‘Forward’ is about imagining and preparing for the future and then proceeding to face the challenges and possibilities ahead.

For contemporary journalism, it implies critically anticipating and dealing with the consequences of seemingly endless waves of technological disruption.

This year, the news industry - practitioners, educators, researchers and consumers - are experiencing the impacts of Artificial Intelligence, the defunding of news on digital platforms, copyright battles, further downsizing of media businesses and the belligerence of big tech, and all in the context of looming elections and global conflict.

The 2024 JERAA conference will offer space to consider these pressing social and technological issues, as well as our role as educators and researchers in working to future-proof the industry, craft and discipline of journalism.

Keynotes:

Mark Deuze
Deuze, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam, will examine the association between work-related psychosocial risk factors and stress-related mental disorders, and the factors that lead to people becoming sick from pressures, stressors, and other potentially problematic aspects that are characteristic of media work. His keynote leads a joint JERAA-AANZCA conferences' panel on Well-being in media and creative careers: What makes you happy can also make you sick. This panel explores factors in media careers that affect the well-being of media professionals—including online or offline threats, bullying, physical and sexual harassment, mental health issues and cultural safety—and some ways that current practitioners and students seeking future careers in media industries can take action to reduce or mitigate key risks.

Jennifer Stromer-Galley
Stromer-Galley is a New-York-based academic and expert in political communication who will discuss 'What Just Happened? Journalism and the US Election'. In an informal Q&A-style discussion, the author of Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age and Syracuse University professor will share her perspective on the role journalism and social media played in steering the result of this year's US election. Stromer-Galley has published over 75 journal articles and received more than $15 million in research grants. Her aim is to enhance transparency in campaign messaging and develop techniques and tools to support reasoning and decision-making.

Gerard Ryle
Ryle is an investigative journalist who will discuss Collaborative Journalism as a way to fight disruption in a Q&A-style conference discussion. He is the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy-award winning director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington, DC, and led worldwide teams of journalists who worked on the Offshore Leaks, Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, FinCEN Files, and Pandora Papers investigations – the six biggest collaborations in journalism history.

Bridget Brennan
Brennan is an award-winning ABC journalist who will present on critical topics including reporting on Indigenous affairs and violence against women. Brennan has been a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for more than a decade. A Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta woman, she is a newsreader and presenter at News Breakfast, and recently the Indigenous Affairs Editor at ABC. Together with Brooke Fryer, Suzanne Dredge and Stephanie Zillman, she won the 2023 Melbourne Press Club Gold Quill for their Four Corners investigation “How Many More?” which shone a light on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Casey Mock
Mock, a US researcher and Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer at the Center for Humane Technology, will deliver his keynote: 'From Papyrus to the Printing Press to GPT: Safeguarding Truth Amid Technological Change' at the 2024 JERAA Conference. Mock was previously an advisor to Minnesota governor Tim Walz, who was the 2024 US Democrats' candidate for US Vice President. His address will consider how AI disturbs coverage of this year’s US Presidential Election, and discuss latest CHT research that explores how misinformation/disinformation harms people’s right to freedom of speech, and freedom to think, and what journalists can do to constructively respond.

Dorothy Wickham
Wickham is a highly experienced Solomon Islands journalist, media and communications specialist with an in-depth understanding of Pacific politics, culture and effective communication practices. Based in Honiara, she was a long-standing host of the RAMSI (Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands 2003-2017) national radio talkback program, Talking Truth; managing editor of One News Television; and founding editor of social media site, Melanesian News Network. In her keynote – ‘Beyond geopolitics: Challenges for Pacific journalists in meeting “western” media expectations’ – Wickham will frame geopolitical shifts as a significant issue for journalists and editors in the Pacific region, and consider digital disruption in a context of changing education levels and population ratios with implications for who is reading or tuning in to mainstream media.
Photo credit: Cchange Solomon Islands.

The Centre for Advancing Journalism warmly invites you to the JERAA conference on the campus of the University of Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung People during the last week of November 2024.

The JERAA Early Career Researchers Day will be held on Tuesday 26 November, followed by the main conference between Wednesday and Friday 27-29 November. PhD students are also welcome.

On Wednesday 27 November we will hold a joint session with the annual AANZCA (Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association) conference. This rare occasion will be an opportunity to network with colleagues and discuss issues that are critical to both associations. We will also host AANZCA for a joint celebration to mark the end of their conference and the beginning of ours.

Tickets:

Early Bird tickets close on 1 October
Regular tickets are available until 20 November

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION (up to 1 October)

JERAA member concession (students, part-time, retired): $390.00
Non-member concession (students, part-time, retired): $440.00
JERAA member (employed full time): $540.00
Non-member (employed full time): $590.00

REGISTRATION (from 2 October - 20 November)

JERAA member concession (students, part-time, retired): $440.00
Non-member concession (students, part-time, retired): $490.00
JERAA member (employed full time): $590.00
Non-member (employed full time): $640.00

OTHER

ECR-HDR Day (26 November 2024): $20.00
Dinner (3 courses including canapes) with drinks: $135.00
Dinner (3 courses including canapes) with soft drinks only: $115.00

We are hosting a welcome event on Wednesday 27 November and the conference dinner is on Thursday 28 November.

To join JERAA and receive membership benefits, including discounted conference pricing, please click here.

We encourage AANZCA members to stay on and participate at JERAA, which promises to be stimulating experience as we think about journalism practice and theory within the landscape of communication today, and moving forward.

For those intending to do so, we offer a 15% discount on the conference price (Use AANZCA15 at registration check-out)

For more information, please contact:

Main conference email: jeraa-2024@unimelb.edu.au
Andrew Dodd
Caroline James-Garrod
Silvia Montana Nino
Sami Shah
Louisa Lim

JERAA 2024 is supported by the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication, Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative, Centre for Advancing Journalism, Everymind/Mindframe and Our Watch.

Please note:
The University of Melbourne collect your personal information to manage your registration and to contact you regarding this event. Your information may also be used by the University for analysis, quality assurance and planning purposes. For further information please visit the University of Melbourne’s website.