Press Ethics and Media Freedom: One Day Symposium

This one-day multi-disciplinary (in-person) symposium seeks to explore the changing ethical and regulatory parameters of journalistic practice and its relationship with the concept of media freedom. We invite contributions from across disciplinary areas in order to challenge conventional perspectives pertaining to press freedom and its entanglement with contemporary media and civil contexts and problems.

We are particularly interested in receiving proposals for papers from scholars and practitioners engaged in participatory research methods or other innovative co-production strategies working within the theme of the symposium. We are also keen to showcase research grappling with journalism ethics within the digital media environment and the challenges raised by contemporary social and political disruptions.

Papers are welcome on the broad theme of the symposium, though topics of particular interest to the conference organisers include:

Participatory approaches to normative media ethics

Comparative media regulation and law

Ethics and the Practice of Journalism

Media literacy and ethics

Interdisciplinary perspectives on media ethics

Ethics and media policy

Populism and new media ethics

Cross cultural and/or cross-national studies on media ethics

Ethics in Local/Regional journalism

Civic journalism ethics

Public Deliberation and normative ethics in journalism

Professional identity and the ethical role of the journalist

The symposium will also present findings from a UKRI funded project entitled ‘Defining Freedom of the Press’ which is a multidisciplinary project exploring press ethics and regulation across a number of European countries and the UK. This project examines journalist, regulator and non-journalist stakeholders’ perspectives on press ethics and regulation. We are particularly keen to receive proposals for papers from PGR students and from community-based organisations with an interest in press ethics and journalism.

In addition, the symposium will screen a documentary film which has been made as part of the project as well as host an exhibition on the topic of ‘freedom of the press’, all at taking place at the St. Bride Foundation in London.

A selection of papers given at the symposium will be invited to submit to a proposed special edited collection of papers to be published by Intellect.

Participation and attendance at the conference and exhibition will be free.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted to Professor John Steel ([email protected]) by 29 April, 2022.