JEANZ-JERAA Joint Conference 2026 Call for Papers
Theme: Hall of Mirrors: the Journalist in Public Life
Host:
Auckland University of Technology | Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makaurau | Aotearoa New Zealand
Conference organiser: Greg Treadwell gregory.treadwell@aut.ac.nz
Dates:
Main Conference: November 24-26 2026
Hall of Mirrors: the Journalist in Public Life
In a world of artifice and influence, how will public-interest journalism keep its feet?
The breakneck rise of AI and the spread of influence culture raises questions about how journalistic identity will endure in an algorithmically curated public sphere. The powerful are bypassing journalists for sympathetic YouTubers, and newsrooms are themselves now exploring personality led news. Is journalism complicit in its own identity theft and whose interests will the new journalism(s) serve? What happens to the public consent on which journalism relies when audiences are moulded by platform imperatives and newsfeeds are hyper-personalised by AI? Journalism educators must find pedagogical responses to these existential uncertainties, while journalism scholars can offer reassurance where possible and resistance where not. Thus we ask researchers to consider the paths our communicative democracies are on and to reimagine journalism’s norms, limits and civic responsibilities in light of the times just ahead. We invite abstracts of 250 words exploring a range of integrated themes and related issues not limited to those listed below.
Platform democracy
- Algorithms & elections
- Fake news &
- disinformation
- AI, search & news
- Copyright & news
- bargaining codes
News & its identity crisis
- Journalism, identity & public reason
- News influencers & creator-journalists
- Influence & trust in news
- Journalism research & identity
Media, power & ownership
- AI ownership & impacts on
- news
- Media consolidation &
- takeovers
- Media law & ethics today
- Public media trends
- New community journalisms
Inclusive journalism
- AI & cultural bias
- Indigenous public spheres
- Talanoa & Pasifika
- Activism & journalism
Authoritarianism & journalism
- Scrutiny and legitimising power
- Open society & the automation of influence
- Citizen journalism & bearing witness today
- Journalism, education & resistance
Teaching tactics
- Journalism’s identity in the classroom today
- Teaching inclusive journalism
- Decolonising journalism education
- Trauma-journalism & education
DUE DATE: Please send your abstract (maximum 200 words) by July 31, 2026 to the conference convenor Greg Treadwell: gregory.treadwell@aut.ac.nz
Please include your name, your place of work and a bio of no more than 60 words.
Abstracts will be blind peer-reviewed and submitters will be notified of the outcome as soon as practicable.
The final decision on inclusion of a presentation at the conference rests with the conference committee.