[Air-L] Conference announcement

[Lynn Clark]

ECREA Preconference, Young people and news: Breaking boundaries across Europe
23rd September 2024

Free participation for ECREA members.  20€ for non-members.

Please submit abstracts (min 200 max 300 words) with title, name, affiliation, short bio and email address to youthandnews.ecreapreconf24 at gmail.com<mailto:youthandnews.ecreapreconf24 at gmail.com>

Social media has dramatically changed the ways that people of all ages encounter and engage with news. But young people in particular are drivers of the move from traditional to social media as sources for news (Newman et al., 2023). Research has found that those who follow news via social media are less likely to learn about a diverse set of general political views than those who follow traditional news media (Shehata and Stromback 2018). A lack of exposure to diverse political views reinforces ideological and affective polarization (Kubin & von Sikorski 2021). Additionally, young people are also more likely than adults to exhibit low levels of trust in the political system and in media, and earlier research has established a relationship between low levels of trust in politics and media and a heightened vulnerability to believing disinformation (Zimmermann & Kohring 2020).

Does this then make young people more susceptible to disinformation campaigns that are propagated through social media? This question is particularly relevant in contexts of Eastern and Central Europe, where Russian-backed media have amplified false claims in ways that undermine European policies, leading to heightened tensions around refugee, asylum seeking and immigrant communities throughout Europe (Zelekauskaite, 2022). How can and should these and other communities across Europe address issues of disinformation, crucially important in the ways that Europe approaches questions of citizenship and civic engagement, as today’s young adults and their patterns of news consumption and political participation are giving shape to the future.

Pre-conference website (URL): https://cicant.ulusofona.pt/activities-and-outreach/conferences/115-ecrea-conferences/1128-ecrea-audiences-preconference-2024-2

For any queries, please contact the organising committee: youthandnews.ecreapreconf24 at gmail.com<mailto:youthandnews.ecreapreconf24 at gmail.com>

The conference is endorsed by Audience and Reception Studies and Children, Youth and Media sections.