Dates: October 23-24, 2025
Organizer: Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, with the support of Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation
Format: hybrid event
In partnership with: The Union of Journalism Education of Chinese and Russian Universities, Russian Union of Journalists, Russian-African club of Lomonosov Moscow State University, The Association of Russian and African Journalists, National Association of Mass Media Researchers
Local organizing and program committees are headed by Professor Elena Vartanova, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education
Today, the academic and educational world is facing a change in the roles and functions journalists traditionally perform in the society and in media companies. Deep mediatization, the development of platformed media environment, the growth of alternative news media, the increasing impact of generative artificial intelligence and algorithms upon news production and dissemination influence those roles and bring up the question of how journalism should be taught in a rapidly changing reality. Today, we see that the borders between audience, journalists and other types of content creators, virtual and “real life”, facts and fiction, as well as between all kinds of communication digital platforms, have been irretrievably crossed. These new conditions influence media markets too, which in their turn lead to change in the professional competences, skills and knowledge journalists should possess, along with the demands and risks they face in the 21st century.
The influence of these processes upon journalism education has been earlier analyzed in regard to particular countries, both in the Global North (e.g. Bui, & Moran, 2019) and Global South (e.g. Appiah-Adjei, 2024; Nkoala, & Lesame, 2024) regions of the world, with a special focus on digital journalism practices there. Several works addressed these issues by providing wide cross-cultural comparative analysis of BRICS nations (e.g. Thussu, & Nordenstreng, 2021), paying attention to changes media systems and professional journalistic practices undergo today. Significantly lower attention has been so far given to the way new digitalization trends are affecting journalism education in Russia and China, as well as in BRICS area in general. Existing literature focuses mostly on general trends of Russian and Chinese media development under digitalization and the remaining digital divide (e.g. journalists’ engagement with AI and digital journalism tools, the shift of media to new business models, etc.) (e.g. Vartanova, & Lukina, 2022; Gladkova, Ragnedda, & Vartanova, 2022; Yin, Q., Fu, Z., & Zheng, S., 2023; Wang, H., & Meng, J., 2022) while similarities and difference of journalism education in Russia, China and other BRICS nations remain understudied.
In this context, we will discuss how journalism education has been developing under the impact of digitalization, paying special attention to the change of print legacy media to new digital media in both countries. We will analyze how new digital tools and journalists’ engagement with AI technologies can be taught as part of journalism education programs, and look at the best practices of universities in this regard. We will examine how journalism schools and departments are adapting to the increasing integration and proliferation of mobile technologies within journalism production and consumption. We will see how the remaining digital gap is affecting communication across cultural and ethnic groups, and how digital inequalities in access and skills are developing into social inequalities in the multicultural setting (Gladkova, Vartanova, & Shi-xu, 2024). Furthermore, we will discuss how media in Russia and China are currently transforming their editorial and content strategies in the digital environment, and how the role and functions of journalists are changing in the modern convergent multiplatform newsrooms. Lastly, we will also look at media consumption practices, discussing how the consumption of news varies in Russia, China and beyond, from anthropological and social discourse studies perspectives.
Submission guidelines
Abstracts (between 300 and 500 words) in English or Russian, including author(s) name(s) and affiliation(s) should be sent to moscow.readings@mail.ru before September 15, 2025.
Registration fee
The Moscow Readings conference does not have a conference registration fee. All costs will have to be covered either by the home institution or by presenters themselves.
Publishing opportunities
Best papers will be considered for publication in peer-reviewed indexed journals Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika (Web of Science, Scopus) and World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies (Scopus).
The 17th Moscow Readings conference will be organized as a hybrid conference. We are looking forward to meeting you in October 2025 in Moscow in person or online, from wherever you are.
Contact details
Contact email: moscow.readings@mail.ru
Phone number : +7 (495) 629 52 76
Contact person: Anna Gladkova, secretary of the Moscow Readings conference organizing committee