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The meeting, convened by letter of Jan van Cuilenburg (see enclosure 1), was held in premises of the University of Amsterdam and attended by the following:
Jan van Cuilenburg, The Netherlands (chair)
Christian Jantszen, Denmark
Sniezana Milivojevic, Serbia
Kaarle Nordenstreng, Finland (minutes)
Mirolub Radoikovic, Serbia
Angela Schorr, Germany
Jan Servaes, Belgium
Pascal Verhoest, The Netherlands
Yassen Zassoursky, Russia
Van Cuilenburg shared the responses which he received by letter from Jo Groebel (encl. 2) and by email from Guenter Bentele, Michael Charlton, Barrie Gunter and Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi (encl. 3-6).
In addition, Nordenstreng had received email from Stig-Arne Nohrstedt (encl. 7).
(The correspondence and attendance represent 15 colleagues from 10 countries, including those speaking for national associations in Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and Russia.)
Van Cuilenburg reminded about the various meetings held on the topic since 1991 -- all concluding that it was desirable to intensify mutual contacts and cooperation between communication researchers across Europe, but all remaining without concrete follow up.
The present meeting was preceded by two occasional consultations this year: the IAMCR conference in Oaxaca (Mexico) in July and the international conference on Media & Politics held at the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel in February.
Schorr informed about the initiative by Jo Groebel and distributed minutes of the meeting held in Amsterdam in July 1996 (encl. 8), followed up by draft statutes of "European Association for Communication Research" (encl. 9) with an explanatory letter (encl. 10). Servaes referred to the two conferences which he hosted during the last 12 months (in Bruges on telecommunication policies, and in Brussels on Media & Politics) and which demonstrated the potential for European platforms in different focal areas.
These and other occasions seem to suggest that there is a need for a new platform but that one does not yet know how to do materialize it. Zassoursky told that Russia is ready to participate and that the Council of Europe with its various CDMM deliberations needs an NGO reference in the field of media research. National associations, although sometimes rigid, are still needed as organizational basis. In practice, one needs an ambitious person for implementation. Nordenstreng pointed out that both the Council of Europe and the European Union justify a mobilization of European media research community, but notable material support may only be expected from the Union. Still, the geographical concept of Europe should be as broad as that of the Council of Europe, i.e. from the Atlantic to the Urals. The Finnish Association prefers to count on existing networks, including the IAMCR, instead of creating completely new structures. Jantszen told that the Danish Association shares the same view and prefers a network approach. Also contacts with Eastern and Southern Europe should be given priority. van Cuilenburg referred to the sometimes complicated relationship of these initiatives to the existing international organizations, IAMCR and ICA, seen particularly by young academics.
Milivojevic singled out two key issues: How to make the initiative interesting for young scholars? How to ensure the participation of countries from Central and Eastern Europe? Verhoest stressed that an important constituency are various research groups and projects, which bring together especially young scholars. He also emphasized the role of IAMCR. Servaes outlined an approach which begins with networking with eventual support from the EU about which he had already made preliminary inquiries. He emphasized the geographical and linguistic representativity, whereby not only English and German but also Latin group should have a central role, in addition to Eastern Europe. Schorr explained that her initiative intented to provide a platform for all to come together, as is already the case in most other fields. She also pointed out that better communication and cooperation requires a structure without which nothing comes out of networking.
Radoikovic and others noted that there are three main models to materialize the European platform: (1) an European branch of the IAMCR, (2) a new independent association, and (3) a network of existing national and thematic groups. It was agreed to appoint a steering committee to clarify these models and prepare a practical proposal for further steps. Jan Servaes was asked to be its convenor-coordinator, and the following colleagues its members: Jan van Cuilenburg, Jo Groebel, Kaarle Nordenstreng, Yassen Zassoursky and Michael Palmer (or someone else from the "Roman region"). The steering committee will first meet in late October in Moscow (during the 50th anniversary conference of Moscow State University's Faculty of Journalism) with the follwing agenda: 1) models of organization 2) membership categories and potential members 3) funding sources and methods 4) location of secretariat 5) events for further meetings It was agreed that the definition of Europe should be as broad as possible, including countries of former Yugoslavia, Turkey and the Caucasus countries of Armenia, Georgia and Ajerbadjan. One of the first tasks of the steering committee is to locate relevant national associations and major institutions throughout this broad region of Europe.
As far as the disciplinary boundaries are concerned, it was agreed that also there one should follow broadest possible approach, extending if needed to such areas as film studies, PR and telecommunications. It was noted that some overlap will in any case remain between communication research and several other disciplines, including psychology, sociology and political science, which already have their established structures for European cooperation.
Jan Servaes Dean, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Director, Research Centre 'Communication for Social Change (CSC)' Katholieke Universiteit Brussel (K.U.Brussel) Vrijheidslaan 17 B-1081 Brussels - Belgium http://www.kubrussel.ac.be/psw/menu1.html Tel: +32-2-412 42 78 Cellular phone: +32-75 350 600 Fax: +32-2-412 42 00 E-Mail:freenet002@tornado.be