Keynote speaker and renowned scholars Vesna Leskošek and Jelena Kleut will address critical issues in their keynote lectures at the upcoming ECREA 2024 conference, offering insights into the challenges facing contemporary societies, their social and media systems.

On Tuesday, September 24, Vesna Leskošek will delve into the precarious state of the welfare system in her keynote lecture titled “Communicating the Welfare State through a Discourse on Welfare Fraud,” held at Cankarjev dom’s Gallus Hall. Leskošek will explore the subtle dismantling of the welfare state, driven by campaigns against alleged benefit fraud. She argues that these campaigns, which stigmatize welfare recipients and spread mistrust, threaten the very fabric of social order by undermining the redistributive role of the state and fuelling populist ideologies.

On Thursday, September 26, Jelena Kleut will discuss “The Interplay of Uncertainties in Transitional Media Systems” at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her lecture will examine the growing uncertainties in media environments shaped by institutional failures, global platforms, and structural inequalities. Drawing from research conducted with students in the Western Balkans and local Serbian communities, Kleut will highlight how both top-down and bottom-up uncertainties shape the public’s trust in media and their ability to navigate information in an era of disinformation and crisis.

Read more about the keynote speakers’ lectures