The 10th Annual Colloquium will address a series of themes around the general title of “The Future of Journalism”. The aim of the meeting is to discuss recent scholarly developments in the study of journalism and the media, particularly with regard to the representation of a diversity of opinion. In both the newly emerging democracies of East-Central Europe and in the advanced capitalist countries, there is considerable discussion as to the kinds of media which best assist in the formation of a public sphere. In recent years, the Euricom colloquia have been concerned mostly with the political and economic structures of different media systems. These, while important, are only part of the problem of establishing a democratic media. For this colloquium, it is proposed to shift the focus to the working situations of journalists and the kinds of material they produce.

The organisers therefore invite proposals for papers in this general field from interested scholars. We would suggest the following themes as important areas to address, but would not wish to exclude interesting papers which addressed other issues:

1. Journalism as a work situation Government and journalism: varieties of dependence, varieties of independence. Media owners, editors and journalists: different patterns of ownership and control. Public relations and Journalism. Journalists and their sources: bargaining over the definitions of the news.
2. Journalists as a social group Diversity amongst journalists: recent changes to the occupational structure. Professionalization: objective and subjective factors in determing the status of journalists. Ethical frameworks for journalism: differing conceptions of the role of journalism and different ethical frameworks.
3. Diversity in media output Representing diversity: media structures and media output. Measuring diversity: methods of determing the output of the media and its degree of diversity.