Children’s and Young People’s Media in Africa: Evolving Markets, Producers and Audiences

The Africa Media Centre, Arab Media Centre, Media Policy Group, Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), and the University of Westminster are organising the Children's and Young People's Media in Africa conference to focus on how children and young people engage with the mass media on a continent where there is still a strong traditional culture and where media choices are often limited. According to the organisers, every year many children’s media and related initiatives emerge, but this also opens many social, cultural, and economic questions about the production and distribution of the content. Across Africa, attempts to produce media more suitable for children and young people have not always succeeded. African mass media for children and young people are seen as necessary, but also as spheres of great concern. That media for children and young people use both local and foreign formats, languages, and styles also raises many questions.

The conference will feature panel debates by invited industry practitioners, educationists, and policymakers. Some sessions will be devoted to presentation of academic research. The organisers also plan to include some screenings of prize-winning broadcast material. Papers to be presented at the conference may include, but are not necessarily limited to discussions about:

• production of mass media for children and young people in Africa;
• storytelling for children in African media;
• formats and themes adopted by African broadcasters;
• funding and its implications for media content;
• children and young people's music in African media;
• African children and young people's books and magazines; and
• interactive and other digital media and their reception by children and young people in Africa.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Papers are invited on the topic of media covering various aspects of the whole continent of Africa: north, south, east, and west, including individual countries, groups of countries, or the regions of North Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa. Interested presenters should submit a 200-word abstract, and include the title of the conference, the suggested topic, and list the author’s full name, with contact information and affiliation. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is November 5 2010 and those whose abstracts are accepted will be notified by December 5. Abstracts should be submitted to the contact details below.

Click here to download the call for papers document in PDF format.

Conference fees are:
Unwaged/students: UK£40
Waged/non-students: UK£100
Fees cover registration, conference pack, lunch, coffee/tea, and wine reception.

Contact
Helen Cohen
University of Westminster
United Kingdom (UK)
journalism@westminster.ac.uk