Media and Power Summit

The Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy will be inviting six international scholars to participate in a 2.5-day media literacy summit focused on the Balkan/Eastern European region, to be held in Minneapolis in May 2025.

The six participants will join U.S.-based communication scholars Bettina Fabos, Christopher Martin, Catherine Palczewski (all at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI); UNI Fulbright scholar-in-residence Arta Berisha, Iowa State professor of journalism Daniela Dimitrova, and JCCL Director Lori Norton-Meier for this invite-only media literacy summit.

Our conversations will focus on the Media and Power (media literacy) handbook–an open education resource available for anyone to build upon, translate, and share. The handbook breaks down into three larger modules: 

Module 1: Construction of Meaning (5 chapters: Construction of Meaning: Composition, Meaning, and Beliefs; Construction of Meaning: Semiotics; Construction of Meaning: Narrative;  Construction of Meaning: Dominant Ideology and Hegemony; Construction of Meaning: Interpretation)

Module 2: Construction of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity (3 chapters: Exploring Residual Discourse; Construction of Gender; Construction of Race and Ethnicity)

Module 3: Construction of Truth [will be completed by December 2024]. (4 chapters: Construction of Truth; History of Fake News; Institutions Promoting Fake News; Identifying and Analyzing Fake News). 

We will be discussing how to apply the concepts in Media and Power to the Balkan/Eastern European region and will be organizing discussions around media culture, representation, journalism, and disinformation.

This is an invite-only academic opportunity.