MediAsia2013

“Social Media and Responsibility; Globalization and Internationalization; Connectedness, Identity and Alienation”

November 8–10, 2013 | The Ramada Osaka, Osaka, Japan

Conference Report

The Fourth Annual Asian Conference on Media & Mass Communication (MediAsia2013) and the Second Asian Conference on Film and Documentary (FilmAsia2013) was held November 8-10 at the Ramada Hotel in Osaka. This joint conference hosted 150 international delegates from over 30 countries. The intimate size of MediAsia/FilmAsia allowed delegates the opportunity to develop close collaborative links, renew or make professional connections, as well as partake in a genuine opportunity of intellectual discovery.

The MediAsia 2013 themes continued the thematic explorations that we began last year: Social Media and Responsibility; Globalization and Internationalization; Connectedness, Identity and Alienation. With the focus on the social nature of media, communication ethics, and media during a time of globalization, these themes emphasized conceptual areas that are becoming more important for media makers and media educators in the decade ahead. The FilmAsia2013 Conference focused the same broad themes as the MediAsia Conference, however with their dialogue centered on the film and documentary form, delegates and presenters considered the themes through the perspective of producers, film-makers, critics, film educators, and fans.

IAFOR was very pleased to have Professors Gary E. Swanson and Bradley J. Hamm as the joint conference keynote speakers. Professor Swanson is the Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair in Journalism at the University of Northern Colorado, USA and is an internationally recognized and highly acclaimed documentary producer, director, editor, photojournalist, consultant and educator. Professor Swanson’s Keynote speech titled “Cheating and the Breakdown of Fundamental Values Within Education and Society,” examined the modern demise of integrity amongst tertiary students in 21st Century Universities and how we as academics and educators are confronted and challenged by the dilemma of how to teach our next generation of media specialists the essential values of ethics including honesty, citizenship and hard work in a world perpetrated by dishonesty and deceit.

The second conference Keynote address was made by Professor Bradley Hamm. Professor Hamm who is currently Dean of the Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications, at Northwestern University, USA. Professor Hamm has taught in Japan, China and Great Britain and started his career as a newspaper reporter. His teaching and research interests are in journalism history and media theory, particularly agenda setting theory. Professor Hamm gave a very well received keynote address titled “The Power of Journalism in a Post-Mass Media Age” which postulated that though we can expect in an era of greater choice in media types for the publics attention, the size of audiences for specific mass media such as printed newspapers and traditional free to air TV will decline and that each era of new media leads to innovation and success that we have not imagined.

The joint conference featured speaker for 2013 was Professor Jerry Platt, the Vice-Chair of the International Academic Forum’s Advisory Board. Professor Platt is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University, and is currently teaching at Akita International University in Japan. Professor Platt spoke on the evolution of international public opinion regarding Japan, from the Post-war period of the early 1950’s through to the current Post-Fukushima environment in 2013, examining both media texts and public opinion polling over that time.

IAFOR would like to thank our joint conference co-chairs Professor Gary E. Swanson (University of Northern Colorado) and Professor Tamara Swenson (Osaka Jogakuin University), as well as our other programme advisers.


MediAsia2013 Virtual Presentations