Title: Conflict Journalism and the Washington Consensus: Lessons from Ukraine
Lecturer: Oliver Boyd-Barrett (Professor of Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA)
Chairperson: LV Xinyu (Professor, Department of Communication, East China Normal University)
Date: 2 pm, March 23rd, 2016 (Wednesday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Western mainstream media spin narratives of conflict that undermine nuanced understanding. When nuclear powers are implicated the stakes are extremely high. A pre-condition for responsible journalism is diversity of perspective. Notwithstanding the digital age, a concentrated circle of well-resourced, prestigious media lie close to major centers of power. They overshadow a fragmented cluster of more contentious media, modestly endowed, less prestigious, addressing mostly smaller audiences that hold little or no threat to power. The lecturer explores this theme with reference to major points of tension between western mainstream and alternative media discourses in coverage of the Ukraine conflict.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Dr. Oliver Boyd-Barrett joined Bowling Green State University’s School of Communication Studies as Director in 2005, a position he held for three years before deciding to return to faculty in the Department of Journalism. Dr. Boyd-Barrett has published extensively on educational and management communications, international news media, and the political economy of mass communication. He is founding chair of the division for Global Communication and Social Change in the International Communication Association.