SYMPOSIUM: News practices and media law in Africa: Developing a research agenda.

Date: 1 June 2017

Venue: University of Portsmouth

 Park Building, Room 2.07

Information:

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public?preview=News+Practices+%26+media+law+in+Africa.pdf

Event registration:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/news-practices-media-law-in-africa-developing-a-research-agenda-tickets-34797501263

Description:

This symposium will examine the changes and tendencies of news practices, media freedom and media law in Africa. This meeting aims at further developing a research agenda to explore political and cultural influences and post-colonial and post-conflict legacies on the development of journalism practices and media law and regulation in Africa.

 

Elements to be discussed (but not limited to):

• Empirical and theoretical approaches to the study of news practices in African contexts, including news values, editorial lines, journalism ethics and media ownership

• Empirical and theoretical approaches to the examination of media law in African contexts, including defamation, privacy/data protection, contempt of court and source protection

• The origin and development of media legislation, development of case law and news regulatory systems

• Country/region-specific case studies

• Media and democratisation

• The relevance or irrelevance of former colonising countries and conflict in the development of news practices and legal/regulatory systems

• The ‘right to know’ and the ‘right to be forgotten’

• The globalisation of news and inter-jurisdictional influences

• Press freedom and journalists’ security in fragile contexts

• New technologies and social media including digital divide, ‘fake news’ and online media regulation

• African media image outside Africa

 

Organisers: Susana Sampaio-Dias, University of Portsmouth (susana.sampaio-dias@port.ac.uk), and Judith Townend, University of Sussex (judith.townend@sussex.ac.uk)

 

Guests:

• Winston Mano, Director of the Africa Media Centre at the University of Westminster https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/mano-winston

• Olivia Rutazibwa, Senior Lecturer, International Development Studies, University of Portsmouth http://www.port.ac.uk/school-of-languages-and-area-studies/staff/dr-olivia-rutazibwa.html

• Ivor Gaber, University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/49646

• Idil Osman, SOAS University of London https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff114111.php