Department of Media and Communication

News

Shobha Das, DL Associate Tutor named in Queen's Birthday Honours List

Uses and Abuses - Friday 26th June - One Day Seminar

NEWS February 25 2009

"The 'War on Terror' By Any Other Name:Ethical Dimensions of Foreign Policy"

Wednesday February 25th 2009

5pm-7pm

Committee Room 15

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

NEWS - FEBRUARY 23 2009 (click here for Cynthia Enloe video)

ESRC Research Seminar Series: Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media.

Call for papers and participants

'Intelligence and Surveillance: Making the Critical Links'

One-day seminar Monday February 23 200910.30am - 5.30pm, University of Leicester, UK.

This one-day seminar is the final event in the above seminar series, which has adopted an interdisciplinary approach to ethical dimensions of the war on terror. The seminar will focus on broadareas related to intelligence and surveillance, includinglinks between them. It will includediscussion of the three main themes of the series, politics, multiculturalism and media, anda roundtable will offer conclusions on the series and discuss future research agendas.

Confirmed speakers include Jeffrey Stevenson Murer (University of St Andrews), Mark Phythian (University of Leicester), Caroline Kennedy-Pipe (University of Hull),and Stuart Price (De Montfort University, Leicester).

We would like to receive further paper proposals, including from PhD students, on the seminar theme. Please email paper proposals (a title, 250-word abstract and your affiliation details), and requests to participate in the seminar to Gillian Youngs (gy4@le.ac.uk) as soon as possible and no later than Monday February 2 2009.

The seminar is open to policy-related and practitioner participants as well as academics and research students. The number of places is limited to 30. There is no charge for the seminar and lunch and refreshments are provided. For those presenting papers standard rail travel and overnight accommodation expenses where necessary will be covered.

ESRC research seminar series 'Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism, and Media' coordinated by Gillian Youngs (University of Leicester), Simon Caney (University of Oxford) and Heather Widdows (University of Birmingham).

Gillian Youngs, Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester, Attenborough Building
University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
Email: gy4@le.ac.uk
My webpage: http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/gy4.html
Phone/Fax: 44 (0)116 252 3863/5276
ESRC Seminar Series: Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media. 2006/9 See details
http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/gy4.html

NEWS - NOVEMBER 7 2008

ESRC Research Seminar Series: Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media.

Programme

'Securing Identities and Lives: Post 9/11 Gender Challenges'

Two-day seminar November 13/14. University of Leicester, UK

This two-day seminar is one of the final events in the above seminar series, which has adopted an interdisciplinary approach to ethical dimensions of the war on terror. The seminar's main focus will be gender issues related to the three main themes of the series: politics, multiculturalism and media.

Cynthia Enloe (Clark University, USA) will participate in the seminar as well as giving the keynote guest public lecture on November 13 entitled 'Paying Attention to Women Makes Us Smarter About the Iraq War’ co-hosted by the Centre for Diplomatic and International Studies, University of Leicester.

The seminar is open to policy-related and practitioner participants as well as academics and research students. The number of places is limited to 30. There is no charge for the seminar and lunch and refreshments are provided. For those presenting papers standard rail travel and overnight accommodation expenses where necessary will be covered.

ESRC research seminar series 'Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism, and Media' coordinated by Gillian Youngs (University of Leicester), Simon Caney (University of Oxford) and Heather Widdows (University of Birmingham).

NEWS - SEPTEMBER 26 2008

Visiting Speaker Seminar

Wednesday 22nd October 2008 3.30pm

Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre One

Professor Ian Hutchby , Sociology Department, Leicester University

‘Revealing Revelations: 'Performed Retellings of Significant announcements on a television talk show ’

NEWS - SEPTEMBER 22 2008

Guest Public Lecture

Thursday September 25 2008 5pm - 6pm. Guest Keynote Public Lecture.

Bennett Lecture Theatre One

Phil Shiner, Human Rights Lawyer.

