One-day seminar on current media standards and challenges of impartiality

One-day seminar 19 November 2010 at Jönköping International Business School. Swedish and Nordic journalists are welcome to take part in a one-day seminar on current media standards and challenges of impartiality in the gathering and disseminating of news in today’s digital world. The seminar is to feature key-note speakers and panelists from Sweden, Nordic states and beyond. Access of news is today possible almost anywhere and at anytime by handheld devices and wireless connections. Today’s consumers have the chance not only to pick and choose but also package and tailor content to suit themselves. The technology has sharply reduced the role of news gatherers and producers (reporters and editors) in selecting and editing content. It is easy for consumers today to shun areas of news output which hold no interest for them. We no longer have a distant and passive public. In addition, there is the appearance of professionally produced media that are openly partial (Fox, MSNBC, etc.) This news milieu has made it hard to pin down what impartiality precisely means, particularly in today’s Swedish political and cultural landscape which has changed dramatically from that of even twenty years ago. The problem is not that we cannot define impartiality. The problem is that its definition has become so broad. If impartiality is about breadth of view and completeness of news, we never have had such a diversity and volume of views and news as we have today. This seminar tries to assess the standards of impartiality and the challenges it faces in the digital media environment and today’s political and cultural landscape of Sweden and other Nordic states. Registration The participants must have good command of the English language as the lectures and speeches will be in English. Electronic notifications of registration is preferred and they should be sent to leon.barkho@ihh.hj.se (if print notification is required, please mail it to Leon Barkho, Jönköping International Business School, P.O. Box 1026, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden) by 10 November. Registration fees Seminar Registration Fee: SEK 500 and will include lunch and coffee during the breaks. For international payments: Postgirot Bank AB, Sweden IBAN no SE95 9500 0099 6042 0326 5352 SWIFT-address NDEASESS Account Name: Jönköping International Business School For national payments: Postgiro 326535-2 Bankgiro 5328-2488 Important: Please specify ‘One-day seminar’ on the payment Contact details: Leon Barkho, Ph.D. Manager, Media Content Effects and Practices Program Media Management and Transformation Centre Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Organization and Leadership (ESOL) Jönköping International Business School Jönköping University P.O. Box 1026 Gjuterigatan 5 SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden Mobile: 0046 (0) 73 5636 403 Office: 0046 (0)36 10 18 92