*Please note that the extended deadline for the following CFP is Friday, April 21. Guidelines for pre-constituted panels and roundtable discussions are now below the conference page: **http://cmc-centre.com/con**feren* *ces/nyc2017/* <http://cmc-centre.com/conferences/nyc2017/>*. * *Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS)5th International Conference* *Bridging Gaps: Where is the Critic in Television Journalism?* *CUNY Graduate School of Journalism* *New York City, USA* *August 31 – September 1, 2017* *Keynote Speakers*: *Andrew Mendelson* Associate Dean & Professor, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (New York City, USA) *Everyone’s a critic: The role of the media scholar in in the age of instant and pervasive commenting* In an era, of Twitter, Medium, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms, everyone can and does comment in real-time about everything they are reading, watching and hearing. Our social media feeds flow with observations, both banal and insightful, mild and snarky, measured at thousands of observations per minute. The effect is multiplied by reposts, retweets and shares, to the point that it is impossible to keep up. So, where in this avalanche of annotation do media scholars fit? Does their expertise matter when everyone feels they are media literate? *More*: *http://cmc-centre.com/keynotes/andrew-mendelson/ <http://cmc-centre.com/keynotes/andrew-mendelson/>* *P. David Marshall * Professor and Personal Chair, DEAKIN University (Melbourne, Australia) *Pandemic Mediatized Identity: Professional Personas as Public Intellectuals in the social media and “presentational media” era* One of the most major transformations in contemporary culture is the mediatization of the self. Across an array of social media platforms – from Twitter and Facebook to Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pinterest and YouTube (and this list could be extended to games use and even fitness sharing) – we have had a proliferation of ways and means to present oneself publicly. This pandemic change is having repercussions across the social (Marshall, 2016), political (Marshall and Henderson, 2016) and cultural world (Marshall, 2015b) as a *presentational media and cultural regime* continues to be on ascendance. This new regime is replacing what I have called the *representational media and cultural regime* – which identifies the incomplete breakdown and transformation of what could be described as legacy media. *More*: http://cmc-centre.com/keynotes/davidmarshall2017/ *Tim Harper*Journalist & Visiting Professor, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism *Thoughtful Branding for Your Thinking: Writing and Publishing Op-Eds and Essays on Celebrities in the Media* This 4-hour workshop will include 2-hours of discussion, exercises, and both small-group and full-workshop discussions. Participants should leave with one or more action plans for essays they can write, and how they can publish those essays. *More*: http://cmc-centre.com/workshops/nyc2017/ *CALL FOR PAPERS* In broadcast journalism, the notion of the ‘TV academic’ is rare but important with the origins related to the Fourth Estate’s veritable position as critical government watchdogs. Similar in nature to questions on conflating the journalist with celebrity in popular discourse are those surrounding the academic and celebrity. In his case, Birmingham City University professor and broadcaster David Wilson discovered, “The greatest tension is the growing perception by some members of the public that I am a celebrity, rather than an academic.” At the same time, he notes that the benefits of being a public scholar greatly outweigh the downsides. Mainstream TV uses social media to augment its reach, facilitating dialogues between actors and viewers. These dominant tactics further engage by mitigating the role of perceived mediators between celebrities and their on-screen personas. In an analogous way, more conversations that include academics are crucial in mainstream TV. Without them, redefining or redesigning efforts that stimulate critical faculties in the collective mind and make for good citizenry become lost amidst the noise of what postmodern French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once characterized as an era of “more and more information, and less and less meaning”. So how can an academic produce a TV show or offer television appearances while disregarding stereotypical trappings associated with the ‘celebrity academic’? How can these efforts be accomplished in ways that preserve the integrity of the academe yet also cater to mass audience within one’s area of scholarship? What are some ethical tactics and key platforms in which these voices are best and most widely heard? The Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) *Bridging Gaps* conference, in association with CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Centre for Ecological, Social, and Informatics Cognitive Research (ESI.CORE) and WaterHill Publishing, invites academics, journalists, publicists, producers and guests to attend, speak and collaborate at the international conference *Bridging Gaps: Where is the Critic in Television Journalism*? Join us in NYC where the conference will uniquely combine vibrant roundtable and workshop panels with a CMCS TV proposal in a collaborative network. The format of the conference aims at being open and inclusive ranging from interdisciplinary academic scholars to practitioners involved in all areas of television journalism, including tactics related to engagement capitalizing on existing public and private television channels and evolving forms of social media—from YouTube to Vimeo, Zoom to Jing, Periscope to Google Hangout. Working papers and media productions will be considered for the conference. Extended versions of selected best papers will be published in an edited book. *Registration includes*: Your printed package for the complete conference, professional development workshop, access to evening receptions, complimentary evening drinks, consideration for publication, and the CMCS $100 best paper and $100 best screen awards. *Submission guidelines:* - 250-word abstract or workshop / roundtable proposal - Include a title, your name, e-mail address, and affiliation if applicable - Submit to conference Chairs Andrea Marshall, Josh Nathan, and William Huddy at email address: *celeb.studies2017@gmail.com* <celeb.studies2017@gmail.com> - Extended deadline for abstract submission: *April 21, 2017* - Notification of acceptance:* May 15, 2017* - Early bird registration deadline: *June 15, 2017* - Conference reception and presentations:* August 31 – September 1, 2017* *Celebrity Chat** Video Submissions:* - Video length should be 10-20 minutes - Include a title, your name, e-mail address, and affiliation if applicable - Submit to *Celebrity Chat *producer Jackie Raphael at email address: *celeb.studies2017@gmail.com* <http://cmc-centre.com/conferences/losangeles/celeb.studies2017@gmail.com> - Extended deadline for abstract submission: *April 21, 2017* - Notification of acceptance:* May 15, 2017* - Early bird registration deadline: *June 15, 2017* - Conference reception and presentations: *August 31 – September 1, 2017* *Topics include but are not limited to:* - Television Studies - TV Celebrity - Celebrity Academic - Onscreen Persona - Fandom - Audience - Publicity - News - Interviews - Social Media - Online Video - Fiction - Genre - Biography - Literature - Fashion - Photography - Performance - Life Writings - Theory and Methods - Research Agenda - Business Models - Ethics and Morality - Media Literacy - Education and Advocacy - International Relations - Community Building - Business and Community Partnerships *Conference URL*: *http://cmc-centre.com/conferences/nyc2017/* <http://cmc-centre.com/conferences/nyc2017/> *Twitter*: @celeb_studies <http://www.twitter.com/celeb_studies> *Cross-posted*: http://eepurl.com/cHQ7Dv