The next China Media Centre seminar will take place on Wednesday, 23 March, 2011 between 2-4pm in room E4.4 at the Harrow campus. Sam Geall, a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester, will be talking about his latest research into environmental journalism in China. The seminar will comprise an introductory lecture, followed by an open discussion. All are welcome.

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Climate-change reporting in China has increased significantly in quantity, originality and detail over the past few years, but to what extent do obstacles still exist to the publication of high-quality information about the topic? Does the Chinese media confuse or enlighten the public about the science of climate change? What are the limits on access to information for Chinese journalists reporting low-carbon issues? How do stories about climate change in China differ from reports about other environmental issues? The presentation will explore these questions and will conclude by asking what opportunities exist for international cooperation in this field.

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Beyond academia, Sam writes about Chinese affairs for a variety of international publications. His articles have been published in Foreign Policy, New Internationalist, Far Eastern Economic Review, New Humanist, Ecologist, China Rights Forum, Green Futures and openDemocracy. He is the deputy editor of the bilingual Chinese environmental website, chinadialogue.net.

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Critical journalists and social activists are contributing to public debate in China, through their investigations, commentaries and through voicing grievances and concerns that would otherwise be ignored. These provide people with new channels of representation. At the same time both critical journalists and activists remain subject to party-state surveillance, and both freedom and control appear to be increasing. The seminar will explore this puzzle: what does it mean that more issues are being discussed by increasing numbers of critical journalists and activists while party-state control remains strict?

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Elin is a post-doctoral fellow working within the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo. Further information on her project can be found at: http://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/projects/critical-journalism-in-china/index.html

ENCOUNTER SEMINAR

“Swine flu virus or news virus: How do Chinese

media work in a commercialized environment?”

Speaker:  Prof. LI Xiguang

Distinguished academic, leading journalist and radical thinker

Tsinghua University, China. Journalism and Communication Dept.

Date: Wednesday 7th April, 2010

Time: 12.30pm-2.00pm

Venue: MHW_A7.3  Harrow Campus

Tea/Coffee Provided

An opportunity to meet LI XIGUANG

• Prominent media scholar in China, first Dean of Media at Tsinghua and Dean of the International Media Institute of Xinan University of Policy & Law
• Fluent in English
• Former Research Fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and Visiting Fellow and Science Writer on the Washington Post.
• Originally a theoretical physicist, his last journalism post was Head of the Political Desk of Xin Hua News Agency.

Professor Li is also happy to discuss the handling of the Tibet issue in the media, China’s soft power and any other issues of interest to media scholars

About the Speaker:

LI XIGUANG

Distinguished academic, leading journalist and radical thinker

• Prominent media scholar in China, first Dean of Media at Tsinghua (‘China’s Cambridge’) and Dean of the International Media Institute of Xinan University of Policy & Law
• Fluent in English
• Former Research Fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and Visiting Fellow and Science Writer on the Washington Post.
• Originally a theoretical physicist, his last journalism post was Head of the Political Desk of Xin Hua News Agency.

Professor Li Xiguang’s influence upon media education and media handling in China has already been considerable, and over time is likely to be profound, as is his influence on the academic study of the media.

In China the media and journalism have been taken seriously as academic subjects since the 1920s and today the connections between media departments, media professionals and the political leadership are usually close. Tsinghua’s is in a pivotal position.

Professor Li burst onto a conservative scene with radical vim. He has pioneered the re-formation of media handlers throughout the establishment, so that they understand the value of journalism in promoting good government and civil society; he brought sensitive topics such as Aids, homosexuality and commercial influences on journalism into the public domain, insisting that journalists be able to research and write on these subjects. He has introduced the notion that journalists must be aware of human rights and spread the idea tirelessly. He has worked with international news organizations such as Bloomberg, Ogilvy and Reuters to improve knowledge and skills.

The (Tsinghua) Center for International Communications Studies (CCIS) of which Prof Li is the Director, is a high-level research centre that plays a prominent role in producing information about the Chinese media.  He is a senior professor in what has very rapidly become one of the leading Universities in this field in China.  Tsinghua is one of six universities permitted to run a doctoral programme in media, and one of only three officially recognised as having a National Key Discipline in Journalism and Communication Studies.

2010 Spring Seminar Series

How Ideas and Values Move between China and Western Societies

Speaker: Prof. Greg Philo

University of Glasgow, Research Director of Glasgow Media Group

Date: Wednesday 24^th March, 2010
Time: 2.00-4.00 pm
Venue: Lecture Theater 2  Harrow Campus

This lecture focuses on cross cultural perceptions and the processes by which ideas and values move between societies. It is based on research using focus groups, responses to questionnaires and interviews with 140 Chinese students, cultural workers and teachers. It will show how the experience of living in the UK can both alter prior expectations of the country as well as generating processes of critical reflection about the nature of both China and western societies. The participants focused on the evaluation of educational systems, the understanding of rights, law and social obligations and how these affected the current status of women. Social change does not result simply from exposure to new ideas, but cross-cultural contacts and experience can be factors in the movement away from traditional structures in that they highlight alternative ways of understanding the self in relation to others and new possibilities for social life.

Professor Greg Philo

Lecturer and Senior Lecturer (1987-92);

Reader (1992-2001)

Professor (2001-present).

Research Director, Glasgow University Media Unit (Glasgow Media Group).

Research:

Research interests are in the area of the media and cultural reception. Research in the past has centered on media presentations of industrial disputes and trade unionism, the Falklands War and Northern Ireland. Current research includes ESRC and other externally-funded research projects on political advertising, images of health and illness (including mental illness), migration and ‘race’ as well as risk and food scares.

