Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) 5th International Conference
Bridging Gaps: Where is the Critic in Television Journalism?
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
New York City, USA
August 31-September 1, 2017
Conference Keynote Speaker:
Andrew Mendelson
Associate Dean & Professor, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Conference Key Media Speaker:
Tim Harper
Journalist & Visiting Professor, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
In broadcast journalism, the notion of the ‘TV academic’ is rare but important with the origins related to the Fourth Estate’s veritable position as critical government watchdogs. Similar in nature to questions on conflating the journalist with celebrity in popular discourse are those surrounding the academic and celebrity. In his case, Birmingham City University professor and broadcaster David Wilson discovered, “The greatest tension is the growing perception by some members of the public that I am a celebrity, rather than an academic.” At the same time, he notes that the benefits of being a public scholar greatly outweigh the downsides.
Mainstream TV uses social media to augment its reach, facilitating dialogues between actors and viewers. These dominant tactics further engage by mitigating the role of perceived mediators between celebrities and their on-screen personas. In an analogous way, more conversations that include academics are crucial in mainstream TV. Without them, redefining or redesigning efforts that stimulate critical faculties in the collective mind and make for good citizenry become lost amidst the noise of what postmodern French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once characterized as an era of “more and more information, and less and less meaning”.
So how can an academic produce a TV show or offer television appearances while disregarding stereotypical trappings associated with the ‘celebrity academic’? How can these efforts be accomplished in ways that preserve the integrity of the academe yet also cater to mass audience within one’s area of scholarship? What are some ethical tactics and key platforms in which these voices are best and most widely heard?
The Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) Bridging Gaps conference, in association with sponsors Centre for Ecological, Social, and Informatics Cognitive Research (ESI.CORE) and WaterHill Publishing, invites academics, journalists, publicists, producers and guests to attend, speak and collaborate at the international conference Bridging Gaps: Where is the Critic in Television Journalism? Join us in NYC where the conference will uniquely combine vibrant roundtable and workshop panels with a CMCS TV proposal in a collaborative network.
The format of the conference aims at being open and inclusive ranging from interdisciplinary academic scholars to practitioners involved in all areas of television journalism, including tactics related to engagement capitalizing on existing public and private television channels and evolving forms of social media—from YouTube to Vimeo, Zoom to Jing, Periscope to Google Hangout. Working papers and media productions will be considered for the conference.
Extended versions of selected best papers will be published in an edited book.
Registration includes: Your printed package for the complete conference, professional development workshops, coffee / tea breaks, access to evening receptions, complimentary evening drinks, consideration for publication, and the CMCS $100 best paper and $100 best screen awards.
Submission guidelines:
Celebrity Chat Video Submissions:
Topics include but are not limited to:
Television Studies
TV Celebrity
Celebrity Academic
Onscreen Persona
Fandom
Audience
Publicity
News
Interviews
Social Media
Online Video
Fiction
Genre
Biography
Literature
Fashion
Photography
Performance
Life Writings
Theory and Methods
Research Agenda
Business Models
Ethics and Morality
Media Literacy
Education and Advocacy
International Relations
Community Building
Business and Community Partnerships
Conference Keynote: Andrew Mendelson
Conference Key Media Speaker: Tim Harper
Conference Chairs: Josh Nathan and Andrea Marshall
Committee Members: Nicole Bojko, Jackie Raphael and Celia Lam
Conference URL: www.cmc-centre.com/nyc2017 Twitter @celeb_studies #BGCS17
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NYC2017 WaterHill Publishing Inaugural Writers Conference: Call for Writers
Terrace Club
New York City, USA
September 2-3, 2017
Writers often have a unique story to tell and they give voice to a cause. When faced with fierce competition in the publishing industry, the unique voice may get lost in demands to create a standardized publication that may or may not turn out to be popular to many readers.
The role of a literary agent is often vital to publish books and adapt the books for film and television productions. Yet, pitching to a literary agent can remain a challenge for many writers.
Whether you work with an agent or not, it is critically important to find your voice, tell your story, publish in the form of books, essays, and op-eds, and reach out through the media.
WaterHill Publishing, in association with Centre for Ecological, Social, and Informatics Cognitive Research (ESI.CORE) and Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS), invites established and emerging writers to present writings at our inaugural writers’ conference series in New York City. We particularly aim to establish safe spaces of writing and will work with writers to address the following themes:
Find your voice and tell your story
Who gets to be a writer? How can we support each other and overcome obstacles to publication, especially for those under-represented in the publishing industry?
Bridge gaps between creative imagination and critical thinking
Review written drafts and receive feedback in groups
Establish your area of expertise and learn how to pitch to op-eds and essays
Build a media platform and use public relations to reach out to a wide range of readers
The best writings will be reviewed, selected, and offered publication in an edited book.
Registration includes: Your printed package for the complete conference, professional development workshops, coffee / tea breaks, access to evening receptions, complimentary evening drinks, consideration for publication, and the WaterHill Publishing $100 best writing award.
Submission guidelines:
Featured Writers’ Workshops
Our unique workshops aim at developing the writer's sense of self and learning how to use media effectively.
Workshop #1
Pathways for the Writer’s Success
with Kofi Forson
The creative process of writing starts when the writer recognizes his / her personal and cultural history. Everything begins when the writer identifies a literary voice through which the writing is expressed in detail. That is when the writer is able to tell the story. We will achieve the power of storytelling with review of written drafts and feedback from groups, and evaluate the writing process whether writing an op-ed, press release or creative story. In doing so, we bridge a gap between the creative process and career
development of a writer. The objective then is to map out an audience for marketing the writing and seek publishing with help of research and dialogue.
What will you learn from this workshop?
Bio: Kofi Forson is a writer, poet and playwright living in New York City. His blog, Black Cocteau,
presents a mixture of philosophy and art on modern culture. Kofi Forson also writes for Whitehot
Magazine. In his writings, he aims at sharing his inspirations and advice for artistic and literary
treatments of cultural figures and artifacts in popular culture.
Workshop #2
Creativity as a Cognitive Tool: Writing as a Reflexive Process
with Andrea Marshall
This workshop will demonstrate interventions designed to assist writers throughout the process of prewriting, drafting, and editing various types of projects. Creativity can be harnessed and refined into a cognitive and critical tool that allow us to find our unique voices as writers, through scientific methods that produce tangible and viable results as we proceed with writing projects. Reflexivity is an approach to writing that promotes the finding of our individual voices as writers, through the application of innovative problem solving techniques including peer review. Creativity promotes sensitivity to others’ perspectives, and collaboration supports innovation during the writing process. This workshop will feature hands on exercises created to bring the writing process out of isolation and into contemporary multimodal approaches that construct new ways of understanding writing as procedural knowledge that includes the transparency of process.
This workshop will feature activities that will:
WaterHill Publishing aims at publishing books and periodicals that:
Our authors are both emergent and established inspirational thought leaders who bring forth provocative and actionable ideas.
Conference Chair: Saul Courrier
Conference Committee: Ashley Barthes, Kofi Forson and Andrea Marshall
Conference URL: http://www.waterhillpublishing
Twitter: @whpublishing #WH2017