Provincial Newspapers: Lessons from History
to be held at the Journalism Department,
Liverpool John Moores University on September 8, 2017.
Closing date for proposals: 1 June 2017
Papers are invited for a one-day conference on the theme of provincial, regional and local newspapers. The conference is being jointly organized by media historians from Coventry University and Liverpool John Moores University at a time when newsprint journalism has moved from the intensive care ward and obituaries are being pondered and some written. Yet local and regional journalism has been challenged before and emerged altered if not unscathed. This event will bring industry representatives and academics together to take a retrospective look at the current conundrum faced by the regional local newspaper industry in an effort to extrapolate lessons for the future.
We welcome paper proposals from all eras and nationalities, shedding new light on longstanding or recent media historical topics. We anticipate sessions of 90 minutes (20 minutes per paper plus 30 minutes of questions /discussion). It is expected that suitable papers will be developed into chapters for an edited volume on this subject for Routledge.
Themes to explore might include (but are not limited to):
- The future of the local press and local newspaper businesses
- Newspapers and regional identity
- The role of local newspapers in their communities
- Political and judicial accountability
- Economic models
- Trans-regional collaboration
- Media as political and social discourse
- Advertising
- Production and reception histories
The event is organized by Dr. Guy Hodgson, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at LJMU, and Dr. Rachel Matthews, Principal Lecturer in Journalism, Coventry University. In order to encourage a wide range of papers, there will be no conference fee and lunch will be provided.
Please include an abstract of no more than 300 words and a cover sheet with a brief biographical note, your institutional affiliation (where relevant) and your contact details (including your email address). Abstracts should be sent to r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk <mailto:r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk>
Closing date for proposals: 1 June 2017.
You will be notified of the acceptance of your paper by 15 June 2017.
More details can be found at: https://historyoftheprovincialpress.wordpress.com.