Media Discourse Centre partnerships and collaborations

Global Witness

MDC first established a relationship with the radical charity Global Witness (GW) in 2015, when we ran an on-site symposium called ‘Cultures of Denial’. Ali Hines, who gave the keynote, has since produced two chapters for our edited books (Sites of Protest in 2016, and Journalism, Power and Investigation, 2019). MDC also collaborated with Global Witness during the University’s 2019 Cultural Exchanges programme, under the rubric ‘Degradation: environmental catastrophe and the global fight for social justice’.

Channel Four

De Montfort University, in partnership with Channel Four News and Current Affairs, runs the MA in Investigative Journalism. All academics within the journalism team are members of the Media Discourse Centre. Two of our Visiting Professors are Dorothy Byrne (Head of Channel Four News and Current Affairs), and Krishnan Guru-Murthy (Presenter and Journalist, Channel Four News).

Bellingcat

Eliot Higgins, from the Investigative Journalism group Bellingcat, gave a talk attended by thirty guests, during the Media Discourse Centre’s contribution to the CEM Faculty’s Research Showcase event, in April, 2019. Eliot has also provided close guidance for students on the MA Investigative Journalism course.

Documentary Media Centre   

The Documentary Media Centre is run by MDC member John Coster, who was previously the director of the community-based news organisation Citizen’s Eye. John runs the MDC social media accounts, and in 2019 will help us make a contribution to World Television Day. In 2020, MDC and DMC will work together on producing material for World Press Freedom Day.

Meccsa Social Movements Network    

The Meccsa Social Movements Network was founded by MDC members in 2013. The Network creates opportunities to research and discuss the role of media, film, communication and cultural studies in social movements, improving the ability of researchers to engage with activists and groups engaged in social movements and conducting critical analysis of the ways in which they are mediated and how they mediate themselves.

Meccsa Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Network

The Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Network (REaPN) aims to incorporate a wider agenda about representations of race and ethnicity in the media in the context of postcolonial and multicultural societies. 

SDG Film Festival    

The SDG Film Festival is the brainchild of Dr Ben Harbisher, who ran the event in conjunction with the Jakarta conference on the UN Sustainability goals. The festival encouraged the production of a wide range of short films on the climate crisis. SDGFilmfest has been funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund at DMU and by the London School of Public Relations, Indonesia. As the project grows, the film festival will expand to cover additional territories as part of its wider mission and reach. Future festivals are anticipated to take place in Malaysia, China, Thailand, Nigeria and India over the next five years.

Rowman and Littlefield International 

MDC runs the Protest, Media and Culture book series, which has produced multiple titles since its inception in 2015. The editors are Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido and Professor Stuart Price.

International Journal of Media Discourse

MDC members Stuart Price, Ben Harbisher, and Ruth Sanz Sabido edit the new online, open-access Journal, International Journal of Media Discourse, which draws its material from our conferences and public symposia.

University of Aveiro, Portugal

MDC has had a long-standing connection with Aveiro, which was revived during a major conference on ‘Treacherous words: fake news, censorship and the unsayable’, held in October 2019.

Panteion University, Athens

IN 2018, Stuart Price and Nayia Kamenou gave lectures for graduate students belonging to Professor Alexandra Halkias’ Gender and Media course, in order to strengthen links between De Montfort and Panteion.

Babylon University, Iraq

MDC Research Associate Dr Ahmed Bahiya drafted a new Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Babylon in Iraq, covering mutual support and the creation of doctoral programmes.

Mental Health and Shared Solidarities

Within MDC, Professor Jason Lee runs the Media Health Group, recently strengthened by the Faculty’s appointment of Mark Griffiths as a Visiting Professor in psychology, media and addiction. ‘Shared Solidarities’ is the umbrella group that organises conferences and symposia: MDC is running the symposium ‘Mental Health in an Age of Austerity’, on Wednesday, 9th October 2019.