Call for submission of news reports for the international conference on “Migration in the media – perceptions, opportunies and challenges”

Дата та час події: 31 January 2019, 01:32
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Location: Georgia, Tbilisi

Date: End March 2019 (exact dates TBC)

Venue: Tbilisi, Georgia (venue TBC)

Languages: English (simultaneous interpretation into Georgian and Russian)

CONFERENCE BACKGROUND

“Whatever changes are under way there is no doubting the continuing significance of mass media in contemporary society, in the spheres of politics, culture, everyday social life and economics….”. 

Denis McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition 2010

Media plays an important role not only in the formation of public opinion and public discourse, but also in shaping state approaches to migration by reporting on migration issues. By underlining the most pressing migration challenges or the numerous benefits of migration, by capitalising on certain migration topics and by omitting others, the media has a vast influence on the formation of a broad image and perception of migration itself. Therefore, it is important to review on how information relating to migration is collected, shared and distributed amongst various actors, which significantly impacts the formation of both migration policy and public perceptions. As a first step towards such a review, it is crucial to study how migrationrelated issues are represented in the media.

The EU-funded EINIGMMA 2 (Sustaining Georgia’s Migration Management) project, which is being implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), dedicated several activities to study how migration is reported in Georgia. One of them – the International Conference entitled “Migration in the Media – Perceptions, Opportunities and Challenges” – will be taking place in Tbilisi, Georgia, at the end of March 2019 (the exact date will be communicated in due time).

The Conference aims at bringing together Georgian and foreign journalists and media professionals, policymakers, scholars and researchers, to discuss the nexus between media and migration, other Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries as well as the Member States of the European Union. The Conference will focus on best practices in reporting on migration, as well as existing challenges, opportunities and perceptions, including possible policy recommendations. These topics will be discussed in a comparative manner by analysing and assessing practical examples on reporting of migration issues by applying an academic viewpoint.  

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

This two-day conference is envisaged as a unique opportunity for media representative EaP countries to come together with scholars and policymakers to share their journalistic work and research findings to foster understanding of the nexus between media and migration from a broader inter-regional perspective. Thus, the organisers invite both established and junior journalists and other people working in the media to submit their articles, and other journalistic works on the following topics:

– Diaspora and emigrant communities

– Legal and labour migration 

– Immigration and emigration

– Human rights of migrants

– Trafficking in human beings

– Integration and reintegration

– Other migration-related issues

The narratives/stories in English or the national language of one of the EaP countries shall be submitted to the organisers by 31 January 2019 to: enigmma@icmpd.org. Eligible for submissions are articles/narratives/stories which were officially published before 31 December 2018.

Submission shall include:

– Copy of narrative/story (in most common file format (MS Word – for text articles/blogs, etc; AVI, WMV – for video; PCM, WAV or MP3 – for audio stories. Please, contact the organisers, if there are questions related to the file format);

– Link to officially published narrative/story, if available; or other prove of official publication before 31 December 2018;

– Contact information of author(s);

–  Short biography of author(s) (up to 100 words);

– Short motivation explaining the wish to participate in the conference and present the article/story (presentation at the conference can be only done in English, Georgian or Russian languages). 

Best articles/narrative/stories will be presented at the Conference by the authors. Travel and accommodation in Georgia for selected authors from EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine), as well as travel and accommodation in Tbilisi for selected Georgian authors from Georgian regions will be covered by the project. If the article/story/narrative was developed by several authors, and it was selected for the Conference, participation of only one author will be supported by the project.

While selecting the narratives/articles/stories to be presented at the conference, the organisers will take the following into account:

– Relevance of the submitted stories for Georgia and the EaP region;

– Focus on migration-related topics listed above; 

– Motivation to present the article, general interest in migration discourse;

– Author’s language knowledge and his/her ability to present the story at the Conference. Only selected authors will be contacted. The organisers reserve the right to contact authors via email or phone before making the final selection.

Application and selection procedure:

– Submission of stories: 31 January 2019, 17:00 CET;

– Potential consultations with shortlisted candidates: 31January – 15 February 2019;

– Notifications of acceptance: 28 February 2019;

– Conference: End March 2019 (exact dates TBC) For additional inquiries please contact: enigmma@icmpd.org

CONTENT AND PRELIMINARY AGENDA OF THE CONFERENCE

The organisers of the two-day Conference are inviting journalists, media professionals, students of journalism, academics working on media and migration issues, policymakers, practitioners and other experts to come together to share their knowledge, reporting and research findings, to promote their understanding of the connection between media and migration issues from a local, regional and broader international perspective. In the long term, the purpose and an ultimate objective of the conference is to ensure that the narrative on migration regains balance and relies on facts.

The Conference will include keynote speeches, presentations of journalistic articles, stories and other narratives as well as research dealing with migration findings. This will be accompanied by academic discussions on migration in general and identify specific migration areas in particular in order to cover also educational needs of current and future journalists. The conference will be held in English language (with simultaneous interpretation into Georgian language) and take place over the course of two days as described below.

Day One:

– Keynote speech by an invited expert on media monitoring studies implemented in other countries, and general nexus between migration and media, in particular, examples of other countries media’s reporting on migrants and migration.

– Public discussion

Day Two:

– Introductory keynote speech on media and migration nexus with specific focus on migration areas selected for the conference

– Discussion panels with participation of invited academics and journalists on specific topics related to migration (for more information see Call for Submissions). The focus will lie i.a. on the following areas:

o Diaspora and emigrant communities

o Legal and labour migration

o Immigration and emigration

o Human rights of migrants

o Trafficking in human beings

o Integration and reintegration

Further, the general framework for reporting on migration issues will be discussed, such as risks, perceptions and challenges.

The dialogue partners will include journalists, media professionals, policymakers and practitioners from state agencies, policy development institutions, think-tanks, research institutions or NGOs from EU member states and Georgia. In order to prepare the content of the Conference, the ICMPD ENIGMMA 2 project team is issuing a call for journalists to submit their journalistic pieces on migration which were published or transmitted before the call. Selected articles, published in traditional or social media, will be presented at the conference and discussed by invited discussants and discussion panels’ moderators. 

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