Events & Activities: 'Studying Reality by Analysing News' An Expert Level symposium undertaken as a part of the News Event Analysis initiative of the European Social Survey (ESSi: NA4) funded by the European Commission City University London, March 31st 2009 This one day symposium was built around presentations and discussions by leading international figures from communications, media, politics and sociology fields, on methodological approaches for analyzing data retrieved from news contents. Speakers presented the approaches that they have developed and applied in their research to an informed audience. The scope of the symposium was pluralistic. It covered research from a more interpretative and qualitative background (framing) and that which applies a more quantitative coding approach, or tries to straddle the two. Overall the aim was to bring together leading scholars who have significantly advanced methods of news contents analysis, in order to stimulate a critical debate and inspire our own efforts for developing a tool to be used in conjunction with the European Social Survey. Speakers presented for between 45 minutes to 1hr, with the remainder for informed discussion. Programme: 10.30-11.00 Coffee and Welcome. 11.00 Introduction Professor Howard Tumber, Research Director, Graduate School of Journalism, City University London 11.10-11.20 'Event Analysis in the European Social Survey (ESS)' Dr Ineke Stoop, Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, Netherlands 11.20 - 12.45 'Claims-making analysis: its application for the ESS' Professor Paul Statham, EurPolCom Director, Sociology, University of Bristol Lunch 12.45-13.45pm 13.45-15.15 'Semantic network analysis: methods for extracting, representing and querying media content' Professor Jan Kleinnijenhuis and Dr Wouter van Atteveldt, Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam 15.15-15.30 Coffee and biscuits 15.30-17.00 'Framing Bias' Professor Robert Entman, Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University 3 and 4 November 2008 Expert-level conference: 'The European Public Sphere and the EU's "democratic deficit": Where are we now? Practical and policy implications to be drawn from existing research.' Economic and Social Research Council-funded project: 'EU "Constitutionalisation" and Public Claims-making over Europe' (RES-000-23-0886) Bristol Institute of Public Affairs, University of Bristol Following the recent developments of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union's democratic legitimacy is being questioned once again. Some of the pressing questions that the event will aim to address: Is it possible to still talk about a European political public sphere? Who participates? What is the role of national and local political actors, civil society organisations and EU institutions? How are public debate outcomes channelled in the EU decision-making process? What is the role of EU communicators? Do we need to rethink the concept of democracy and participation in a multi-state, multi-national polity like the European Union? The event brought together a host of leading researchers in this field, from universities across Europe, who presented their main empirical findings before outlining some prognoses and practical policy proposals. In addition, there was a special senior EU officials' panel, who presented their own reflections on this topic and specifically indicating possible ways forward. The practitioners' session was the culmination of the event. We also held a special session for PhD students researching on this field. Promising doctoral researchers from leading academic institutions in the UK approached the topic of the European public sphere from diverse theoretical and empirical angles. Details of all panelists CONSTITUTIONeventParticipants.pdf PowerPoint presentations and relevant documents are available here DominicBrett.ppt HannesHansen-Magnusson.ppt JesseOwenHearns-Branaman.ppt C.Huber_Presentation_WEB.pdf KatharinaKleinen-v.Königslöw.ppt JoannaLegg.ppt PeterLindvaldNielsen.ppt ChristophMeyer.ppt AsiminaMichailidou.ppt Statham_and_Gray_2005.pdf statham_EJC.pdf Statham_Journalism.pdf TheEUforme.pdf Leading researchers, Panel 1 (from left): Prof. Paul Statham, EurPolCom Director; Prof. Christopher Lord, ARENA, University of Oslo; Ms Claudia Huber, Humboldt University Berlin; Dr Christoph Meyer, King's College, London Leading researchers, Panel 2 (from left): Prof. Paul Statham, EurPolCom Director; Prof. Philip Schlesinger, University of Glasgow; Dr Asimina Michailidou, EurPolCom, University of Bristol; Prof. Hans-Joerg Trenz, ARENA, University of Oslo Leading researchers, Panel 3 (from left): Prof. Michelle Cini, University of Bristol; Dr Stijn Smismans, Jean Monnet Chair, University of Cardiff; Prof. Paul Statham, EurPolCom Director; Prof. Ruud Koopmans, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) Senior EU practitioners panel (from left): Mr Dominic Brett, Head of Public Diplomacy, European Commission Representation in London; Mr Patrick Costello, Deputy Head, Commissioner Margot Wallström Cabinet, European Commission; Mr Peter Lindvald-Nielsen, Head of Communications, European Economic and Social Committee 31 October-2 November, Ranji Devadason, presenting "Cosmopolitanism and belonging in North London" at the Ethnically Diverse City conference for the EU-Fellowship Programme by the FUTURES urban research in Europe network, Weimar, Germany. 1-3 September, Asimina Michailidou, "EU Institutions, the Media and Civil Society: Lost in Communication?" at the UACES 2008 conference: Rethinking the European Union, Edinburgh Europa Institute. For more information, see http://www.uaces.org/index.htm 21-25 July, Asimina Michailidou, '"Constitutionalisation" of the European public sphere- EU institutional culture, the Internet and civil society' at the IAMCR congress on Media and Global Divides 2008, University of Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, see http://www.mediaandglobaldivides.se/ 10 April, Asimina Michailidou, with Agnes Schneeberger (University of Leeds) organised the Joint JCER-UACES Specialist Study group thematic workshop "Media and Communication in Europe: Babel revisited", Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, University of Bristol. For more information, see http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~icsaih/events.htm#Call%20for%20Papers 17 March, Asimina Michailidou, "The role of the Internet in the EU's public communication strategy", European Information Association annual conference, University of Chester. Events_and_Activities_in_2007.pdf Events_and_Activities_in_2006.pdf Events and Activities in 2005 Events and Activities in 2004 Events and Activities in 2003 Events and Activities in 2002