Mediacentar Sarajevo is conducting a research project on ways, methods and strategies of representation of minority groups and their members in media in South East Europe. In the context of this research, the term minority encompasses minority ethno-cultural collectivities and gender minorities. Countries covered by the project are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia and Kosovo.

Publication of a book on media representation of minorities and marginalized social groups in South East European countries, with authors’ articles from each country covered by the project, is planned for early 2010.

A total of eight research papers will be published and authors whose papers are published will receive stipends for covering the costs of research.

Mediacentar Sarajevo invites potential authors to propose articles/research papers allowing a detailed examination of models of representation of minority groups and their members in media. It is of particular importance to emphasize that this research focuses precisely on patterns of representation of minorities in media, rather than to general overviews of the situation in the individual countries and case studies which will be relevant only in the given context. Without disregarding the fact that the issue of minorities is essentially specific for each country, the research is designed to correlate the specific issues covered within it with theory, as well as with the situation in this field in the region itself. Not only will this contribute to situating the specific issue in an appropriate theoretical framework, but that general framework in this field will be enriched with specific, practical insights from the given South East European countries.

A. GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSALS OF RESEARCH PAPERS
•    Proposals should be written in one of the following languages: English, Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian.
•    Proposals should not be longer than 1,000 words.
•    Proposals should define the following:
o    Description of topic
o    Theoretical framework
o    Methodological approach
o    List of basic literature and sources that will be used.

The proposals must be related to an original research paper that should be written specifically for this project. Mediacentar Sarajevo will not accept proposals of research papers/articles which at the time of submission of the proposal are being reviewed or were already published or accepted for publishing in a magazine, presentation in conferences or publishing in another publication.

•    Proposals should be sent to Mediacentar Sarajevo no later than 30 March 2009.

B. REQUIREMENTS
Eligibility for research stipends:
•    Authors with considerable experience in research and publishing related to issues of representation of minorities in media in countries covered by the project; and/or authors with considerable experience in research in the field of media in general, who can demonstrate in their research proposal their competence to work on a research project that concerns the specific topic of minority groups and media; and/or authors with considerable experience in research in the field of human rights and minority rights, who have so far not dealt with aspects of media representation of minority groups, but who demonstrate in their research proposal their competence to work on a research project that concerns the relationship and correlation between minorities and media.
•    Knowledge of one of the following languages: English, Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian.

C. TOPICS
We are interested in papers covering some of the following topics:

•    Representation of minority groups in media contents: symbolic boundaries and minorities in media;
•    Discriminatory practices in representation of minorities in mainstream media;
•    Minority media and minority programs in mainstream media;
•    The web and minority groups;
•    Members of minorities as journalists and editors in mainstream media;
•    Influence of representatives of minorities on defining media and editorial policies in the area of programming devoted to minorities;
•    Roma and media;
•    Gender minorities and media;
•    Religious minorities and media;
•    Minorities, nationalism and media;
•    Strategies of inclusion of minority groups in the public space;
•    Media policy and minority groups: Regulations, legislation, policy and discrimination.
•    Stereotypes, prejudices and gender (or ethno-cultural) roles in media;
•    Freedom of speech and hate speech in media in the context of minority rights;
•    Regional and local media – patterns of media construction of minorities and “majorities”;
•    Role of media in promotion of minority rights: potentials and examples of transformative discourse.

We support and encourage all other innovative proposals which go beyond the framework of the offered topics, but which must nevertheless be related to the general topic of relationship between media and minority groups.

D. LANGUAGE
Proposals of research papers should be written in English, Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian.

E. FINAL ARTICLES
•    The length of the final article should be between 7,000 and 9,000 words.
•    All papers before being published will undergo at least two rounds of reviews (peer-review process) by the editorial team of the publication;
•    Authors are expected to amend accepted papers in line with the comments of the editorial team;
•    The first version of the paper should be submitted by 30 May 2009 and the final version of the paper should be delivered no later than 15 September 2009.
•    The editorial team reserves the right not to publish articles that do not meet the standards of scientific research.

F. STIPENDS
•    Selected authors will receive for their work a stipend of 1,000 British pounds (net).
•    The stipend will be paid out to authors based on submitted final versions of the papers, in line with a contract that will be signed between Mediacentar Sarajevo and the individual authors.
•    The stipend will be paid out only to authors whose papers are accepted for publishing.

G. THE APPLICATION SHOULD CONTAIN:
•    A PROPOSAL OF THE RESEARCH PAPER (UP TO 1,000 WORDS) IN LINE WITH SPECIFICATIONS PROVIDED IN SECTION “A” (ABOVE);
•    CV (WITH DETAILED CONTACT INFORMATION FOR TWO REFERENCES)
•    2 EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED PAPERS RELEVANT TO THIS PROJECT (IN ENGLISH, BOSNIAN, CROATIAN OR SERBIAN);
•    A DETAILED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH PROJECTS.

NOTE: INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION.

H. FINAL DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS:
•    All materials must be submitted by 30 March 2009;
•    Please send your proposals to Mediacentar Sarajevo electronically to the e-mail address: goran@media.ba with the e-mail subject: “Call for contributions: Media and Minorities”

NOTE: MATERIALS ARRIVING AFTER 30 MARCH 2009 WILL NOT BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION

I. PROJECT DYNAMICS
- The proposal of the paper should be submitted by 30 March 2009;
- Selection of authors will be carried out by 10 April 2009;
- The first version of the paper should be submitted by 30 May 2009;
- The final version of the paper should be submitted by 15 September 2009.

CONTACT:  
•    Please send your proposals and questions only by e-mail.
•    Contact person: Goran Todorović
•    E-mail: goran@media.ba
•    Organization:              

MEDIACENTAR Sarajevo
Kolodvorska 3, Sarajevo
Bosnia-Herzegovina
http://www.media.ba

ABOUT THE PROJECT
This research is part of the project “Against the Margins” which is implemented by Mediacentar Sarajevo with the financial support of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Bosnia-Herzegovina.