Child Welfare Service in Media

The “Child Welfare Service in Media” project is about how this important public service is presented in the media and to which extent this coverage could influence the confidence in this institution.

The focus of the project is: How does the content in leading media / mainstream media and social media effect citizens trust or distrust to the child welfare service?

Our tentative suggestions for methods are as follows:

• A content analysis of key media to find out how child welfare is presented.

• This project will be mapping of how some key child welfare cases are featured on So-Me

with a content analysis and focus group analysis.

Associate Institutions

The “Child Welfare Service in Media” project is looking for associated research partners working in Social studies, Media studies and related fields to work with us on the development of the project. We invite you to bring your field expertise in Social and Media Studies. “Child Welfare Service in Media” consists of a vibrant, interdisciplinary team of media and social science scholars based in Volda University College.

Associate Partners:

Metropolitan University Prague

University of Bucharest

Bilateral Agreement with University of Bucharest

Project Structure:

Phase 1 : (with Metropolitan University Prague)
 
CHILDREN BETWEEN CZECH FAMILY STEREOTYPE AND NORWEGIAN WELFARE SYSTEM

The aim of the project is to raise awareness of media representations of practices of Norwegian Welfare Services in the Czech media. The project will be founded on discursive analysis of one significant case in which the Czech media were thoroughly interested in Norwegian welfare system.

THE MAIN PLANNED ACTIVITIES WILL BE:

• Creating the network and kick-off meeting: A preparatory meeting attended through Skype connection by the major Norwegian researcher – focused on creating a functional Czech-Norwegian team - will take place at Metropolitan University Prague (further MUP) (Month 1 of the life-cycle of the project).
• Expert meeting and workshop in Norway: The content of the second activity will be a working meeting of the two teams in Norway. Czech project team (5 people) will visit Norwegian institution in order to compare the analytics and tools for the analysis and to discuss the framework of the methodology of the project (Month 4-5 of the life-cycle of the project).
• Team meeting and International workshop in Prague: Public workshop attendance will be stimulated by a PR campaign. Public lectures of the international workshop will also be streamed at the web page of the project. The workshop will be based on the topic of media literacy whereas together with the Team meeting and International workshop will also promote the Norwegian Funds itself and spread public knowledge about this kind of Czech-Norwegian scientific cooperation. The representative of the Norwegian Embassy will be invited. (Month 10 of the life-cycle of the project).
• Seminar about media representation of intercultural problems: The seminar (in Prague Creative Centre) will be devoted to the analysis of media representation of Child Welfare Service. The expected visitors will be teachers and students working on the pre-school level and primary school level. (Month 11 of the life-cycle of the project).
• Scholarly article: The article focuses on analysis of narratives constructed the structure of media representation of this case. The main narratives framing the case were defined by the claim of “fundamental importance of family ties ignored by de-humanized administrative system”.

Upcoming Events:

Academic Seminar

Storfjord Hotell, Skodje 24. April 2019

Program: 

• Fyrsteamanuensis Edda Stang, Oslo storbyuniversitet – Barnevernet i den digitale offentlegheiten
• Professor Berit Berg, NTNU – Tilliten til barnevernet, møter mellom innvandrerar og barnevernet
• Henrik Nielsen, medierådgjevar Bufdir – Bufdir sine mediestrategiar i møte med utanlandsk opinion (td Michalakovi-saka i Tsjekkia som case)
   

People:

Paul Bjerke

Paul Bjerke, Ph. D, is Professor of journalism and teaching journalism and social studies in Volda University College. After working as a journalist and editor for 15 years, he returned to the academia and has written extensively on journalism. Among his books are "Refleks eller refleksjon. (Reflex or reflection) (2008), "Journalistikkens vekst - og fall?" (The Rise and Fall of Journalism)(2011), "Økonomijournalistikk – perspektiver og metoder". (Economics journalism – perspectives and methods) (2016) and "Kulturtidskriftene i Norge " (Cultural journals in Norway)(2018).

Idar Flo

Associate professor Idar Flo is a historian and teaches in Media Studies and Social Studies at the Faculty of media and journalism, Volda University College. He has written about memory culture in his doctoral thesis on “The legal settlement, memory culture and reconstruction in the Norwegian newsreel, 1945 – 1949”. He has been co-editor of Norwegian Press History 1660 – 2010 (4. vol.) (2010).

Burcu Peksevgen

Burcu Peksevgen Ph. D, is Associate Professor at PR and Communication Faculty at Volda University College. She worked as a journalist and PR specialist for 8 years in the beginning of her career. She received her Ph.D. degree in 2010 and started to work as full time academics. She has been teaching in various subjects in PR, Journalism, Advertising and Media History. Peksevgen was co-editor of Perspectives in Communication Studies Festschrift in Honor of Prof. Dr. Ayseli Usluata (Peter Lang, 2016), Buyutece Takilanlar (Libra, 2015), Kavramdan Pratige: Medya ve Tuketim (Theory to Practice: Media and Consumption) (Libra, 2014), and writer of Populer Kultur ve Hayat Mecmuasi (Popular Culture and Hayat Magazine) (Libra, 2016).

Calls

Associated researchers are invited to submit a short description of concrete ideas and research questions, which can be addressed with the help of monitoring media in different European countries Poland and Czech Republic, Latvia  within the “Child Welfare Service in Media” corpus. These projects can also complement ongoing research or take the form of graduate thesis. In addition, associated researchers will have the opportunity to work together closely with our team based in Volda University College. 

Project will be available for associated researchers until the end of the project in 2023.

Funding is available for the participation in user workshops; salary costs can however not be covered. If you are interested, please send a short abstract with your ideas together with a short bio to info@childrenwelfareinmedia.no

We look forward to discussing your ideas with you,

Contact

Idar Flo:
floi@hivolda.no

Volda University College