‘Hudud’ (the frontiers) and ‘Fitna’ (chaos) were the key words of Fatema Mernissi’s childhood that family and school teachers referred to constantly. To elucidate the enigma of the ‘hudud’(the frontiers) became Mernissi’s obsessive focus since she started doing research as a sociologist for her PH.D dissertation which was to become her first non-fiction book under the title Beyond The Veil:Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society (Schenkmann, 1975; new edition, Indiana University Press, 1987). Why do human beings need ‘Hudud,’ that is boundaries which project differences (sex, caste, ethnicity, religion etc…) into visible geographic spatial landmarks to organize order? Decades later, most of her books were still about the frontiers, real or fictional, human beings engineer to avoid chaos (fitna), including her first and only fiction Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (Perseus,1994).

But in 1991, when she saw her building neighbors rushing into the souk (popular market) to buy satellite dishes to watch the first ‘Gulf War’ on CNN and after that rich Gulf Emirs investing furiously in Pan-Arabic television networks to anchor their rising digital global power, she shifted her research focus to the ‘Digital fitna’ (digital chaos). And the new enigma she has been trying to answer since then is the following: Why are we afraid of globalization, that is the vanishing of the State frontiers monitored by armies of well-equipped specialized police bodies? Why are human beings–who have dreamed since the dawn of civilization of flying and of developing wings to move faster and cross familiar boundaries to discover the unfamiliar–now afraid of globalization? To fly away, to escape from danger is one of the most archaic and obsessive dreams we have inherited from our ancestors, although they limited their fantasies to magic carpets and “wild birds as symbols of release or liberation,” while we don’t hesitate to include “jet planes and space rockets, for they are the physical embodiment of the same transcendent principle, freeing us at least temporarily from gravity.” So why do we privileged moderns who enjoy the wonderful advances of transport technology and can at last afford to travel far to meet strangers, find ourselves constantly harassed in airports, mesmerized by obscure threats of terrorism and senseless security procedures? What prevents us from experiencing globalization as a delightful enchantment? Why are we afraid of strangers? How can we control this fear by engineering a friendlier image of the stranger? How can we transform ourselves into successful Sindbads? These are the all encompassing themes of her latest research.

See her website

Dr. Indrajit Banerjee is currently the Secretary General of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC). He is also an Associate Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He completed his Ph.D. in communication studies from the Sorbonne University, Paris in 1994. Following his Ph.D. degree, Dr. Banerjee received a post-doctoral research fellowship from the Research Group on Cultural Industries and Social Informatisation, at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Dr. Banerjee has taught and conducted research in several universities around the world including the University of Quebec in Montreal and the University Science Malaysia. He has presented papers at many of the most prestigious international conferences and contributed articles to some of the leading journals in the field of media and communication research. He is currently involved in several research projects on Asian information technology initiatives. His main research areas include the social impact of information technology, media globalization and its cultural implications, broadcasting and media politics.

Peter Dahlgren is professor of media and communication studies at Lund University, Sweden. His research addresses the media's role in regard to democracy, citizenship, culture and identities in late modernity. Most recently he has been working on projects that focus on how young people make use of new ICT's for democratic participation. He has been a visitng scholar at several universities. Recent publications include the anthology Young Citizens and New Media (Routledge); forthcoming is Media and Civic Engagement (Cambridge).

Hopeton S. Dunn is the Academic Director of the Telecommunications Policy and Management Programme at the Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies where he holds an endowed Chair in Telecoms Policy Studies. He is Chairman of Jamaica’s regulatory Broadcasting Commission and also serves as Co-Chair of the IAMCR’s Communications Policy and Technology (CP&T) Section.

Peggy gray’s first encounter with IAMCR was going as assistant to the new President, Jim Halloran, to the Leipzig conference in 1974. From then on she was deeply involved as Administrative Secretary dealing with the membership from the Leicester headquarters, servicing International Council and Executive Board meetings, organising the 1976 Leicester conference and thereafter responsible with the local organising committees for the biannual conferences in Warsaw, Caracas, Paris, Prague, New Delhi, Barcelona and Lake Bled, where in 1990, she and Jim officially retired and became honorary life members of the Association. After Cees Hamelink became President, Peggy assisted in the hand over of the office and arranged the Brazil conference in 1992. She enjoyed a very happy working relationship with Jim, officers and members of the Association and made many longstanding friends around the world.

