Academic Freedom

At the Palace of Westminster this evening, for a spiked debate on 'Academic Freedom in Illiberal Times'.

UPDATE: there's a write up of the debate in this week's Times Higher.

UPDATE 2: you can listen to an audio recording of the debate here (I make a brief appearance asking a question at about 56:50).

Battle of Ideas

At the Battle of Ideas this weekend -- this session was on 'Leveson One Year On', with (from left to right) Tim Luckhurst, Patrick Hayes, Viv Regan, George Brock and Roger Graef.

A Right to Offend

11am, Monday 21 October
Room B360
London South Bank University
Borough Road Building
103 Borough Road
London SE1

'Without the right to offend, free speech is a meaningless concept', argues Professor Brian Winston.

In recent years there have been a series of events -- from the Satanic Verses fatwa to the 'Hackgate' scandal -- that have brought into question the concept and practice of free expression. 

A Right to Offend provides an account of the current state of freedom of expression in the Western world, offering a deeper understanding of the increasingly threatening environment in which free speech operates and is defended, as well as how it informs and is central to journalism practice and media freedom more generally.

Brian Winston is Professor of Communications and holder of the Lincoln Chair at the University of Lincoln. A prize-winning documentary-maker, he was the founding chair of the British Association of Film, Television and Media Studies, and the founding director of the Glasgow University Media Group. Brian is a former governor of the BFI, and sits on the editorial board of the British Journalism Review. His numerous books focus mainly on documentary film, media technology, and freedom of expression.

This event is free and open to all, but booking is essential: please email cmcr@lsbu.ac.uk if you'd like to come.

Melancholia: Imaging the End of the World

Just back from this very interesting conference.  My paper, with Hugh Ortega Breton, was on 'The Eco Apocalypse'.

The Politics of War Reporting: A Critical Symposium

The November 2012 launch of Tim Markham's book The Politics of War Reporting.  I'm at about 28 minutes in.

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Press

... And We Need One More Than Ever


Mick Hume

1pm, Wednesday 28 November

Centre for Media & Culture Research
London South Bank University
Room K305, Keyworth Building
Keyworth Street SE1

Are today’s media too free?  Do we need a new system of regulation and control to tame the tabloids? With the Leveson Inquiry into the ‘culture, practices and ethics’ of the press due to report this month, Mick Hume questions many of the assumptions underlying the current discussion of media freedom.

Mick Hume is editor-at-large of the online magazine spiked.  Formerly a columnist for The Times and editor of LM magazine (which he launched, originally as Living Marxism, in 1988) until it was forced to close in 2000 following a libel suit, Hume is also the author of Whose War Is It Anyway? (1997) and Televictims (1998).

His latest book, There Is No Such Thing As A Free Press ... And We Need One More Than Ever has been described as ‘splendidly non-conformist’ (The Guardian), ‘a rousing defence of free speech’ (The Sun), and ‘a masterclass in the writing of polemic’ (The Times) – and also as ‘shameless anti-Leveson propaganda’ (by Professor Brian Cathcart, co-founder of the Hacked Off campaign).

Join us for what promises to be a lively debate on the future of journalism post-Leveson.  This event is free and open to all, but registration is required: please email cmcr@lsbu.ac.uk if you’d like to come.

The Politics of War Reporting

I'm a panellist this evening at a critical symposium to mark the launch of Tim Markham’s excellent new book, The Politics of War Reporting: Authority, authenticity and morality.

Further details of the launch, at Birkbeck at 6pm are here.

The New Culture Wars

One of the highlights of this year's Battle of Ideas festival was this session on 'The New Culture Wars', with (left to right) John Waters, Wendy Kaminer, Claire Fox, Frank Furedi and John Haldane.

Caught in the Frame

Caught in the Frame:
Frame Analysis as Contemporary Media Scholarship

I'm speaking today at this conference, organized by the BSA Media Study Group and the News and Journalism Research Group, at the University of Leicester.

My paper is on ‘“Ethnic Conflict” and “Genocide”: A Case Study of Competing Frames’

Don’t Panic! The Apocalypse in Theory and Culture

Speaking at Skepsi’s Fifth Annual Interdisciplinary Conference, Don’t Panic! The Apocalypse in Theory and Culture today, giving a joint paper with Hugh Ortega Breton on 'Loss, Alienation and the Desire for Annihilation: Phantasies in the Politics of the Eco-Apocalypse.

Beyond Representation: Photography, Humans & Computers

Registration is now open for this international conference, to be held on 24—25 May 2012 at the Centre for Media & Culture Research, London South Bank University, in association with the journal Philosophy of Photography.

Early Bird Rate : £150/£75 concessions
(available until 31 March 2012)

Download the booking form (Word)

There is a pressing need to reframe photographic theory to account for the radical reorientation of image production brought about by computer networks. In a world where air-conditioned server-farms create the real landscape, and where reality is augmented on screens, what do these organizational systems tell us about the ways images operate in network ecologies? As images circulate in the network, acquiring new contexts at each instance, how are we to approach the ontologies of the digital image?

Find out more about the conference...

MeCCSA 2012

Speaking at the annual MeCCSA conference today: a joint paper with Hugh Ortega Breton, on ‘The Emotional Engagements of Environmental Television and Film’.

Rebellious Media

I'm speaking at this conference at the weekend, at a session titled 'Out of the Ivory Tower: Making Academic Research Relevant to Journalists and Activists'.

New Media, Image War and the War on Terror

I'm on my way to Swansea University, where I'm speaking at this conference tomorrow. My paper's on ‘Image War: Causes, Conduct and Consequences’

An indictment of the anti-war movement

When he was the UK foreign secretary, the late Robin Cook famously said of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it was ‘not a court set up to bring to book prime ministers of the United Kingdom or presidents of the United States’. Yet, as former British prime minister Tony Blair finds whenever he makes a public appearance these days, it is now quite the fashion to call for Western leaders to be indicted for war crimes by the ICC.

My Battle in Print is republished on spiked today — read it here.

Crimes against humanity and international law: justice without borders?

I’m convening this debate at the Battle of Ideas festival on international war crimes trials on 31 October.

My article on the topic has been published today as a Battle in Print: 'War should be a political issue, not a legal one'.

See the full conference programme here.

Screens of Terror

I'm chairing this conference on representations of war and terrorism since 9/11 in film, TV drama & documentary.

It starts tomorrow evening with a screening of the documentary Reel Bad Arabs and a Q&A with Dr Jack Shaheen, on whose work the film is based.

See the full programme here.

Porto

Just back from Portugal, where I was speaking at a conference on 'Selling Politics and War'.

Swansea

At Swansea University yesterday, giving a paper on 'Celebrity culture and the rise of narcissistic interventionism'.

Whitechapel

I'm at the Whitechapel gallery today for a panel discussion about the work of Bob Johnson, titled 'The Cure for Violence – an end to War?' and chaired by Frank Boulton of MEDACT.