Call for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

Conference for Community Readiness Communications

Papers are being sought for presentation at a national conference exploring how news media and local communities prepare for natural or man-made disasters. The conference will be held in Manhattan, Kansas, November 8-10, 2006. The conference is sponsored by the McCormick Tribune Foundation and the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University. The conference will be held in conjunction with the opening of the university’s new National Agricultural Biosecurity Research Center (NABRC).

The goal of this conference is to discuss research, information, and planning on media and community preparedness in the event of a crisis situation such as a hurricane disaster or bio-terrorist attack. Possible topics include:

* Specific or general patterns of media coverage of man-made or natural disasters

* Theoretical models of media disaster coverage and response

* Relationship between media coverage and audience response in crisis situations

* Relationship between organizational structure and media coverage of crisis situations

* Relationship of federal organizations and the news media

* New technologies and news coverage of disasters

100-word abstracts are due August 1, 2006, with notification of accepted proposals on August 30, 2006. Completed papers are due in mid-October. Presenters of papers will receive $350 honorarium. Send abstracts to:

Dr. Angela Powers

Director and Professor

A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications

105 Kedzie Hall

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS 66502

For more information, please contact apowers@ksu.edu