Institute of Journalism and Social Communication

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Uniwersytet Wrocławski

Research areas

Context

The Institute of Journalism and Social Communication employs 33 scholars who conduct research in several dozen of fields. Media Studies: Professor Jerzy Jastrzębski (an author of books on media axiology, the most recent one entitled “Upór poznawania”; [“The Urge to Explore. Media, Identity and Public Domain”]; Professor Igor Borkowski (Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Letters, the author of “Siostra Śmierć”, Studium językowo-komunikacyjne funeraliów Kongregacji Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Karola Boromeusza w Trzebnicy 1855-2005"), [“Sister Death. Communication-Cultural Study of Funerary Rites of St Charles Borromeo Congregation of Sisters of Mercy in Trzebnica]; Professor Aleksander Woźny (the author of “Radio drogi. Papieska stacja wobec Polski stanu wojennego" [“The Road Radio. Pope´s Radiostation  in Response to Martial Law in Poland”], Andrzej Bazan, Ph.D. (a theorist of journalistic genres), Małgorzata Czapiga, Ph.D. (a historian of ideas, the author of “Labirynt: inicjacja, podróż i zbłądzenie. Figura ludzkiego losu w kulturze europejskiej" [“Labyrinth: Initiation, Journey and Getting Lost. The Embodiment of Human Fate in European Culture’]); Marek Graszewicz, Ph.D.  (a theorist of media, the editor of publications “Teorie Komunikacji i Mediów” [“The Theories of Communication and Media”]); Katarzyna Konarska, Ph.D.  (the Deputy Head of Student Affairs, a researcher of media systems, the editor of “Colloquia Anthropologica et Communicativa”), Paweł Urbaniak, Ph.D. (the Deputy Head of the Institute, a researcher of media self-regulation systems), Adam Szynol, Ph.D. (a press expert, the editor of Polish edition of the European Journalism Observatory); Roman Wróblewski, Ph.D. (a researcher of the underground press, the editor of the series “Czas bibuły” [“The Time of the Underground Press”], the long term Head of the University Admissions Panel), Agnieszka Zwiefka-Chwałek, Ph.D. (the director of documentaries i.e. “Królowa ciszy” [“The Queen of Silence]”), Łukasz Żukowski,  Ph.D. (an expert on press law).

 

Literature, history, culture and reportage are the domain of Professor Andrzej Zawada (a literary historian, a Silesia historian, the author of “Mit czy świadectwo?” [“Myth or Truth?”]), Professor Stanisław Bereś (the author of extended interviews with Lem, Konwicki and Sapkowski, the editor of “Biblioteka Narodowa” [National Library Series]), Karol Maliszewski, Ph.D.  (a writer and author shortlisted for the Nike Literary Award for a literary criticism compendium “Rozproszone głosy” [“Dispersed Voices”]), Marta Łysik, Ph.D. (an Americanist), Professor Urszula Glensk (the author of “Historia słabych. Reportaż i życie w Dwudziestoleciu 1918- 1939” [“The History of the Weak. The Reportage and Life in the Interwar Period 1918-1939]), which garnered the “Polityka” award and was shortlisted for Złota Róża award). 

 

Film studies are in the scope of Professor Arkadiusz Lewicki (the Deputy Head of the Institute, the author of a monograph “Seks i Dziesiąta Muza. Erotyzm, relacje intymne i wzorce genderowe w kinie przedkodeksowym 1894-1934” [“Sex and the Tenth Muse. Eroticism, Intimate Relations and Gender Patterns in the Pre-code Cinema 1894-1934”]). 

The research on intercultural communication is the domain of Professor Izabela Surynt (the editor of the compendium „Interakcje. Leksykon komunikowania polsko-niemieckiego" [“Interaction. The Lexicon of Polish-German Communication]”), Jacek Grębowiec, Ph.D. (the author of a handbook “Mówić i działać. Wykłady z pragmatyki języka" [“Talking and Acting. Lectures on Language Pragmatics”]), Professor Bartosz Jastrzębski, (an essayist and editor), Jędrzej Morawiecki,  Ph.D. (a reporter and a theorist of reportage).

 

The Section of Public Relations has evolved under the auspices of Karina Stasiuk-Krajewska, Ph.D. The vision for the research on image communication and communication design is shared by the following members of staff: Professor Michael Fleischer (the founder of the Wroclaw School of Constructivism, the Head of the Communication Design Section), Professor Leszek Pułka (a cultural anthropologist, a theatre critic, the Head of the Image Communication Section), Professor Jerzy Biniewicz (a theorist of text pragmatics and a linguist of the scholar discourse), Professor Marek Bratuń (a historian of ideas, the author of a book “Ten wykwintny, wykształcony Europejczyk. Zagraniczne studia i podróże edukacyjne Michała Jerzego Wandalina Mniszcha w latach 1762-1768" [“The Refined and Educated European Gentleman. Studies Abroad and Educational Journeys of Michal Jerzy Wandalin Mniszch Between 1762-1768]), Maurycy Graszewicz, Ph.D. (a researcher of public relations), Dominik Lewiński, Ph.D. (a theorist of communication and corporate identity), Michał Grech, Ph.D. (looks at the methodology and research on communication), Patrycja Rozbicka, Ph.D. (conducts empirical research on communication), Annette Siemes, Ph.D. (researches normalising procedures in communication, the author of a book entitled “Normalność z perspektywy obserwatora – diagnoza" [“Normality from the Perspective of the Observer – a Diagnosis”]), Mariusz Wszołek, Ph.D. (a communication designer and researcher, the author of “Reklama - operacjonalizacja pojęcia" [“Advertising - Operationalisation of the Term] and “Reklama - perspektywa empiryczna" [“Advertising – The Empirical Perspective”].

 

The magazines put together at the institute complement our scholarly activities. It all started with “Nowe Media – Nowe w Mediach” [“New Media – What´s New in the Media”] published between 2005-2008  and edited by Igor Borkowski and Aleksander Woźny. The annual “Dziennikarstwo i Media” [“Journalism and Media”], edited by Professor Igor Borkowski, where the media researchers representing local and foreign research hubs put together their publications, is its successor. 

The magazine – as the editor claims – is also a springboard for excelling students, authors of bachelor’s and master’s theses, and Ph.D. students working towards their dissertations under the supervision of our lecturers. 

 

The subsequent volumes are sorted thematically: they comprise texts on media studies, public relations and image research. The magazine is rated 5 in parametric categories. The humanities character of the semi-annual “Znaczenia” [“Meanings”] is given away by the subtitle: “Kultura, Komunikacja, Społeczeństwo” [“Culture, Communication, Society”]. The subsequent volumes have a thematic character; they concentrate around significant notions of punishment, illusion, betrayal, shame, and neighbourhood. The title is on the ministerial list of recognised magazines (4 points); it has a countrywide reach and is available in retail distribution (i.e. Empik). Here you can find the best essay samples and interviews with intellectuals. Michael Fleischer is the editor of the online magazine “Communication Design Magazine” where the concepts of design, aesthetics, creative and communication process, corporate communication, corporate identity, advertising, non-dualistic communication strategies, form, code-sign-brand, and wabi-sabi are addressed. 

 

Team work has also yielded results. Andrzej Zawada edited a course book for creative writing “Jak zostać pisarzem. Pierwszy podręcznik dla autorów. [“How to Become a Writer. The First Coursebook for Writers”] (awarded by the publishers of “Magazyn Literacki Książki” [“Literary Magazine – Books”]. In cooperation with students we published two volumes of lectures and academic talks: “Salon III Rzeczpospolitej, czyli spotkania w Salonie Profesora Józefa Dudka” [“The Living Room of the Third Polish Republic, or meetings at Professor Jozef Dudek´s”]. Professor Fleischer´s team worked on “Słownik polszczyzny rzeczywistej" [“Dictionary of Real Polish”], documenting the usage of urban Polish, and the book entitled “Style życia w komunikacji - komunikacyjna stratyfikacja społeczeństwa polskiego społeczeństwa polskiego", [“Life Styles in Communication – Communicative Stratification of Polish Society”] in which the scholars make an attempt at typologising strata of Polish society, taking into account the manifestation of their life style. 

