How does meaning generated in Chinese media contexts travels abroad?

In collaboration with BCCDS (Brussels Center for Chinese Discourse Studies), BCJS organised a roundtable with a focus on the variation potential of meaning in the interpretation process at large settings, such as international press conferences. The roundtable on the 30th of November 2023 was preceded by a keynote speech by prof. Rui Zhang (Dalian Univ. of Technology, Dalian, PRC), who showed the audience several examples of the various processes operating in the changes of meaning in the specific context of the international press conferences given by the Chinese Premier at the end of the annual Two Sessions. Information was given on the rationale of the institutionalization of the press conferences and what happens prior to the conferences (in the backstage) and who features in the front stage of these high-level political events.

During the roundtable, led by BCJS member Lut Lams, more background about the reasons for these press conferences was provided by the other panelists of the roundtable, prof. Bettina Mottura (Univ. of Milan) and Prof. Emma Lupano (Univ. of Cagliari).  The audience learned about the way China has been keen on ‘telling the China stories well’ and how these stories find their way to the international communities, through translations and international correspondents. Special attention was given to how some key phrases in the Chinese political language get transformed to make better sense to foreign audiences, in particular to the Italian readership or viewers/listeners to Italian news media.  The keynote speech and roundtable discussion was interpreted simultaneously by our faculty’s students of interpretation, for whom the event did not only offer a good opportunity to practise but was also highly relevant in showing the power of mediated language.   

Shaping a fair narrative on migration through media and policy

An interactive workshop exploring narrative influence on migration perceptions took place on the 7^th of November 2023 at KU Leuven Campus Brussels. This special event, organized by KU Leuven and the Brussels Center for Journalism studies is part of the H2020 OPPORTUNITIES research project. The event focused on insights from research teams in humanities and social sciences, aiming at an equitable dialogue about migration.

AI & Journalism: opportunities and challenges

Dr. Hannes Cools talked about the use of generative artificial intelligence in news rooms. Next to opportunities, technological innovations come along with challenges and ask for deep reflection among as well users as professional creators. Dr. Cools emphasized the metaphor of the iceberg: many important elements remain unseen from the surface but ask for a deeper dive in order to grasp a more complete overview of changes. (26 October 2023)

Analyzing subjectivity in news discourse with linguistics and deep learning

Researcher Louis Escouflaire and professor Antonin Descamps of the Observatory for Research on Media and Journalism (ORM) of UC Louvain and the Louvain School of Journalism (EjL) gave an inspiring talk about language models, deep learning and what we can learn from analysing subjectivity in news discourse. (BCJS online seminar 12 October 2023)

China’s Global Media Narrative and its Engagement with Hong Kong

On 12 December, the Brussels Center for Journalism Studies and the Brussels Center for Chinese Discourse Studies joined hands in welcoming a diverse audience of graduate students, PhD students, academics, journalists and diplomats for the international seminar on China’s Global Media Narrative and its Engagement with Hong Kong. The event gave a forum to three international speakers and Gie Goris, chief editor of the Flemish Mo*magazine as interviewer and moderator of the ensuing panel discussion. Lutgard Lams of BCJS introduced the double focus of the seminar –China’s global media narrative  and China/Hong Kong relationship– and described the interrelatedness of both themes by sketching some political contours, within which the topics of the three presentations found common ground. She also made the link to the ongoing street protests in Hong Kong and shared some fieldwork visuals from Taiwan, demonstrating great solidarity of Taiwan students with the Hong Kong protesters. This way, each talk was contextualized within a larger geopolitical narrative with China as the protagonist in its search for international discourse power. In recent years, even as journalism in China has faced an unprecedented level of control, Xi Jinping has urged state media to be more active in the advancing what he calls “China’s story” globally.

In the first speech, “Deciphering China’s Global Media Narrative”, media expert David Bandurski from the China Media Project, University of Hong Kong, reviewed major changes to the information and propaganda space in China and the shaping of its global narrative. He explained why these changes are relevant not only for the immediate neighbors in the Pacific region, but also for global society. During his discussion about China’s engagement with Hong Kong, he drew the attention to cultural friction and misunderstandings between Chinese PLA forces and some local Hong Kong citizens with the aid of video footage.