Books

Philo, G.and Miller, D. (2001) Market Killing, Harlow: Longman

Philo, G. and Berry, M. (2004) Bad News from Israel, London: Pluto Press

Berry, M. and Philo, G. (2006) Israel and Palestine – Competing Histories, London:Pluto Press

2010 Spring Seminar Series

Title: Enhancing creativity in German and Chinese publishing houses –A comparison

Speaker: Mania Strube (University of Hamburg),

Visiting Scholar in University of Westminster

Date: Wednesday 10^th February, 2010

Time: 2.00-4.00 pm

Venue: A4-8,9    University of Westminster, Harrow Campus

Abstract:

The question of how to promote creativity is crucial for media companies all over the world. Not only the production of media products requires a constant need for creativity, also the increasing competitive pressure in the media industry makes continuous innovation necessary to achieve competitive advantages in the market (Picard, 2002). Against this background, it is surprising that there has not been developed a coherent theory of promoting creativity in the media industry. Only Küng (2004, 2008) has theoretically applied theories of creativity enhancement to the media industry at the organizational level. These works, however, do not consider cultural differences that influence the understanding and promotion of creativity (Lubart, 1999).

This presentation reports on a publication that adapts the concept of creativity enhancement to the media industry including a cross-cultural perspective. Factors of the work environment are identified that enhance creativity in different cultures. A survey is planned to test the framework on editorial staff in German and Chinese publishing houses.

Biography:

Mania Strube is a PhD student in media management from the University of Hamburg and a visiting scholar at the China Media Centre. She holds a business administration degree with a special focus on international management.

The presented publication is part of her dissertation “Internationalization strategies in the media industry – Creativity and learning in an intercultural context”. She has spent several research periods at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and will return this March for the empirical survey of the publication.

Representations of China in the UK Press

Speaker: Prof. Colin Sparks
Date: Wednesday 18th November, 2009
Time: 2.00-4.00 pm
Venue: MHW_A4-4 Harrow Campus,
University of Westminster

Abstract:

The Chinese government, together with many ordinary Chinese people, particularly students, are frequently angered by the way in which China is portrayed in the western media. This anger, however, is a response to the coverage of particular incidents and is not based on real knowledge of how China is covered on a day to day basis.

This presentation reports on a project that made a start on a more systematic study of the subject. The analysis covers the UK national press reporting of China during 2008 and presents data on the frequency and distribution of stories. It also reports a more detailed qualitative study of China in the elite and popular press, demonstrating that analyses concentrating on small-circulation up-market newspapers risk seriously misrepresenting the ways in which China is portrayed in the press. The seminar will be in English but some of the material is available in translation.

Biography:

Prof. Colin Sparks has worked with and advised the European Union, Unesco, the Open Society Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the British Council, Universities in the US, Europe and East Asia, and many other organisations, academic, official, and non-governmental. He was one of the founders of Media, Culture and Society, and he continues to play an active role as managing editor, as well as editing issues on a regular basis. He was also a founder of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. He has organised several of its colloquia, and edited themed issues of its journal Javnost/The Public.
His current research interests include the comparative study of media systems undergoing rapid change. He is particularly interested in comparing the media systems of post-communist countries with those of other societies that have moved away from different forms of dictatorship towards more democratic forms of political rule. His other major current interest is in theories of media and communication.

(more about Prof. Sparks, see http://chinamediacentre.org/about/staff/colin-sparks/ )
If you have any inquiry about CMC events,  please contact Miao Mi at m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk.

开放与控制：2008年中国的媒体与政治

• 讲座人: 尹连根 博士
• 日期: 2月9日（星期一）
• 时间: 下午4点到5点半
• 地点: Room A3.16, Harrow Campus, University of Westminster

尹连根博士目前是深圳大学传播学院副教授。他于2001年在复旦大学获得新闻传播学博士学位。之后，他在南方日报集团工作多年。他主要的研究兴趣是“媒体与社会”。

If you have any inquiry about CMC events, please contact George Dawei Guo at georgedawei@yahoo.com.cn or call 020 8357 7354.

China Media Center 2008 Autumn Term Seminars

Culture and Corruption in Contemporary China

Speaker: Dr. Katie Hill
Date: Wednesday 10 December 2008
Time: 2-3.30 pm
Venue: Room A3.16, Harrow Campus, University of Westminster

Dr. Katie Hill is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Art at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster. She is currently developing the Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture Project, a new resource base that will comprise a website, a bibliographic database, and an archive of all aspects of visual culture in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Chinese diaspora. This initiative will build on the Chinese Poster Collection at CSD (of which Dr Hill is in charge), a collection of more than 600 posters from China, 500 of which are available online.

In this seminar, Dr. Hill is hoping to raise ways of thinking about the notion of corruption in the Chinese cultural context, so she will welcome at least twenty minutes of discussion around this theme.

If you have any inquiry about CMC events, please contact George Dawei Guo at georgedawei@yahoo.com.cn or call 020 8357 7354.

CMC 2008 Autumn Term Seminars

The Transformation of Chinese Media, Ideology and System Change

Speaker: Pro. Zhengrong Hu

Date: Friday 21 November 2008

Time: 5-7 pm

Venue: Room A4.13, Harrow Campus

University of Westminster

Dr. Zhengrong Hu is a Professor in Communication and the Vice President of the Communication University of China (CUC). Prof. Hu is also the Director of the National Centre for Radio & TV Studies at CUC and the President of the Chinese Association of Communication (CAC). He is very well known in China and internationally as one of the leading scholars of media regulation. Prof. Hu was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at CAMRI from February to August 2006 and a Research Fellow at Harvard University 2005-2006.

This seminar will be given in English.

If you have any inquiry about CMC events, please contact George Dawei Guo at georgedawei@yahoo.com.cn or call 020 8357 7354.