“Journalism in 2023: Creativity, Profession, Industry” Conference held on February 5-6

09.02.2024

The annual conference of the Faculty of Journalism featured 28 thematic sessions, 17 round table meetings, 2 Readings and a meeting of Educational-Methodical Council. The program was built to provide a wide-ranging discussion to cut across the whole gamut of research issues, from fundamentals to advanced applications.

Faculty’s annual conference “Journalism in 2023: Creativity, Profession, Industry”, this year held jointly with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of Saint Petersburg State University, was conducted on February 5-6.

On February 5, the recently reopened main auditorium of the Faculty of Journalism hosted a thought-provoking plenary session, having brought together scholars and practitioners that contribute substantially to shaping Russian media industry. Deans of two major Russian journalism institutions, Professor Elena Vartanova from Lomonosov Moscow State University and Professor Anatoly Puyu from Saint Petersburg State University pondered the perspectives to realign journalism education with the problems faced by the industry and research today. Leaning heavily on their practical expertise, heads of two large media holdings, Ruslan Novikov and Mikhail Vyugin provided a succinct assessment of market shifts and production challenges.

The agenda for day one included two full rounds of sessions with 15 thematic seminars and four round tables, followed by yet another round table to top off the day. Some of the events were brought together jointly with our partners, such as Yandex and the Association of Lawyers of Russia. The program was built to provide a wide-ranging discussion on strategic communication, digital media market, international media in the times of change, media conflictology and risk journalism, journalism ethics and psychology, and so much more. Thus, the ambitious discussion aimed to cut across the whole gamut of research issues, from fundamentals to advanced applications.

The second day of the conference was even more action-packed, with 12 round tables, 13 thematic sessions, 2 Readings and Educational-Methodical Council meeting comprising a dazzling array of research ideas and data. While also including a variety of recurring trending themes, such as social journalism, scholarly communication, social media agenda and many more, on February 6 the program tilted more towards the issues of literature and culture.

A series of thematic sessions on both foreign and Russian literature gave way to captivating discussions around the works of the renowned masters and how they impacted journalism on the one hand, and reflected social phenomena on the other. Another weighty part of scholarly meetings explored the interplay between media and entertainment industry, probing into creative communication with museums, gaming sector research, as well as philosophical and artistic projects in media. Yet, some thematic clusters went on beyond the cultural agenda to include an extensive series of seminars on the digital media practices, with AI and algorithms being one of the central tenants of such discussions. A series of meetings on the transformations of both oral and written media speech, multiple round tables at the intersection of media and legislature, as well as two Readings events in honour of the beloved professors from the Department of Advertisement and PR further expanded the thematic palette of the second day’s program.

As the conference came to a close, we would like to thank everyone for being part of this auspicious academic endeavour that geared us up with some food for thought for the year ahead!

Photos: Yulia Litsova, Aslan Gulmamedov