Cees J. Hamelink is Emeritus Professor of International Communication at the University of Amsterdam. He is currently Professor of Management of Information and Knowledge at the University of Aruba, Professor of Human Rights and Public Health at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, Honorary Professor of the University of Queensland, Brisbane and editor-in-chief of the International Communication Gazette. He is author of 17 monographs on communication and culture.

François Heinderyckx is Professor of media sociology and political communication at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) where he chairs the master in information and communication. His current research is directed towards news media, media education and information and communication technologies, with a particular emphasis on the digital divide and on e-government. He is President of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA).

Yves Jeanneret is professor at the Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse. His research interests deal with the role of communications in the socialisation to knowledge and culture, with the mutations of writing and the epistemology of communication. He has published many articles and books, among which : Ecrire la science : formes et enjeux de la communication (PUF, 1994), L’affaire Sokal ou la querelle des impostures (PUF, 1998), Y a-t-il (vraiment) des technologies de l’information ? (Septentrion, new edition 2007). He has also co-edited Lire, écrire, récrire : objets, signes et pratiques des médias informatisés (Editions de la BPI, 2003) et L’écriture des médias informatisés : espaces de pratiques (Hermès, 2007).

Armand Mattelart, emeritus professor in international communication in Paris 8 University, is a famous scholar who has extensively lectured in several universities and public institutions all over the world and especially in Latin America. He is the author of many books most of them translated in several languages- and a leading figure of a critical approach of media systems, of the information society and globalization theories.

Bernard Miège, emeritus professor in communication studies in Grenoble 3 Stendhal University and a member of the Gresec research centre. Author of 16 books (several translated in several languages) and of many articles. His research interests are: culture and information industries; history and epistemology of information and communication studies.

Miquel de Moragas is Professor of Communication at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Director of the Institute of Communication (InCom-UAB) since its creation in 1998. He is a former Dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences and a former Vice-rector of Research of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1985-1989). He is the author of more than 20 books about "policies of communication" and "Olympic movement", his two main areas of research. These books include Teorías de la comunicación (1981 and 1984), Sociología de la comunicación de masas (4 volumes, Ed., 1984), Television in the Olympics. Communicating Policies, Culture and Sport in Barcelona '92 (1995), La televisió pública a l'era digital (2000).

Hamid Mowlana is Professor of International Relations and International Communication at the School of International Service, American University. He served as the Founding Director of the International Communication Program from 1968-2005. He was president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR/AIERI/AIICS) from 1994-1998 and is now honorary president of this association. He has won numerous national and international awards for outstanding scholarship, research, and other professional contributions. He is the recipient of the International Studies Association’s (ISA) “Distinguished Senior Scholar Award.”

Professor Mowlana has been a visiting professor at universities in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa and has worked for UNESCO in Paris. He has written extensively on international communication, cultural and psychological aspects of international relations, and worldwide socio-economic development. Among his many books are Defeat or Victory?: Essays on the American Invasion of Iraq (2003); Civil Society: A Critique (2002); The Pattern (Model) of Islamic Press and Media (2002); The Rise and Fall of Modernity (2000); Global Information and World Communication: New Frontiers in International Relations (1968, 1997); Global Communication in Transition: The End of Diversity? (Sage, 1996); The Passing of Modernity: Communication and the Transformation of Society (Longman, 1990); The Global Media Debate: Its Rise, Fall, and Renewal (Ablex Publications, 1993); Communication Technology and Development: International Flow of News (UNESCO, 1988); Triumph of the Image: The Media’s War in the Persian Gulf (Westview, 1992); and Invisible Crises: What Conglomerate Control of Media Means for America and the World (Westview, 1996). A number of these books have been published in other languages.

Kaarle Nordenstreng is Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Tampere, Finland. Before this position to which
he was appointed in 1971 (at the age of 30) he was head of research and journalist at the Finnish Brodcasting Company. He has PhD in psychology at the University of Helsinki (1969). Member of IAMCR since 1966, he was Vice President in 1972-88 and head of Section for Professional Education in 1988-96.

