MediAsia 20122

The International Academic Forum, in conjunction with its global partners, is pleased to announce the Third Annual Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012, to be held in Osaka, Japan, from 2-4 November 2012. The MediAsia event is a remarkable cross-cutural and interdisciplinary discussion, which encourage academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum encouraging lively but respectful dialogue. This international conference will bring together a number of university scholars working throughout Japan, Asia, and beyond to share ideas.

MediAsia 2012 will afford the opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, and networking across higher education. Academics working in Japan and Asia will be encouraged to forge working relationships with each other, as well as with colleagues from Europe and the US, facilitating partnerships across borders. We hope to see you (again) in Osaka in the fall.

Professor Gary E. Swanson Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair in Journalism The University of Northern Colorado, USA Conference Chair

Professor Tamara Swenson Osaka Women's University Local Conference Chair

Special Theme 1: Social Media Usage, Over-Usage and Addictive Patterns

Over the past decade social media has infused itself in the lives of every young person in the developed world today. The types of social media that we use are ever growing, evolving and changing. The way we communicate has also changed dramatically - moving further away from face-to-face communication in exchange for an almost-perpetual need for text messaging, checking Facebook accounts, and instant communication via smart phones. It seems we have no "down time" and have to be in contact every waking minute. Medical research clearly shows a strong correlation between media exposure and long-term negative health effects. This Theme provides us the opportunity to discuss where we've been, the positive and the negative impact of social media usage, and the opportunity to gaze into our "crystal ball" to brainstorm about where we might be headed. Special Theme 2: Globalization and Internationalization: Performance and Outlook Media organizations across the world are becoming increasingly socially, ethnically and culturally diverse, both as a consequence of globalization and in response to internationalization. What are the positive and negative effects of these processes? How can the strangely powerful and yet rhetorically ambiguous concepts of globalization and internationalization exert benign and normative influences on the media industry, and how can they be used to more detrimental and even sinister effect? Special Theme 3: Communication Ethics and the Media's Social Responsibility: Power & Responsibility in an Era of Change

"Power without responsibility" is the origin of James Curran and Jean Seaton's seminal study of the press and broadcasting the books title is a quote from the 1930s and British politician Stanley Baldwin, in perhaps the most eloquent rendering of the friction felt between those who are elected, and those who hold them accountable, but frequently remain unaccountable themselves. 80 years on and as technological innovations have created an ever-growing media net, and where the lines between users and consumers become increasingly blurred, questions of media accountability remain a constant source of discussion. This year MediAsia will continue the debate in the light of recent and ongoing developments in the Murdoch empire, as questions of journalistic practice are called into account, and their relation to accountability at every level. Added to this is the continued impact of social media on the more traditional forms, and how it has affected journalism for better and worse. Issues discussed will include events related to the fabrication of news and events, photojournalism fakery, citizen journalists, as well as covering news inside trouble areas where mainstream journalists cannot go, etc.

The Conference themes are designed to inspire invitations of submissions that approach these topics from a variety of perspectives and approaches. However, the submission of other topics for consideration is welcome and we also encourage sessions within and across a variety of disciplines and fields related to Media and Mass Communication, including:

Advertising Communication Technology and Digital Media Communication Theory and Methodology Critical and Cultural Studies, Gender and Communication Disaster Coverage in the Media Documentary Production* Film* History International Communication Journalism Research and Education Law and Policy Magazine Media Ethics Mass Communication, Society and Globalization Media, Sport and the Olympics Media Education Research Media Management and Economics Newspaper New Technologies in Event Coverage (Backpack Journalism, Cellphones, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Political Communication and Satire Public Relations Radio-TV journalism Social Media Scholastic journalism Visual Communication