 

The staff members at our institute are involved in different forms of literary, journalistic, and artistic activity. A well-known journalist duet consists of Bartosz Jastrzębski and Jędrzej Morawiecki. For their book entitled “Krasnojarsk zero" [“Krasnoyarsk Zero”] they received Beata Pawlak Award. 

Their interests in ethnic cultures of the old Soviet empire have been revealed in their latest documentary: “Cztery zachodnie staruchy, opowieść o szmanizmie, ludowej religijności i innych demonach" [“Four Old Western Hogs, the Story of Shamanism, Folk Religiosity, and Other Demons”]. One of the greatest essays of recent years is “Drugi Bresław" [“The Second Breslaw”] by Andrzej Zawada (the previous volume “Bresław" was translated into Russian, German, Ukrainian, and Hungarian). The author of the poems and artistic prose is Karol Maliszewski and the publisher and the writer of fantasy-horror novels is Łukasz Śmigiel. Whereas Stanisław Bereś is the author of the longest running TV programme about books in the history of Polish TV – “Telewizyjne Wiadomości Literackie” [“TV Literary News”].

The people associated with the institute are not only award winners (i.e. Professor Bereś for “Historia literatury polskiej w rozmowach" [“The History of Polish Literature in Talks”] received Biblioteka Raczyńskich [The Raczynski Library] Award in Poznan, Urszula Glensk for “Szkice Po Kapuścińskim" [“Essays after Kapuściński”] was awarded by “Magazyn Literacki Książki” [“Literary Magazine – Books”]), but they are also members of jury panels;  they hold positions in the committee of Literacka Nagroda Europy Środkowej Angelus [The Angelus Central European Literature Award] (Professor Zawada, Professor Bereś), they are jury members of Turniej Reportażu im. Wandy Dybalskiej [Wanda Dybalska Reportage Competition] (Professor Arkadiusz Lewicki, Jędrzej Morawiecki, Ph.D.), jury members of a countrywide Magazine Column Competition. The students specialising in creative writing award their own distinctions within Nagroda za Reportaż Literacki im. Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego [The Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage]. A peculiar award (which no one wants to collect) is “Chamlet”, which is the prize for the worst advert broadcast in the Polish public domain. It is awarded in five categories by Communication Design Section. 

 

Professor Urszula Glensk
(the excerpt from the article "Historia Instytutu Dziennikarstwa i Komunikacji Społecznej" [“The History of the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication”] to be published in the book celebrating the 300th anniversary of the University of Wroclaw)

Scope

  • media and communication axiology (particularly taking into account the journalism and PR ethics),
  • the interdependencies between media, politics, culture, literature and music, 
  • media system with the special focus on EU countries,
  • statistical overview of the language of media, 
  • local and regional media, 
  • media in the sociological perspective, 
  • journalism as vocation and profession,
  • the theory of communication,
  • the theory of PR, CI, and advertising, 
  • persuasion in the rhetoric-pragmatic perspective, 
  • systematic theory of mediatisation of functional systems, 
  • film as an intermediary, 
  • the press in Lower Silesia, 
  • multinational and multicultural communication (with the focus on, first and foremost, Polish-German relations),
  • public opinion and political discourse in the media, 
  • propaganda as a form of social communication,
  • literary criticism and cultural criticism, 
  • the culture of Lower Silesia in the historical and communication perspective,
  • the mundane and the structure of subjectivity in the postmodern world.