deadline extended for YECREA co-organized International Graduate Conference on Selling Politics and War

Call for papers: Selling Politics and War 
First International graduate conference on media and communication (ICMC)
University of Porto, May 13-14 2010
Deadline extended to March 15th
 
The Conference is jointly organized by the Centro para as Ciências da Comunicação (C2COM -University of Porto), the European Communication Research and Education Association’s Young Scholars’ Network (YECREA) and Media XXI - Investigação e Consultoria/FormalPress.
Invited speakers include Paolo Mancini (Università di Perugia) and Philip Hammond (London South Bank University).
The last years have witnessed an increasing interest in how the media relate to the political sphere, and more specifically within the realm of our present mediatized world, on the relationship between media coverage of crisis situations such as elections and war. Indeed, the media is more and more implicated as an agent in the political process and as a privileged intermediary to sell the wars to the mass publics, and, as a result of it, politics and war have become a second-hand reality to the public who do not encounter them in a direct manner but rather through the media.  Furthermore, the recent developments of information technology and the spread of internet have impacted both on the media landscape and the communication of politics resulting in an increasingly uncertain environment.
The I International Graduate conference on Media and Communication (ICMC) at the University of Porto will provide a timely opportunity to spark a discussion on the dynamics between media and the political world, in different countries, with a particular focus on the role of the media in exceptional times: the way candidates and parties are covered during elections campaigns and the media performance in wartime periods.
The Conference organizers welcome conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions on the following relevant topics:
-        Media coverage of elections (with a focus on 2008 and 2009 ballots)
-        Media reporting of the War (with a focus on Iraq)
The academic program of the conference will be organised around those two theme flow/sections and it can host up to 4 panels per section. A PhD support moment on methodological issues will be included as a pre-program conducted by Philip Hammond.
 
An electronic version of the extended abstract, with a preferred length between 750 to 1000 words, accompanied by contact details and a brief bio on a separate page, should be sent no later than February 28th. Abstracts should be written in Portuguese, English or Spanish (although presentations will be in English) and should summarize the paper contents, explain relevance to conference theme, outline methodology, contain a clear argument, theoretical framework, methodology and key results.
Although privileging Graduate students applications, MA and BA works of exceptional quality will also be accepted provided that they meet the requirements of the call for papers of the conference.
All proposals should be submitted to the following email: icmc2010abstracts@icicom.up.pt
Participants may submit more than one proposal, but only one paper by the same first author will be accepted into the program.
 
Notification of acceptance will be sent by March 31st
 
A selection of the best papers delivered at the conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of the journal Media XXI.
An award of the best paper of the Graduate Conference will be granted by the panel chairs and the scientific commission.
For more information, please visit: http://icmc2010.wordpress.com/
If you have any further question, please contact program chair, Rui Alexandre Novais, at icmc2010info@icicom.up.pt
 
Scientific Committee
Artur Pimenta Alves (UP)
Clementina Teixeira dos Santos (UP)
Fernando Nunes Ferreira (UP)
Heitor Alvelos (UP)
Jorge Gonçalves (UP)
Paulo Faustino (UP)
Rui Alexandre Novais (UP)
Rui Centeno (UP)
 
Organising Committee
Alice Barroso Barcellos (UP)
Ana Jorge (UNL/YECREA)
Bárbara da Silva Valente Pinho (UP)
Carla Alexandra Brites Lima Santos (UP)
Daniel Jorge Reis Sequeira (UP)
Hélder Rafael Afonso Gonçalves (UP)
Joana Filipa Costa Correia (UP)
María Abelleira (UP)
Marta Alexandra da silva Oliveira (UP)
Olavo Manuel Reis Santos Pinto (UP)
Ricardo Nuno Lopes Cruz Ferreira (UP)
Rui Pedro Cruz Alves (UP)
Rui Alexandre Novais (UP)
Sara Daniela Carvalho Soares (UP)
 
Conference fees:
15€ general
10€ Euros for UP students and YECREA members
 
Important dates
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 28 February 2010
Notification of acceptance: March 15 2010
Deadline for submission of full papers: April 30 2010
Conference: 13 and 14 May 2010
Decision about publication of selected work: 30 June 2010