You are now in the main content area

Upcoming conference explores the changing world of journalism

By: Joseph Ryan
February 24, 2023
A collage of digital screens, bright lights and buildings are placed around each other.

Researchers from across the world will be coming to the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) this spring for an international conference on the changing world of journalism. 

The conference, called Between Ideals and Practices: Journalistic Role Performance in Transformative Times, will be held on May 24, with keynote speakers Dr. Claudia Mellado, who leads the international Journalistic Role Performance project, and Dr. Daniel Hallin, who’s known for his study of media systems. It’s an unaffiliated pre-conference to the International Communications Association conference being held in Toronto (external link)  this year.

TMU’s Dr.Nicole Blanchett, the lead organizer for the conference, says that there will be a number of panels on different topics including how the pandemic impacted journalism, journalism and politics, how positionality, power and privilege affect journalistic coverage, and the impact of technology on journalistic roles.

According to Blanchett, the purpose of Between Ideals and Practices is to explore how journalism is evolving, and examine methodologies academics use to measure and assess  journalistic  practice.

Blanchett also says that one of the goals of the conference is to build relationships between researchers and working journalists.

“I think it's quite important to build relationships with people who work in newsrooms and the people who are studying news and journalism because it leads to better understanding and better transferable findings in terms of, what can we give back to the journalism community as an academic researcher that might be useful to them in their journalism?” says Blanchett.

The idea of building relationships between journalists and researchers comes from Blanchett’s own professional experience working in a newsroom before becoming an academic. She says she found a disconnect between theoretical approaches and newsroom practices. 

The international focus is crucial, Blanchett says, particularly to look at journalism outside the “Western lens.”  (PDF file) The preliminary program (external link)  shows that panelists attending the conference will be talking about reporting in both the Global North and South. The conference will also have presentations in French and English. 

“A lot of journalism academic-literature is often from a Western lens, and a lot of voices and important perspectives are left out. So one of the goals of this conference was to just kind of build some diversity,” says Blanchett.

Researchers will be sharing studies on journalism in countries such as Cuba, Iceland, Germany, Brazil, Egypt, Uganda, Venezuela, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and here in Canada. And there was also an effort to include different types of research.

“We wanted to make sure that it was all kinds of different methodologies and all kinds of different ways of looking at how journalistic rules are evolving. So being inclusive, not just in terms of who's going to be presenting and where people are coming from, and trying to encourage this international, not just Western lens, but also just in the types of things that people want to explore and want to talk about,” says Blanchett. 

Blanchett received national funding (external link)  to enhance the conference even further, allowing for the hiring of an accessibility coordinator and the creation of both a print and electronic magazine about the conference.

“One of the other things that I think is an issue at conferences is we don't think enough about accommodations and inclusivity in terms of people who might have a variety of disabilities or need certain types of accommodations. So again, it's being inclusive in as many ways as possible,” says Blanchett.

The print and electronic magazine will highlight the research and discussions at the conference, and will even include a guide on best practices for inclusivity. 

Blanchett says the SSHRC grant also supports hiring students to work on writing stories for the publication, and there will be other positions available for students who wish to help out.

For more information on the upcoming conference, you can visit the Journalistic Role Performance Canada website. (external link)