Communication & Democracy Section ECCR

Call For Papers:

In the spring of 2007 the European Union is celebrating its 50th birthday! In addition, on the 1st January 2007 two new member states from Eastern Europe joined the Union, thereby extending the EU to a total of 27 member states and nearly 500 million inhabitants. 2007 is also the European Year for Equal Opportunities for All, with a focus on equality, diversity and ‘a just society’ (see http://equality2007.europa.eu/). While the EU advances as a comprehensive decision-maker and power broker, by all accounts it continues to remain a ‘remote’, complex and non-transparent political entity. Although the EU is seemingly proceeding with its integration project, at the same time the ways and the methods through which this is happening are either incomprehensible or disputable or both. Indeed, to its own citizens, the EU risks becoming an ‘empty signifier’.

This Symposium aims to assess the roles of media and communication in fostering equal opportunities, civic participation and diversity in Europe, as well as its potentials for addressing the European democratic deficit, particularily the perceived disconnection between the economic and political elites and large parts of EU citizens. In this Symposium we aim to critically discuss and interrogate the role of media and communication relating to issues of equality, diversity, civic participation and democracy beyond the nation state, on the basis of theoretical and/or empirical research. Media and communication can be seen to fulfill different roles in this regard; as a medium (information provision), as a mediator (deliberative processes, activism), as a political actor (the media and media-professionals), as a citizenship right (communication rights), as a tool for or indicator of enhancing equal opportunities, but also as a battlefield for meaning on what it entails to be a European citizen or what Europe means.

To this effect, the ECREA-sections Communication and Democracy, Journalism, Political Communication, and Gender and Communication, as well as the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and Vesalius College invite researchers who address one or more of the following key-themes and subsequent issues to attend and contribute to the Symposium, either by proposing a paper to be presented or as audience and discussants.

Papers on the following themes are welcomed:

The EU Democratic Deficit:	The roles of media and communication in bridging the gap between the EU institutional framework and the citizen/civil society Critical perspectives on e-democracy as ‘the’ answer to getting citizens involved The commodification of the media sector and its impact on political communication and the European democratic deficit The influence of the media lobby in the EU’s communication policy and the challenge for citizens to participate in influencing/shaping media policy Equal opportunities to participate and the democratic divide Applying communication rights in the horizontal interactive dimension and building up young and alternative European communities
European Public Spheres:	Media and the construction of a European identity versus nationalistic passions and emotions in (national) politics The role of opinion polls (Eurobarometer) and European Public Spheres as representations of European public opinions European public spheres and their intersection with traditionally feminised private spheres An independent non-commercial (community) third voice, next to public and commercial media and its links to communication rights in the EU Tensions between European and national (media) policies (subsidiarity) The problem of media out-put inequality and the prevalence of dominant media players in the EU
Journalism and the EU:	Media and the construction of a European identity versus nationalistic passions and emotions in (national) politics The role of opinion polls (Eurobarometer) and European Public Spheres as representations of European public opinions European public spheres and their intersection with traditionally feminised private spheres An independent non-commercial (community) third voice, next to public and commercial media and its links to communication rights in the EU Tensions between European and national (media) policies (subsidiarity) The problem of media out-put inequality and the prevalence of dominant media players in the EU

The deadline for submission of abstracts (max 500 words) is 01/05/2007

The deadline for submission of full papers is 15/09/2007

Please send your abstract to: ECREAsymposium2007@hotmail.com

Mention: name(s) of author(s), institution(s) and a contact e-mail address

This will be a free event subject to registration