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2006 Cairo Conference PDF Print E-mail
The International Communication Section at IAMCR Cairo 2006 enjoyed 11 of 12 scheduled sessions. Attendance through the 11 sessions averaged about 12 persons per session. At least two but no more than five presentations occurred each session. Regretfully, a special session involving several Iranian colleagues was cancelled because
of difficulties obtaining Iranian visas, as per email communication between IAMCR President Robin Mansell and the Egyptian government. This may have been related to the rising Middle Eastern crisis in Lebanon.
  • Presentation Topics
  • Community, Media and Crisis Communication;
  • Current Communication Issues in Egypt;
  • Communicating Across Electronic and Cultural Boundaries;
  • Audiences, Framing and Media Issues;
  • New Frontiers in Broad/Narrowcasting;
  • New Issues for the Public Sphere;
  • Public Diplomacy and the Issues of Conflict;
  • Islamic Media: Defining Issues in Development;
  • Borders Crossing and Information Flow: New Conceptual Issues;
  • Government Influence and Propaganda: Advocacy and Communication;
  • ICT and Communication Issues;
  • Information Society: Global and Local; and
  • Discourse and Narrative Analysis.
Main Themes

Each session enjoyed vigorous discussion. From the many sessions, three main themes emerged: Darfur discussion, the role of technology in communication on the international level, and international press freedom.

In addition to being one of the world’s greatest crises, another reason the Darfur tragedy may have been such a discussion point could have been the way the section was used as a review for a forthcoming book on the subject. Professor Bella Mody from the University of Colorado-Boulder, leads the Darfur book project. Many of the proposed
book chapters were submitted as conference papers. Attendees listened to Japanese, African, Middle Eastern and other media analyses of the situation.

The role of technology on the international level encompassed almost every session. Papers addressing free media – including public and alternative sources in addition to mainstream and wire news portals -- in Scandinavia added new meaning and understanding to top World Press rankings for these countries. Further, learning interesting research approaches to assessing how information technology meets commercial and social interests in Indian Choupals sparked essential methodological discussion as well as provided tangible contrast to international media literacy differences and needs.

International press freedom, particularly with Egyptian protests for public diplomacy efforts with Israel occurring outside American University in Cairo windows, was the hottest and most timely topic. Discussion surrounding U.S. media portrayals of the Invasion in Iraq, international news changes post 9-11, and scholarly proposed new Arab public diplomacy strategies, which occurred during “Session 6: Public Diplomacy and the Implications of Conflict” strained attendee professionalism. Emotions were raw as attendees struggled to make sense of the presented information.

In sum, the section enjoyed excellent quality presentations and fantastic scholarly debate. One of the greatest difficulties was being reminded of world difficulties – from Darfur to Israel – and the inability to come to agreement on solutions.

Activities

During the conference, acting section heads arranged a luncheon for interested ICS presenters and attendees to continue section topic discussion and/or mingling. About 12 people participated. This added to section and conference scholarly familiarity and congeniality.