October 12-14, 2022

Örebro University, Sweden

Deadline: March 1, 2022

Welcome to the 26th Arab US Association for Communication Educators Conference (AUSACE). The conference will be hosted by and held in Örebro, Sweden between 12-14 October 2022.

The aim of this year’s conference is to explore and critique how journalism is redefining its identity and reimagining its practices against the economic, cultural, and technological challenges especially in a fake news era.

Studies show that fake news and false rumors spread six times faster on Twitter than any attempts to correct or clarify in response. Many more people are only seeing the first version of a story, not the following ones with updates, making it even more imperative that journalists get the facts right on the first go. Incidents of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have risen past their previous peak levels following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2010 Arab spring. Misinformation, hateful rhetoric and discourses about the motives, and citizenship status of these groups have all led to harassment, graffiti, and mass shootings. From fake news to the deep fake, being in a digital era expanded possibilities for fabrication and falsehood are endangering the fourth estate, especially when many people are turning their minds to the future of journalism.

Given crises in our political and cultural worlds, along with advances in multi faceted communication technologies, we must turn our attention to the future of journalism. How, in the future, are we to know the difference between truth, myth and lies? And how can our scholarship and education help? We are open to work that considers the role of journalism and journalists, as well as media and communication studies that consider professional cultures and practices, organizational and economic conditions, local and hyper local media, civic engagement and public sphere, text and content, and audiences.

We invite proposals that address this multifaceted phenomenon focusing on topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Professional identities and organizational cultures

2. Local and hyper-local media

3. Social and civil functions of local journalism and impact on the public sphere

4. Participatory/citizen journalism, community media

5. Audience

6. Emerging trends in digital storytelling, immersive journalism, data visualization

7. New forms of journalism activism including but not limited to migrant journalism, political activism, etc.

8. How the public and journalists contribute to, perceive, and deal with misinformation, disinformation, and fake new

Successful abstracts will be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue proposal to be submitted to Nordic Journal of Media Studies and Cultural.

Working language for the conference is both Arabic and English.

Please send abstracts to Ahmed El Gody: ahmed.elgody@oru.se

For further inquiries regarding AUSACE, contact the President, Dr. Yousef Alfailakawi: yalfailakawi@yahoo.com

Key dates:

• Abstract of 250-500 words maximum submission is March 01, 2022.
• Authors notified of acceptance: April 04, 2022
• Full papers due: August 22, 2022

Please send abstracts to: Ahmed El Gody

For inquiries regarding AUSACE, contact the President,

Dr. Yousef Alfailakawi Yousef Alfaiakawi