The Media School

Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward

10 June 2010

The media's role in conflict situations is the subject of a free research symposium to be hosted by BU's Centre for Journalism and Communication Research in Bournemouth on Friday, 2 July.

This symposium 'Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward' will provide an opportunity for academics, researchers, journalists, bloggers and other interested parties to discuss and reflect on improving conflict reportage, specifically relating it to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A number of questions for the symposium debate include:

How can war and conflict reporting be improved?
What can the analysis of the reporting of past conflicts tell us about future ones?
What role should 'peace journalism' have in the future media landscape?
In what ways does the training of journalists need to change?
How are citizen journalists challenging traditional practices of war reporting?
What are the ethical issues posed by social media, such as Twitter?
How might media professionals and academics help government, military and NGO institutions redefine the priorities of war reporting?

"The last decade has seen a considerable commitment of scholarly and journalistic resources to consider the media-conflict relation, which has produced a substantial body of academic research and reflections on professional practice in times of conflict," said Dr Chindu Sreedharan, Lecturer in the University's Centre for Journalism and Communication Research.

"There appears to be a consensus that a different mode of journalism is needed," Dr Sreedharan continued, "but opinion is divided on how best to go about achieving it. This symposium - Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward -aims to facilitate a debate into this question: how can conflict reportage be improved?"

Where: Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road, Lansdowne Campus BH8 8EB
When: Friday, 2 July, 2010

Further information: This event is free, including lunch and beverages, and open to all though pre-registration is requested in advance by emailing Dr Chindu Sreedharan at csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk.