The Department of Communications and Journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš invites scholars and researchers to the fifth international scientific conference Media and Challenges of the Modern Society 2026. The conference will focus on the role of media self-regulation, journalistic ethics and contemporary transformations of media systems in the digital era. The event will bring together researchers from different countries to exchange knowledge on media ethics, artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and the future of journalism.

Argument

The Department of Communications and Journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, invites scholars and media professionals to participate in the fifth international scientific conference Media and Challenges of the Modern Society 2026, which will take place on May 29, 2026, in Niš, Republic of Serbia, in a hybrid format (on-site and online).

The plenary lecture titled “Who Safeguards Media Ethics? Self-Regulation as a Practice of Professional Responsibility” will be delivered by Dr Sandra Sprudzāne, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Economics and Governance at Riga Technical University Rezekne Academy (Latvia) and senior expert of the Public Service Mass Media Council.

The central thematic session of this year's conference is “The Modernity of Media Self-Regulation in Europe.” The conference aims to explore the role of self-regulatory mechanisms in safeguarding journalistic ethics, strengthening public interest and addressing the challenges of contemporary media systems.

In addition to the main session, the conference will include thematic panels on:

• The future of self-regulation in media
• Public interest and self-regulation in a commercialized media environment
• Media and digital literacy in the 21st century
• Legal regulation and self-regulation in the media
• Artificial intelligence and journalism
• Changing journalistic practices under the influence of AI
• Political communication in the age of artificial intelligence
• Advertising in the post-truth era
• Social networks and digital platforms as media actors
• Media and privacy in the digital sphere
• Security in digital space
• Philosophy and media
• Aesthetics, hypermedia and hyperconsumerism

Submission guidelines

Conference languages: Serbian and English

Abstract submission deadline: April 1, 2026

Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2026

Abstracts should contain the author’s affiliation, paper title, abstract (max 250 words) and up to five keywords.

A book of abstracts with ISBN will be published. Selected and positively reviewed papers will be published in the journal Applied Media Studies.

For additional information:
Department of Communications and Journalism
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Nišmisd@filfak.ni.ac.rs

Participation fee

6000 RSD / 50 EUR

Organizing committee

• Neven Obradović - PhD, Associate Professor at the Department of Comunicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - President of the Committee
• Ivana Stamenković - PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of Comunicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Dušan Aleksić - PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of Comunicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Andrej Blagojević - PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of Comunicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Neda Necić– PhD in Communicology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Ilija Milosavljević– PhD in Communicology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Jovana Trajković - PhD student of the Doctoral Academic Studies of Media and Society, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Tamara Tasić– PhD student of the Doctoral Academic Studies of Media and Society, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Danica Popović - PhD student of the Doctoral Academic Studies of Media and Society, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Irina Filipović - PhD student of the Doctoral Academic Studies of Media and Society, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member
• Aleksa Mitić– PhD student of the Doctoral Academic Studies of Media and Society, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš - Member

Scientific Committee

• Chairman of the Scientific Committee MISD2026 : Ivana Stojanović Prelević, PhD, Full professor, Department of Communicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia

Members

• Maria Lola Bañon Castellón, PhD, Full professor, University of Valencia, Spain. Department: Language Theory and Communications Sciences;
• Gordana Vilović, PhD Full professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
• Ralitsa Kovacheva, PhD, Associate professor, History and Theory of Journalism Department, Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication , Sofia University "St.Kliment Ohridski", Bulgaria;
• Straško Stojanovski, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Political and Legal-Political Sciences,  Goce Delčev University, Štip, Macedonia ;
• Marko Nedeljković, PhD Assistant professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia;
• Ljubiša Bojić, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Digital Society Lab.
• Tatjana Vulić, PhD, Full professor, Department of Communicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia;
• Marija Vujović, PhD, Associate professor, Department of Communicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia;
• Marta Mitrović, PhD, Associate professor, Department of Communicology and Journalism, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia