“The Resilience, Recovery and Reconnection of Media and Society” Workshop

Introduction

The School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been organizing the annual Communication Visiting Scholar Program since 2008. The Program aims to promote academic exchange and links among Chinese-speaking scholars in cultural China and improve the quality of research of the Chinese research community. The Centre for Chinese Media and Comparative Communication Research (The C-Centre) of the School of Journalism and Communication will play host to this program in 2023.

Program Theme 2023

The world has been going through a difficult and stressful time of pandemic, war, climate crises, disasters, and social confrontations. The media industry is also in crisis: global journalism has experienced a recession for more than a decade, and in recent years it has been under multiple pressures from politics, business and populism. Social media platforms have brought many problems such as the proliferation of fake news, polarization, privacy concerns, exploitation of labor, cyber violence, and damage to mental health.

This workshop aims to explore the possibilities of positive changes. Topics can either focus on how to solve the crisis of media (e.g., how to build a sustainable business model, how to regain trust), or examine the positive roles of the media in society (e.g., how to rethink the role of journalism in crises and disasters, how social media platforms can improve rather than harm mental health). We understand that many related cases and attempts are still in the developing stage, but we encourage timely observation and discussion of recent cases.

The context of the issue is mainly Chinese societies. Attempts to construct a general theory are also welcome. The specific contexts of Chinese societies provide more complexity for the study of this topic. For example, “solutions journalism” in an authoritarian context may be appropriated and become political propaganda to cover up the problems. Another example is that polarization in different Chinese societies have distinct underlying causes, and the response to them also needs to be based on understanding the root of the problem. This complexity is both a research challenge and an opportunity to make new theoretical contributions.

Workshop Details

Date: 13-14 January 2023
Venue: Room 313, Humanities Building, CUHK and ZOOM meeting room
The visiting scholars will present papers on the theme of “The Resilience, Recovery and Reconnection of Media and Society”.
Language of presentation and discussion: Mandarin

• Programme
• Workshop booklet

Workshop Participant List (in alphabetical order)

The Annual Workshop Committee

Prof. Ran Wei (Standing Convener)
Prof. Kecheng Fang (Theme Convener)
Prof. Joseph Chan
Prof. Francis Lee
Prof. Donna Chu
Prof. Hai Liang

Enquiry

Dr. Daisy Cheng
Phone: 3943 8709
Email: daisycheng@cuhk.edu.hk