00
Panel 3. “Institutional and organizational challenges for professional media education”.
“Critical Thinking as a facilitator of Ethical and Deontological competences development in the Creativity Itinerary of Advertising and Public Relations Degree”, by Irene Da Rocha, Ana Fernández-Aballí, Matilde Obradors, all of Pompeu Fabra University.
“How were the Spanish Journalism degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area? A comparative analysis of 35 universities”, by Pilar Sánchez-García and Miguel Vicente Mariño, both of Universidad de Valladolid.
“Forming our identity: Summary and outlook”, by Harmen Groenhart, of Fontys University.
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Further information, and the full program flyer, can be found on the working group’s website, here.