SMID – Sammenslutningen af medieforskere i Danmark

September 9, 2008, 10-17, KUA

Speaker: Brian McNair, professor, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

Cultural chaos and the European communicative space – between nation
and globalisation

In this presentation Brian McNair will explore the implications of  current trends in communication and culture for the construction and maintenance of a European public sphere. As boundaries traditionally separating the public spheres of nation states dissolve under the
influence of transnational and global communication media, what kind of common communicative space is emerging at the European level, and
how does it interface with national public spheres on the one hand,  and globalised information flows on the other?? As the Lisbon treaty is rejected by the voters of Ireland , can we identify gaps in  European political communication which make Europe-wide consensus and
progress on economic, political and cultural union more difficult to  achieve? What role are the media playing in the ‘democratic deficit’  often said to characterise the European project? Why, when there is so much information in circulation across Europe, is there so little
coverage and public understanding of a topic such as the Lisbon treaty, and the wider reform agenda in general? The lecture will develop arguments set out in Cultural Chaos (2006), updating and incorporating subsequent events, in particular attempts to introduce the Lisbon treaty.

Brian McNair is Professor of Journalism and Communication at the University of Strathclyde . He is the author of many books and articles on media and democracy, including Journalism and Democracy (2000) and Cultural Chaos. Journalism, News and Power in a Globalised world (2006).

See full programme: http://medec.ku.dk/cecilie/medek_seminar/9.9.program

The European integration is one of the most important transnational processes in the overall process of globalisation and the most important factor in the post war development of the national welfare societies and democracies in Europe. The EU-project is by now not just an economic project, but has far reaching implications also for the social, political and cultural dimensions of the nation states of Europe. MEDEC is covering two local research priorities with the objective to contribute to knowledge about the interaction between the political agendas of the EU and the social and cultural dimensions related to the European integration. The research perspective is interdisciplinary and transnational and consists of a network of scholars from political science, law, sociology, anthropology, history, language, cultural studies and media studies.

Read more: http://medec.ku.dk/