1. Recent Ph.D.s/doctoral dissertations

Since 1998 the research programme of the Cemeso resulted in four Ph.D.'s:

In 2000 Els Schelfhout obtained her Ph.D. with a study on media education, entitled: Media studies from a pedagogic point of view: "watch carefully, think critically and use responsively". The instrumental use of the audiovisual media in relation to media education and multi-ethnic education in primary education. (supervisor: prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten)

In 2003 Kristel Vandenbrande obtained her doctoral degree with a thesis on newspaper reading (cf. ut supra, § 1) Hidden behind the newspaper. Media, news and citizenship in daily life. An audience research project on the meaning and experience of newspaper reading in late modernity. (Supervisors: prof. dr. Caroline Pauwels and prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten)

In the same year, Joke Bauwens obtained her Ph.D. with a dissertation on television viewing and citizenship (cf. ut supra, § 1). Citizenship in the living room: a quantitative and qualitative study into the relationship between tv consumption and citizenship. (Supervisors: prof. dr. Caroline Pauwels and prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten)

In 2004, Jan Teurlings obtained his Ph.D. with a dissertation on power relationsships in television production. 'Dating Shows and the Production of Identities. Institutional Practices and Power in Television Production' (supervisor prof. Dr. Caroline Pauwels).

2. The Mediatization of the Public Sphere

In October 1997, Cemeso set up an interdisciplinary research project (the GOA-project) entitled Media, Signification and Information. The Mediatization of the Public Sphere: Between Dualization and Democratization. This audience research project was realised through a close collaboration of three research groups: SMIT, TOR and Cemeso, supervised by the former director of the Cemeso, prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten.

During this large-scale project the Cemeso consolidated theoretical insights on media use and public life, and built methodological expertise in the field of quantitative and qualitative audience research. This resulted in the two of the above-mentioned doctoral dissertations. They were -after Hans Verstraeten left Cemeso- completed under the supervision of prof. dr. Caroline Pauwels.

The first, by Kristel Vandenbrande, an audience study on newspaper reading and the significance and relevance of popular journalism in late modern daily public life, is entitled Hidden behind the newspaper. Media, news and citizenship in daily life. An audience research project on the meaning and experience of newspaper reading in late modernity. (Supervisors: prof. dr. Caroline Pauwels and prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten)

The second, by Joke Bauwens, investigates both in a theoretical and an empirical way the relationship between television consumption and citizenship: Citizenship in the living room: a quantitative and qualitative study into the relationship between tv consumption and citizenship. (Supervisors: prof. dr. Caroline Pauwels and prof. dr. Hans Verstraeten)

In 2005 and 2006 two other projects regarding the mediatization of the public sphere started:

In november 2005 Frank Boddin joined Cemeso and started a PhD on public service broadcasting and changes within the production ecology of documentary genres and factual entertainment. His study relates the introduction of new documentary genres to changes in the nature of the public service broadcasting. The research takes a discursive approach, investigating which genre discourses are articulated within the Flemish Public Service broadcaster VRT on the one hand and how these discourses are organizationally translated, managed and creatively negotiated within production process on the other.

In april 2006 researcher Wim Hannot joined Cemeso. The aim of his research is to evaluate the reception of public participation in mainstream audiovisual programming and broadcasters' websites in relation to political themes (FWO project). The research findings will contribute to debates around the nature of democratic participation, and specifically the potential contribution to be made by the broadcast media in enhancing the quality of civic participation in the democratic process. (Supervisor: prof. dr. Nico Carpentier)

3. News and journalism studies

Three projects need to be mentioned here:

First, in June 1998 the VRT, the Flemish public broadcast company, commissioned Cemeso a comparative analysis of the news programmes of the public service television (VRT), and the commercial television (VTM). A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content and format of the news programmes was elaborated. This initial study was the start of a more structural cooperation, which has already resulted in three research reports (1998; 2001; 2003). These reports have contributed, to a considerable extent, to the restyling of the news on public television.

Second, in 2006 the 'FLEET' (FLEmish E-publishing Trends) started. The main objective of FLEET, an interdisciplinary research program on E-publishing (financed by IWT), is to identify, understand and prospect the changing role of information and communication providers and users in a networked society. The research aims at building a Flemish knowledge platform on E-Publishing, pursuing a social finality. It includes social, legal, economic and technical disciplines.
Cemeso focuses on tensions, problems, challenges and potentials that result from the continuous redefinition of the position and role of journalism, and this on a micro, meso and macro level: the level of the individual journalist, the level of the editorial board and the level of the
organization of the newspaper at large.

