Community media conference - Ireland - June 2019

Towards resilient community media

A conference at NUI Galway (Ireland), 14-16 June, 2019

The community media sector has been the focus of an increasing amount of
scholarly attention as it has grown in size, from social movement
theorists, to political economists, to those focused on governance and
organisational communication.

Maintaining community media organizations poses a complex challenge,
requiring ongoing attention to funding, to governance structures, to
changing political and economic conditions, and to the task of building and
consolidating relationships with communities. The challenge is exacerbated
by the operation of community media within a capitalist system that is
antithetical to the values of collaboration, non-commercialism, and
inclusion that are at the core of work in this area. As Atton and Hamilton
(2008: 26) note in their analysis of the political economy of alternative
journalism, the “general political-economic dilemma for any critical
project is that it needs resources with which to work, but those crucial
resources are present only in the very society that it seeks to change or
dissolve.”

This conference will provide an opportunity to reflect on questions of
resilience and endurance as they arise in community media, and to explore
the various interdependent factors that can impact the ongoing stability
and health of community media projects. In addition to welcoming research
grounded in particular case studies, we look forward to papers that will,
in a holistic fashion, explore the role and operation of the sector in the
context of broader socio-political concerns.

Contributions are invited from academics (including emerging and
early-career scholars) exploring these issues, as well as from those
working within the community and alternative media sectors.

Areas of focus might include (but are not limited to):
- Analysis of the political economic contexts within which community media
operate, including regulatory, financial, and staffing challenges.
- Exploration of issues of governance and internal organisation
- Analysis of sectoral cooperation and collaboration
- Questions of ethos, including issues of localism, defining community,
ideology, and purpose
- Maintaining and refreshing relationships with communities
- Grappling with the ongoing tension between pragmatism and idealism
- Case studies of community or alternative media projects, including
historical case studies, that provide insights into one or more issues of
relevance to the conference theme.

In the first instance, proposals should be sent to
[email protected], and should include:
Author name and affiliation(s)
Paper title
200-word abstract

The conference will open the evening of 14th. Saturday 16th will include a
field trip to the site of the Marconi transatlantic wireless telegraphy
station in Connemara, supported by funding from the Broadcast Authority of
Ireland.

Proposals are requested by 30 April, 2019. Proposals will be reviewed on a
rolling basis.

It is anticipated that selected papers from the conference will be
published as a themed issue of a relevant academic journal.

This conference is made possible with the support of the Broadcasting
Authority of Ireland and of the NUI Galway College of Arts, Social
Sciences, and Celtic Studies.


-- 
Andrew Ó Baoill
Dr Andrew Ó Baoill
School of Humanities
NUI Galway
[email protected]

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