Date:  December 12 2018, 02.00 pm – 07.30 pm

Venue: Wroclaw, Poland

An open, high-level AE conference accompanying the Film, Media and Visual Studies Section’s meeting in Wrocław, organised jointly by the FMVS Section, the Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub and the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication of the University of Wrocław.

MEDIA AS PUBLIC GOOD AND A LEVER OF SUSTAINABILITY

On December 12, 2018, the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication hosted an international scientific conference entitled Media as Public Good and a Lever of Sustainability, co-organised by the Institute, the Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, and Academia Europaea’s Film, Media and Visual Studies Section.

The conference was attended by scientists from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Poland. The meeting was inaugurated by Prof. Arkadiusz Lewicki (Director of the Institute), Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs (Academic Director of the Academia Europaea Wroclaw Knowledge Hub), and Prof. Kirsten Drotner (Chair of the Section).

The speakers included Prof. Graham Murdock, Prof. Göran Bolin, Prof. Johan Fornäs, Prof. Beata Katarzyna Ociepka, Prof. Mirosław Filiciak, Prof. Kirsten Drotner, Prof. Ilya Kiriya, Prof. Maren Hartman, and Prof. Dorota Piontek. A video recording is still available on the website: https://vimeo.com/album/5619627.

The conference met with great and lively interest with both researchers and students taking part in the discussions. Presented below are selected statements of the students who attended the event:

„(…) the conference was a rewarding experience. It was a great pleasure to listen to speakers from all over the world. It has developed my thinking in that I have become able to see the media in new ways. Media as public good seems hard to achieve nowadays. To achieve and sustain it, we need to discuss the subject globally. In my opinion, the new generation needs to be aware of the importance of democracy, freedom of thought, perception management, etc. We need to build networks between people, not between profiles. This conference helped me start to think about different subjects from various perspectives.” Selin Karaibrahimoglu

„(…)  We live in an era of fake news and omnipresent misinformation. Therefore, it is our duty to come up with a new well-balanced way to keep media as a service for good and prosperity as opposed to disrupting the ecological system by advertising fast-moving consumer goods. Together we ensure that media practices serve as a tool for interaction between people in all areas of the world. Nevertheless, we question if mediated interaction enhances efficient communication between people that serve as a tool for sustainability.” Yulduz Rashidova

„(… ) Prof. Graham Murdock talked about the importance of the use of natural resources. For instance, he said: 'Natural resources have rights as well and they cannot be used however we please’. He changed my point of view on this subject; without a doubt, we must be more conscious of our natural resources and how we decide to make the best of them. Additionally, media is a powerful tool that we can use to bring more awareness to everyone who has access to it. (…) We need to be more respectful of Mother Earth and try our best to not contribute in a negative way and try as hard as possible to be considerate of our actions.” Paola Morales

„There are many problems with current media and the world overall, but how can we tackle these problems? I think that media have become a resource of social sustainability, but it depends on what we do with it that will make a difference. The main goal is communication, because, as Prof. Göran Bolin said, 'Society lives in communication, and not by it”. By looking into the basics of human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity, we will find that in the end, media as a communicative resource, needs to be considered a common good and being able to identify problems will not be enough. Media are one of the main components to social progress and they need to be recognised as a public good.” Teah Major

„(…) We should work on changing things for our own benefit, we should seek solutions to these problems. There is nothing in the whole world that we cannot solve by using communication. And we should not hide behind excuses and, most importantly, awareness is the main thing we should focus on.”, Burcu Sevinc

Conference rationale:

At a time when fake news, data fraud, and trolls take up public attention, it is important to hold on to media and communication scholarship for the provision of a balanced, and well-documented, understanding of media practices. It is well-known that complex constellations of media practices act as catalysts of coherence, coordination and interaction both for individuals, groups, and larger societal networks. But how do these mediated practices foster cultures of communication that serve as enablers of sustainability? How does mediated sustainability play out at individual, group, and wider networked levels? Which are the constraints of current media cultures for the development of sustainability? Can we draw on particular European traditions when developing media as practices of public good? This high-level conference addresses these questions and illuminates answers to them with insights drawn from cutting-edge research.

PROGRAMME

MEDIA AS PUBLIC GOOD AND A LEVER OF SUSTAINABILITY

DECEMBER 12 (WEDNESDAY), 2018

Institute of Journalism and Social Communication
University of Wrocław, ul. Joliot-Curie 15, Wrocław
Sala Kameralna Zachodnia (1^st floor)

02:00 pm – 02:30 pm Welcome addresses

• Professor Arkadiusz Lewicki, Director of the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication, University of Wrocław
• Professor Arkadiusz Wójs, Dean of the Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology
• Professor Kirsten Drotner, Chair of the Film, Media and Visual Studies Section of Academia Europaea

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

02:30 pm – 04:00 pm Chair: Professor Kirsten Drotner

• Professor emeritus Graham Murdock, Loughborough University, Minutes to Midnight: Communication and Climate Crisis
• Professor Göran Bolin, Södertörn University, Infrastructures for a Common Life Together: Media as a Resource for Social Progress
• Professor Johan Fornäs, Södertörn University, Media and Cultural Resilience

04:00 pm – 04:15 pm Coffee break

04:15 pm – 05:45 pm Chair: Professor Göran Bolin

• Professor Iwona Hofman, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Serious Journalism Values
• Professor Beata Katarzyna Ociepka, University of Wrocław, Public Service Broadcasters – Lessons from Implementing the PSBs’ Model in (Former) Transition Countries
• Professor Mirosław Filiciak, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, Whose Good? Calculated Publics, Data Extraction and Socialized Risk

05:45 pm – 06:00 pm Coffee break

INTERVENTIONS

06:00 pm – 07:30 Chair: Professor Beata Katarzyna Ociepka

• Professor Kirsten Drotner, University of Southern Denmark, Media as Means and Ends of Sustainability
• Professor Maren Hartmann, University of the Arts Berlin, Media and Temporalities: The Short-Lived Nature of Long-Term Developments
• Professor Dorota Piontek, Adam Mickiewicz University, The Need to Study Media Populism
• Professor Ewa Nowak, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Mediatization of Everyday Life. The Structure of Mediatized Time
• Professor Ilya Kiriya, HSE University in Moscow, Population and Paternalism: The Social Tradition of State-Oriented Media

Organisers: the Film, Media and Visual Studies Section, Academia Europaea, the Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication, University of Wrocław.

The conference was financed with a grant provided by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.