The first aim is to recognize shifts in the task division and job descriptions in a digitalised newsroom of a traditional newspaper. This analysis will also contribute to our understanding of how newsrooms can be (re)organised in order to (a) optimise the journalistic use of digital newsgathering tools and (b) enable multimedia content production. An additional question is if and how ICT developments create new job opportunities for content creators.
A second, more fundamental research question is how new technologies are changing the role and position of journalism as such and gaining insight into the definition and continuous redefinition of the journalistic profession as a result of ICT. How can we define being a journalist today? Issues such as the increased time pressure, the growing need for flexibility and the necessity to be multiple-skilled will also be dealt with in this part of the FLEET-research.

Additionally, Cemeso and MICT (University Ghent) will organise workshops on Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR) to share knowledge by bringing together experts in CAR, journalists and journalism students. Researcher Davy Geens is working on this Fleet-project. (Supervisors: prof. dr. Kristel Vandenbrande and dr. prof. Caroline Pauwels). More information: http://www.fleetproject.be

Third, in 2006 Marit Trioen started her PhD in Cemeso. Her doctoral research project focuses on the discursive actions journalists and their institutions take when core values of their professional identities are being contested (VUB - EhB project). (Supervisors: prof. dr. Nico Carpentier and dr. Martina Temmerman)

The discursive (re)actions accompanying the integration of such voices in Flemish newspapers will be analysed on different levels, which correspond to approaches to discourse ranging from poststructuralist discourse theory over CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) to SFL (Systemic Funcional Linguistics). Consequently attention will be paid to the embodiment of journalistic values in texts linguistics, the professional identities of journalists, the identities of the newspaper organisation and to journalism as a social institution itself.

4. Studying the cultural and creative industries

The research project "Public and Private Art Initiatives in Flanders/Belgium: Polarisation or Synergy?," which was conducted between January 2002 and April 2004, is part of the interuniversity research consortium 'Re-Creatief Vlaanderen'. The project offered an in-depth theoretical framework of the cultural industries, investigated the impact of the Flemish peripheral cultural industries on the cultural field, more particularly on the regular, subsidised cultural sector (case studies include Live Nation Belgium). Finally it included a framework for the development of a Flemish Cultural industrial policy (Supervisor Katia Segers, researcher Ellen Huijgh).

In October 2001 An Moons started with a PhD on the creative industries in Flanders. The central question of this qualitative research is 'can we create cultural industries?', focusing on the historical basic conditions, constituting processes and economic and cultural impact of the Flemish designer fashion industry. Based on a wide and eclectic theoretical study but largely based on the theory on competitive advantage of Michael Porter, An Moons examines closely the key factors of the success (and failure) of the Belgian designer fashion (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Caroline Pauwels).

5. Public and private funding of the arts

Part of a long-term research project on the evolution of the phenomenon and practice of corporate sponsorship of the arts (started in 1990), Cemeso conducted in 2004 a research commanded by the Flemish government, Department of Culture on the impact of sponsoring for music and performing arts organizations (supervisor Katia Segers, researcher Bram Lievens).

In 2005, a study commanded by the National Lottery and executed in a research consortium with the Solvay Business School of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, investigated and recommended the policy of this government body and its perception by the Belgian population (supervisor Katia Segers, researcher Ariane Carlier).

In 2006 a new research project started as a historical study (source analysis) of public and private funding of orchestras and music organizations in Brussels between 1830 and 1940 (supervisor Katia Segers, co-supervisors and researchers Koen Buyens and Kristin Van den Buys).

6. Children's media and culture (Childhood studies)

In 2006 Cemeso was co-founder of the interuniversity and interdisciplinary research group for studies on Childhood, NEO, together with University Ghent, department of Educational Sciences. The interuniversity and interdisciplinary research project "Beyond patronizing? The area of tension between educationalization and commercialization in the life-world of children", is the first joint project of Cemeso and the University of Ghent. This research starts in March 2007 and is funded by the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO Vlaanderen). It aims at investigating the tensions between processes of commercialisation and educationalization in the life-world of children, through qualitative analysis of the Flemish children's culture (both arts and popular culture) (supervisor Katia Segers, co-supervisors Jo Bauwens en Bruno Vanobbergen).