‘The UK Torture Team: British Use of Coercive Interrogation Techniques from Northern Ireland to Iraq’

(Hosted by the Department of Media and Communication as part of the ESRC Research Seminar Series ‘Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media’)

NEWS - JULY 30 2008

ESRC Research Seminar Series: Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media.

Call for papers and participants.

Two-day seminar September 25/6 2008, University of Leicester, UK.

NEWS - PRESS RELEASES - JULY 11 2008

A family affair

As hundreds of students celebrate their graduation from the University of Leicester, one graduate from Palestine has made it a double success.

Benaz Batrawi has just graduated with a Masters degree in Mass Communications, seven years after her husband was awarded the same degree at Leicester.

Benaz Batrawi from Palestine has just graduated from the University of Leicester with a Masters degree in Mass Communications, seven years after her husband, Walid, was awarded the same degree.

Both Benaz and Walid took the degree as distance learning students, and Benaz, who was a Karim Rida Said Foundation Scholar during her MA programme, admits both the highlights and challenges of studying off campus.

She commented: “When I decided to go for my Masters I could not travel away from my family and I looked at the modules and books for the Leicester programme and found them suitable for my expectations. The programme is truly tough, as when you study by distance learning you have no lecturers, no colleagues and you face many challenges. But I have learned a lot and now I am glad to be holding an MA from the University of Leicester.”

For Walid, the degree he obtained from Leicester added value to his professional career “I have worked as a journalist many years before I joined the distance learning program, I had no time to pursue my studies, but found a great chance with the Centre for Mass Communication Research to do both at the same time, work and study.

“During my work as a journalist there were things that I hardly understood, but with the academic background the program offered, I indeed understand more” Walid says.

As well as being the mother of ‘two lovely daughters, Tamar and Areen’, Benaz is a Director for MediaNet, a firm that provides services in training and project consultation.

She has worked for 12 years in TV journalism, and communication. In addition to her Leicester Masters, she also has a B.A. in Economics from Bier Ziet University and several certificates from various international institutions in TV journalism skills. In 2003 she finished her Humphrey fellowship year for career development in school of Journalism in Columbia Missouri, USA.

She is a member of different local, Arab, and international media and women's associations eg. Arab Women Media Center, and International Association for Women in Radio and TV. Benaz worked for five years for Al-Quds Educational TV in the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University, firstly as a program manager then for a another year as a director for the Gender and Media Department in the same institute.

Currently she is focusing on freelancing, through her firm, in training young journalists, producing feature stories in addition to offering media project consultations. For the future, she hopes to work with an international organization specializing in media, and to teach at the media department of one of the West Bank Universities.

Walid is currently a project director for the BBC World Service Trust, Support for Palestinian Media. He has built experience across television, radio, print and online media with organisations based in the Middle East and around the world. Most recently he was a correspondent for Al-Jazeera International in the West Bank. On October 24, 2003 the European Commission and the International Federation of Journalists named him the winner of IFJ's 2003 Natali Prize for 'Excellence in reporting Human Rights, Democracy and Development' in the category of the Arab World, Iran and Israel.

University of Leicester 50th Anniversary Celebration:
Does Digital Democracy Exist?

Convened by Department of Media and Communication and Department of Sociology

As part of the ongoing celebrations linked to the University of Leicester’s 50th anniversary, the departments of Media and Communication and Sociology jointly convened a debate about ‘digital democracy’.

The above event took place on 19th May 2008.

• Does Digital Democracy Exist?
  • Professor Stephen Coleman - video stream
  • Professor William Dutton- video stream

Research

The Department has just won a research grant from the Nuffield Foundation to conduct research into the impact of news blogs on mainstream news agendas. This award was made to Professor Barrie Gunter, Dr Vincent Campbell and Dr Maria Touri in the Department with Professor Rachel Gibson, University of Manchester and Dr Rob Ackland, of the Australian National University.

New MA Courses

The Department is launching a new MA in New Media, Governance and Democracy and a new Diploma in Communications, Media and English as Foreign Language in October 2008 and welcomes applications for both of these new courses. The Diploma is designed for students from overseas with undergraduate diplomas who wish to be able to study at master's degree level. Successful completion of this course can provide a pathway onto master's level study for undergraduates whose first language is not English and who have not yet obtained a first degree.