Emeritus professor of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; coordinator of the Unesco chair of Communication of the University and cooperator in the doctoral programme of the Universitat Ramon LLull, Barcelona. Member of the Deontological Councils of "el Consell de la Informació de Catalunya" and of the "Federación de Asociaciones de la Prensa de España", Madrid. Member of the Cientific Council of the Maison de Sciences de l'Homme, Université Paris-8; chevalier des Palmes Académiques

Dr Terhi Rantanen is Director of the MSc Programme in Global Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, a pioneer joint programme between the LSE and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and Fudan University, Shanghai. Her publications include The Globalization of News (with O. Boyd-Barrett, Sage, 1998), The Global and the National. Media and Communications in Post-Communist Russia (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), The Media and Globalization (Sage, 2005) and When News Was New (Blackwell, 2008). She is a founding editor of Global Media and Communications (Sage, 2005-).

Professor, University Paris II (French Press Institute). Director of the Master degree course in  journalism. Teaches courses in media sociology, communication theory and the sociology of journalism. Research fields: journalists (identity and professional practices), intellectuals (as networks, actors and influences in the public sphere), and the examination of the relationships between media and culture (culture as a market, and the symbolic capital of the media).

Ruth Teer-Tomaselli is a Professor of Culture, Communication and Media Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. She holds and UNESCO Chair in Communication for southern Africa. She is a past Vice-President of IAMCR, and sits on the editorial boards of several international journals, including Critical Arts ), Feminist Media Studies, ( both Routledge); European Journal of Cultural Studies and Global Media and Communication (both Sage), The Journal of International Communication, (Macquarie Univerisity, Sydney, Australia) and Ecquid Novi: A Journal for Journalism in Southern Africa, (University of Stellenbosch). Ruth’s research interests include the political economy of broadcasting and telecommunications in Southern Africa; programme production on television; radio, particularly community radio; and the role of media in development. Ruth is an avid gardener, and nurtures a spectacular collection of bonsai trees.

Hifzi Topuz attended the faculty of law in Istanbul and obtained a doctorate from the University of Strasbourg. He was first a journalist and then the editor in chief of the Turkish daily, Aksam, and a founding member of the Journalists’ Union in Istanbul. From 1959 to 1983, he was an international civil servant at UNESCO, in charge of the department for the free circulation of information, where he conducted many projects, especially in Africa, India and the Philippines. In 1986, he created the Turkish Association for Communication Research, which he still presides today.

Elena Vartanova is professor, PhD and D.Sc. in journalism and mass media, Chair in media theory and economics at the Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, Deputy dean for research. Her research interest is in the field of media economics and comparison of media systems, particularly that of Russia, post-Soviet states, Nordic countries, UK, and USA, transformation of Russian media, influences of new technologies on established media structures, digital divide. She lectures on media economics, theories of media management, media systems. She has published 4 monographs in Russian and edited 6 English-language books, more than 100 articles in Russian and English, including the first Russian language text-book on media economics (Moscow 2003). Her the most recent book 'Encyclopedia of World Media Industries' (Moscow 2006) has been awarded as the best university book of the year at the all-Russia book competition.

Yassen Zassoursky is the Dean of the School of Journalism at the Moscow State University that he has run for nearly four decades. He is a famous Russian scholar who has extensively published. He has been invited for lectures and conferences in many countries.
He is a key figure of the IAMCR and he has played a crucial role in maintaining the link between the eastern and western worlds. He has been Vice-President of the association for 20 years (1968-1988).

Aimée Vega Montiel has a doctorate in journalism and communication from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and a master’s degree in Communication sciences from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She teaches at UNAM in the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales. In 1994 she received the Medalla Alfonso Caso awarded by UNAM. She is currently doing research in the Programa de Investigación Feminista del Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades (CEIICH), at UNAM. She also was president of AMIC (Asociación Mexicana de Investigadores de la Comunicación) from 2005-2007, in which she coordinates the research group on Gender and communication. Among her numerous publications, she counts Políticas de comunicación social y desarrollo regional en América Latina, vols. I y II. A 25 años del Informe Mc Bride.

Barbie Zelizer is the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication and Director of the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. A former journalist, Zelizer has authored or edited seven books, including the award-winning Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory Through the Camera's Eye (Chicago, 1998), Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of Collective Memory (Chicago, 1992) and Journalism After September 11 (with Stuart Allan, Routledge, 2002). In 2004, she published Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy (Sage) and Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (with Stuart Allan, Routledge). A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Freedom Forum Center Research Fellowship, and a Fellowship from Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, Zelizer is also a media critic, whose work has appeared in The Nation, the Jim Lehrer News Hour, Newsday, and Radio National of Australia. Coeditor of Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, she is presently working on a book on about-to-die photographs and journalism.