Since 2006 Cemeso is part of 'EU Kids Online', a European Research on Cultural, Contextual and Risk Issues in Children's Safe Use of the Internet and New Media. This project is funded by the EC Safer Internet plus Programme. Between 2006 and 2009 it will examine research carried out in 18 member states into how children and young people use the internet and new media. This three-year collaboration aims to identify comparable research findings across Europe to evaluate the social, cultural and regulatory influences affecting both risks and children's and parents' responses to them. It will chart available data, note indicate gaps and identify factors that shape the research capability of European research institutions. Finally, it will examine methodological issues relating to cross-cultural analyses and the study of children's online experience in order to develop a best practice guide to research (supervisors Jo Bauwens, Katia Segers and Nico Carpentier).

7. Audience research

The methodological and theoretical expertise in the field of quantitative and qualitative audience research, built up the past years, resulted in a reader on media audiences: Het on(be)grijpbare publiek: een communicatiewetenschappelijke exploratie van publieksonderzoek.

This book, edited by Caroline Pauwels, director of the SMIT, and Cemeso members Nico Carpentier and Olga Van Oost was publicly presented in May 2004 at a symposium organised by the Cemeso and SMIT.
Several members of the Cemeso have written a contribution for this reader (e.g. Joke Bauwens, Nico Carpentier, Katia Segers together with Ellen Huijgh (and Bruno Vanobbergen), Jan Teurlings, Kristel Vandenbrande, Olga Van Oost), partially based on the above-mentioned Mediatization of the Public Sphere-project.

8. Community media

Three projects need to be mentioned here:

First, research has been done on the identity of community media mentioned. This project is based on a collaboration with Jan Servaes (University of Queensland) and Rico Lie (Universiteit Wageningen), and was initiated by Unesco's Communication and Information Unit. The project's aim was to create a multi-dimensional theoretical overview and model in order to facilitate the study of the potential societal role of community media and the potential threats these media organisations have to face. The project resulted in the publication of an article on a Unesco-cdrom and (later) in a Unesco-book. Two other articles were published in the Ripe@2000-reader ("Broadcasting and Convergence: New Articulations of the Public Remit") and in the Australian journal Continuum.

The theoretical model was put to the test in a second project that evaluates a specific community media exchange project called RadioSwap. This research project focuses on the distinct mediation processes that take place in the six radio stations. More specifically this project aims to clarify how exactly the perceived opportunities offered by the Radioswap.net project are integrated into the daily practices of the partner radio stations and how the strengths and weakness of the project are perceived by the users, contextualising them by relating them to other activities.

Thirdly, there is the research project on TV-Brussel (the Dutch speaking city-television in Brussels). This audience research project studies the specific role of local television in urban, multicultural contexts. The findings of this project were publishing in a report and presented at the colloquium on European City Television. An article developing a more in depth discussion of these findings is in preparation.

9. Discourse studies

Apart from Marit Trioen's above mentioned project, three other doctoral research projects analyse specific discursive formations within their societal contexts:

Birgitte Martens' historical research focuses on 16th and 17th century religious discourse in the Southern and Northern Netherlands, with special emphasis on visual communication and its interaction with other media forms. Both the catholic and protestant media system will be taken in consideration in a comparative and interdisciplinary analysis. Central themes of the research are media literacy, knowledge acquisition and the relation image - word. Main attention will be given to the transitions that religious printed works undergo during the 17th century and the social dynamics underlying these changes.

Anja Detant analyses the discourses of the Christian (ACV) and socialist (ABVV) trade union movement in Flanders on immigration and racism since the late 1980s. The study uses a discourse-historical approach, inspired by the work of Wodak & Reisigl and by other critical discourse analysts. The study is based on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework related to social representation, collective identity, racism and multiculturalism. The main focus is on boundary work in trade union discourses and on the possibilities for identifications that promote interethnic solidarity.

Benjamin De Cleen analyses the evolution in discourses on minorities in the Flemish media since the early 1990s. Much attention goes to issues of 'political correctness' and other ways of criticizing 'progressive' politics. Applying a range of discourse analytical tools on media content this research is a contribution to both communication studies and linguistics.

Leen Van Brussel, who joined Cemeso in 2009, analyses the discourses in Flemish print media about the end-of-life and the end-of-life care of individual persons with chronic illnesses and diseases. In this research, a mix of ‘qualitative’ and ‘popular’ media will be taken in consideration. Each article that refers to the end-of-life of individual persons with life-threatening illnesses from the period 2005-2007, will be selected. Applying a combination of critical discourse analysis and discourse theoretical analysis, main attention will be given to the mediatized construction of identities of chronically ill people within a medical, social, political, legal and religious context.

Joeri Januarius analyses the daily life and material culture of workers in Belgium in the twentieth century, taking Belgian Limburg miners and the 1950s as specific case. This research is based on an analysis of visual sources. It wanders at the same time what (methodological) use iconographical material has for contemporary history writing.