(By Zha Jianguo)—“International Communication Forum”: Shanghai 2015 – Media Integration from the Perspective of Global Comparison was held at Shanghai University on the morning of October 25, 2015. About 100 people, including famous scholars from the US, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and South Korea, as well as those from domestic scientific research institutes and government affiliated research institutes attended the forum.

Professor Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, Professor Fritz Cropp, Vice Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, Researcher Tang Xujun, Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication and Director of the New Media Research Center of the CASS, Professor He Xiaoqing, Executive President of Shanghai Film Academy at Shanghai University, and Zheng Han, the academic leader of the Journalism and Communication Discipline at Shanghai University, attended and addressed the meeting. The meeting was presided by Professor Wu Xinxun, Director of Shanghai Innovation and Research Base/Studio for Social Sciences of Shanghai University.

At the forum, experts and scholars from both home and abroad aired views from diverse perspectives, including the innovative research on the production model for media convergence, the use of new media audience research, the innovative research on the mode for the industrial operation of emerging media, interaction between media and governments in the new media environment, the innovative research on social governance amid new media, the research on new media technologies and economic growth of diverse industries and research on the new order for international communication in the networked society. Through academic discussions, they analyzed the influence of new media, represented by the Internet, on information exchanges and on human behavior, social governance and economic formats as well as the innovative approaches and strategies used to expand media integration from the interdisciplinary perspective and at a higher theoretical level. The forum greatly promoted the interactions and exchanges among scholars from across the world on media integration from the perspective of global comparison.

The 2-day forum was jointly sponsored by Shanghai Academy, launched between the CASS and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Research Base for New Media Development Synergy established between the Research Center of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and Shanghai University, the Research Center for Media Integration Cooperation set up between Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University and the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the New Media Research Center of the CASS and the University of Copenhagen’s School of Media, Recognition and Communication, and organized by the Journalism and Communication Discipline of Shanghai University and Shanghai Innovation and Research Base/Studio for Social Sciences of Shanghai University.