The power of media to construct, create, demonstrate, reflect, generate, constrict, and confuse meaning promulgates representations, the accuracy of which becomes highly contestable, allowing for a framework of alternative reality within which the majority of the public dwell. This conference intends to rethink the notion of media, in its myriad forms, both as discourse and device, in order to examine the impact it has upon contemporary society. How is media susceptible to the misrepresentation of social groups and individuals, guiding modern stereotypes into the everyday language of Western news-reel culture? How has media infiltrated the manner in which we conceptualize our world? And in what manner do we construct our realities based on these mis/representations?

The premise is that representation is not a separate objective form from the creation of the subjects being represented. The relationship is inherently political, ambiguous and tacit, making misrepresentation all the more a necessary object of discussion.

Read a review of 'Mis/Representations in Media' in UniLife magazine, p.12:

 http://www.umist.ac.uk/internal/unilife/UniLife%20Issue5.pdf

Format

The conference is comprised of 4 sessions of papers exploring issues of mis/representation in politics, history, identity and social reality with an emphasis on discussion and debate. In addition, there are two workshops on professional and academic media through the direction of lecturers and practitioners from the University of Manchester, the BBC, and the Manchester University Press. This will prove invaluable for individuals interested in gaining media experience, improving career profiles and employment opportunities, and knowing more about routes into the media sector.

Finally, a panel session of esteemed academics, professionals and MPs will provide an opportunity for dialogue in the field of media, during which we will consider mis/representations of reality within media, questioning whether media represents reality, or creates only a representation of reality?

For more info, see:

 http://les1.man.ac.uk/graduateschool/mediaconference/