Media and Belief in an Interdependent World

4-5 March 2005, The American University of Paris

An international conference organised by the Department of International Communications at The American University of Paris

This small international conference will explore the relationship between media practice and various definitions of belief.

Contemporary developments in media have made us aware of how interdependent media and cultures are in our world. The Internet has made media from other cultures and languages available to us with relative ease but also has broken down the traditional systems of authorisation of news and made rumours more powerful, global and faster. These rumours have powerful effects and depend on the gullibility or incredulity of media audiences. Events are increasingly organised in order to be reported, for their media exposure. In a type of inflation of the media event, they become more and more macabre and frightening perhaps in attempt to make themselves believable.

Media globalisation may have given way to international media regionalisation. Different parts of the world now look at different media and read each other's media in different ways. The most striking example of this has been the rise of Arabic language satellite news networks which tell very different stories. Given the sudden perceived importance of media in the relations between the various civilisations, the question of belief and how and why people believe has become a central and important question for understanding the role of media in various societies

The rise of reality television provides publics with whole new ways of dealing with television, cutting the barriers between the old genres of fiction, drama, documentary and game. The circulation of reality television formats is very important indeed. American Idol has been followed by Arab Idol; Big Brother by the French Loft Story. The way the real is being represented has radically changed not only in news but also in other programming.

Corporations increasingly spend larger and larger budgets on building brand identities around aesthetic choices but also value systems. Branding is more and more a process of making believe in a possible world associated with the brand. Political parties in some countries have indulged in complex branding.

What then is happening to belief? Do audiences believe media in new ways? How does it differ according to religious or cultural background or national tradition? How does the decline of public broadcasting and the development of huge media corporations through mergers affect these questions? What are the permutations of media belief in contemporary Western society? What is the role of celebrity? How do pleasure, identity and belief mesh together?Languages are English and French. No simultaneous translation is available. Every effort will be made to provide translations of papers and abstracts.

This two-day conference invites scholars who are working on these questions of belief in the media to offer papers. These could include questions of belief related to the representation of religion, news, and other cultures. It could include research on media rituals and practices.

Confirmed speakers so far include John Downing, Susan Ossman, Bernard Lamizet, Daniel Dayan and Nick Couldry

Conference sessions may include the following themes:

* Media habit and ritual

* Newsgathering and news reception

* Religion and Media

* Rumours, disbelief and belief

* Trust, proof and media ethics

* Brands

· Internet belief

· War reporting

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers are invited which address any of the themes of the conference but which especially explore:

· Belief in news; changing newsgathering and reporting practices. Changing news reception


· Readings of the media of other cultures, languages, and religions


· Belief in brands and advertising


· Belief and reality television


· Genre and belief (documentary and fiction)


· Relations between nation, media and belief


· Religious origins of media practices or belief practices


· Gullibility and incredulity


· The use of notions of the sacred, the natural and ritual as concepts for understanding media practices


· Approaches from political economy, semiotics, philosophy are all welcome

Abstracts of between 150-200 words should be e-mailed or sent on disk to the address below.


The deadline for abstracts is 10 January

Please note that paper presenters need to register for the conference and pay the registration fee. (50 euros)

CONFERENCE ORGANISER:

Dr. Waddick Doyle

Department of International Communications

The American University of Paris

Abstracts and Enquiries to:

Ms. Pat Lair

Conference Co-ordinator

Department of International Communications

The American University of Paris

6, rue du Colonel Combes

75007 Paris, France

Tel: +33 (1) 40 62 07 19

e-mail: comsearch@aup.fr