Annual Distance Learning Conference: 2008

Our very successful annual conference took place in May of this year. Details of 2009 event will be available in the New Year.

• Further Information for Current Students
   
• Further Information for Alumni Students

ESRC Seminar - Ethics & the War on Terror

A Debate on Ethics & the War on Terror (organised by Dr Gillian Youngs) was launched by the Department on Friday 24 November 2006. See below for further details of the seminars.

• Past Seminars:
  • Friday 14th March 2008
  • Friday 11 January 2008
  • Friday 9 November 2007
  • Monday 10 September 2007
  • Friday 16 March 2007
  • Friday 24 November 2006 Seminar

Degree Congregation January 2008

We would like to offer our congratulations to all of our students who were formally awarded their degrees in January 2008.

Department’s Researchers Help BBC Panorama - Aired Monday 18 June 2007 BBC1 8.30pm

A BBC Panorama broadcast on Monday 18 June 2007 reported extensively on research carried by academic staff in the Department of Media and Communication.

Barrie Gunter, Anders Hansen and Maria Touri worked with the programme's production team in designing and analysing data from a research project that investigated how families coped with the loss of their TV sets and personal computers for two weeks. Twelve families, recruited in the Manchester area, agreed to part with all screen-based entertainment for this period while a further 11 families from the same neighbourhoods carried on as normal.

The BBC filmed some of the families in the screen-deprived condition to capture their experiences. All the families kept daily diaries to record what went on in their lives. The project turned out to be a journey of rediscovery of family life for those who abstained from watching TV or playing with their PCs and video games consoles. Out came the board games and jigsaw puzzles. There were more family outings.  The silence that accompanied the removal of always-on TV sets was broken occasionally by radio or recorded music. The families enjoyed mealtimes together filled with conversation rather than ignoring each other while goggle-eyeing the box in the corner. The kids got on with their homework more enthusiastically and played more constructively with each other. Mums and dads commented on how much their children had calmed down and how impressed they were with their kids’ resourcefulness in finding new things to do to occupy themselves during times usually spent playing computer games or watching TV.

After the TV sets were returned, viewing resumed among those deprived of their television but only at half the level observed before the ban. Panorama will – with the Department’s help – conduct a follow-up investigation to find out whether these changes persist over time and launch a larger nation-wide campaign to investigate how families can control their TV viewing.     

Click here to access this discussion paper

Emeritus Professor James D Halloran (30 April 1927 - 16 May 2007)

Obituary - Guardian Newspaper

Members of the Department of Media and Communication were greatly saddened this week to hear of the death of Emeritus Professor James D Halloran, aged 80.

Jim was a pioneer of media and communication scholarship in the UK and did much to establish the field as a legitimate subject of academic study. He founded the Centre for Mass Communication Research at this University in 1966 and was Director and Head of Department here for more than 20 years. He was also a powerful and influential figure in the International Association of Mass Communication Research (later the International Association of Media and Communication Research) and was its President from 1976 to 1993.

Jim was an inspiration to many of us during his time as Director and continued to be so throughout his retirement. He will be sorely missed.

Grant Awarded by International Studies Association (ISA)

Dr Gillian Youngs has been awarded a $5,000 dollar workshop grant by the International Studies Association (ISA)  to run a day workshop on 'Globalization and Communications Policy' as part of the ISA annual convention in Chicago in March 2007. Her co-organizer for the event is Juliann Emmons Allison of University of California Riverside and the workshop is being sponsored by the International Communication Section of ISA. The Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester, is contributing support for the workshop, which will focus on international communications policy issues including winners and losers in the digital divide, and new digital politics and activism. A range of international scholars and research students are expected to participate in the workshop, which will also welcome policymakers and activists. Anyone wishing to participate or present a paper at the event should contact Dr Youngs at gy4@le.ac.uk. Agenda for the day is attached.