In the next talk, “Hong Kong, How Did we Get There?”, Eric Florence, Professor at the University of Liège, delved into the political and socio-economic background that led to the current waves of protest in Hong Kong, focusing on the period between the 2014 “Occupy Central with love and peace movement” and the “Umbrella Movement”. This was followed by an excellent speech, entitled “Journalism from background to Spotlight – in Midst of Hong Kong Protests” by Ida Leung, M.A. student KU Leuven and holder of a B.A. in Political Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She shed some light on the relationship between Hong Kong society and the local media professionals and zoomed in on the dilemmas facing journalists reporting on the Hong Kong protests.

Each talk was followed by a brief question and answer session, led by Gie Goris, who also took up the role of moderator of the final panel discussion. This offered the audience valuable insights into the complexities of Chinese politics and media operations and some first-hand information on Hong Kong affairs. This event was interpreted simultaneously from English into Dutch in collaboration with the Master of Interpretation. Much gratitude to the team of students and their coordinator for this wonderful service!

China’s Global Media Narrative and its Engagement with Hong Kong

· Date: 12 December 18:30 – 20:30

· Venue: KU Leuven Campus Brussels, Hermes 3, room 6303

 free entrance

• • 18:30: Welcome: Lieven Buysse (KU Leuven)
  • 18:40: Introduction: Lut Lams (KU Leuven)
  • 18:50: Keynote speech: David Bandurski (University of Hong Kong)
  • 19:15: Eric Florence (University of Liège)
  • 19:30: Ida Leung (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
  • 19:45: Panel discussion with Gie Goris (MO* Magazine)

Prof de Smaele @International Media Readings in Moscow

On 17 and 18 October, the 11th International Media Readings in Moscow took place. In the special section devoted to fifteen years of the Comparing Media Systems book (Hallin & Mancini, 2004), Hedwig de Smaele shared the floor with Paolo Mancini and Elena Vartanova. In her paper she argued in favor of an increased attention to culture in studying media systems and institutions. Cultural values and orientations are underlying both the media, political and societal system in general and help us to understand why things are as they are.

International Taiwan Seminar

Lut Lams (BCJS) gave a talk at the International Taiwan Seminar in the framework of the Taiwanese Studies Chair and the Metaforum Lecture Series, Faculty of social Sciences, KU Leuven. Her discussion of the media ecology and performance in Taiwan started with a historical overview of the role of the media in shaping Taiwan domestic politics, from the authoritarian era of the one-party KMT rule, over the political transformation and the democratization period to present-day Taiwan.

In the second part of the talk, she discussed media reform measures since the democratization of the early 1990s and also pointed out some areas of concern about media performance since 2008. The audience was offered a comprehensive picture of the Taiwanese media landscape in its various facets, both from a historical and contemporary perspective, looking at developments on the domestic and the regional level, including the enhanced dynamic interaction with China.

Succesful international seminar on Indian media and politics @ BCJS

On the 26th of March, the Brussels Center for Journalism Studies, Metaforum and the Faculty of Social Sciences of KU Leuven organized a well-attended international seminar on the role of media in the upcoming Indian federal elections of April and May 2019. A diverse audience of students, academics, journalists and activists attended the seminar at our Brussels campus, where 5 speakers highlighted various aspects of the relationship between media and politics.

Vibodh Parthasarathi, resident fellow Metaforum, explained how the political ownership of media is deeply ingrained in Indian society. He focused on the limits this poses to the diversity of opinions and views in the Indian democracy. Clea Chakraverty, journalist at The Conversation, spoke about French journalists and correspondents reporting Indian elections, and their lack of knowledge and means to create longer in-depth stories. Floris Van Straaten, journalist at NRC Handelsblad, highlighted the subtle manners in which Indian governments try to exercise a certain degree of control on foreign journalists. Britta Ohm, visiting fellow at IIS Leiden, talked about the social media policy of P.M. Modi and its limits. Finally, Chris Verschooten of BCJS, focused on Indian female reporters, and how they develop their own strategies and networks to cover the elections.

 

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The audience showed their interest by asking a lot of questions, which lead to an interesting exchange of ideas. To conclude with one of the participants’ appreciation: ‘ It was even more interesting than I had anticipated, well attended, with first-hand information from both journalists and academics’.