Dr. Jonathan. Ilan

Email
Jonathan.Ilan@biu.ac.il
CV

Dr. Ilan joined as Lecturer to Bar-Ilan’s School of Communication after he had completed his PhD at the University of Westminster in London. Dr. Ilan focuses his work on the fields of cultural production and visual culture, and particularly in the ways these intersect with international news media, news production and news organizations. In  one of his most significant projects, for example, Dr. Ilan had conducted an extensive ethnographic research that was carried out in three different countries (Israel, the UK and Singapore) whereby the international production processes of news pictures were explored. This was done in an attempt to understand what news is in its photographic form, and the ways through which such processes illustrate the overall production of newsworthiness. In this project, Ilan was able to connect international news, cultural production and visual culture, and his work serves as a meaningful contribution to the study of news. In 2018, Ilan published his first book (“The International Photojournalism Industry”, Routledge) based on his findings from this extensive project, and it is amongst the few titles whereby a connection is being made between media ethnography, international news organizations and news photography. Dr. Ilan has published his work in various leading international peer-reviewed journals.

Research
  • Cultural production: Cultural identity, Cultural Industries
  • News Media: News Organizations, News Production, International News media, News Technologies 
  • Visual  Culture: Photojournalism, Live-Broadcast Technologies
  • Qualitative Research Methods: Media Ethnography, Visual Analysis
Courses

UNDERGRADUATE

Bar-Ilan University

  • “Visual Communication” (Compulsory, also as part of the International Students’ program of studies)
  • “A Critical Introduction to Photography” (Optional)
  • “Qualitative Research Methods” (Compulsory)
  • “History of Communication” (Compulsory)
  • “News in TV and Film” (Seminar)
  • “The Manufacturers of News” (Seminar)

 

University of Westminster, London

  • “News and Public Opinion” (Seminar leader)
  • “Story/Sound/Image/ Text” (Seminar leader)

 

Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC)

  • “Content Production for New Media” (Course designer, Lecturer,  Teaching

            Assistant and Newsroom manager)

  • “TV and Current Affairs - Practical Experience” (Course designer, Lecturer

            Newsroom manager  and Teaching Assistant)

  • “Media & Society” (Teaching Assistant)

 

Tel-Aviv University

  • “Entertainment and Propaganda in Cinema and TV (Teaching Assistant)

 

Hebrew University

  • “Textual-Visual Discourse” (Teaching Assistant)
  • “History of Social Thinking” (Teaching Assistant)
  • “Entertainment and Propaganda in Cinema and TV” (Teaching Assistant)
  • “The News Industry” (Teaching Assistant)

 

GRADUATE COURSES

MA

Bar-Ilan University

  • “News in TV and Film” (Seminar)
  • “The Manufacturers of News” (Seminar)
  • “Cultural approaches to communication” (Optional)
Publications

Books

  • Ilan, J. (2018). The International Photojournalism Industry: Cultural Production and the Making and Selling of News Pictures. New York, NY: Routledge.

 

Articles (published/accepted for publication)

  • Ilan, J. (2024). “What the Heck is Going On in the Group!”: Challenging Journalistic Authority by Pseudo-Professional WhatsApp News Groups. Journalism Practice, 1-17. 

  • Ilan, J. (2024). News Production and the People of Silence: Pseudo-Professional WhatsApp News Groups in the Era of News Mobility. Journalism Studies, 25(6),  643-661.

  • Ilan, J. (2022). Live and Kicking: Digital Live Broadcasting Technologies, Participating Strangers and News Mobility. International Journal of Communication, 16, 2325-2344.

  • Ilan, J. (2021). We Now Go Live: Digital Live-News Technologies and the “Reinvention of Live” in Professional TV News Broadcasting. Digital Journalism, 9(4), 481-499.

  • Ilan, J. (2020). Glocalization and international news-photo production: News images from Israel made for global news markets. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 21(6), 784-799.

  • Ilan, J. (2019). Saving some news for later: The making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler. Communication Review, 22(1), 26-44.

  • Ilan, J. (2017). News and the word-image problematic: A (key)word on international news pictures production. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 18(8), 977-993.

  • Ilan, J., and Kama, A. (2016). Where has all the magic gone?: Audience interpretive strategies of The Hobbit’s film/novel rivalry. Participations, 13(2), 289-307.

  • Ilan, J. (2015) Over a dead body: International coverage of grief. Semiotica, 2015(205), 229-242.

  • Ilan, J. (2015) Just when I thought I was in: Gaining access in a new(s) production ethnography. Journalism Practice, 9(2), 153-167.

  • Ilan, J. (2014) Intertextuality and news photography production: International making of a pictorial echo. International Journal of Communication 8, 2879-2898.

  • Ilan, J. (2013) The best of both worlds: The story of the Reuters picture service. Media History 19(1), 74-92

 

Book Chapters

  • Ilan, J. (2025). Global Photojournalism Distribution Networks. In Boyd-Barrett, O. and Aguiar, P. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of News Agencies. London: Routledge. (forthcoming)

  • Ilan, J. (2022). Glocalization and news production. In: Roudometof, V. and Dessi, U. (Eds.),Handbook of Culture and Glocalization (pp. 289-304). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

 

Articles in the media

 

Conference Presentations 

  • “What the Heck is Going On Here in the Group!”: A Pseudo-professional WhatsApp News Group Claiming Journalistic Authority”. Paper presented at the 74th ICA conference (Mobile Communication Division) held at Gold Coast, Australia, June 2024 [on-line].

  • “WhatsApp with the News: Non-Professional WhatsApp News Groups and Digital Prodnewsers in the Era of News Mobility”. Paper presented at the FOJ2023 (Future of Journalism) conference held at Cardiff University in Wales, UK, September 2023.

  • “The News People of Silence: Non-Professional WhatsApp News Groups and Digital Prodnewsers in the Era of News Mobility”. Paper presented at the annual MeCCSA (Media, Communications and Cultural Studies) conference held at the Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, Scotland, September 2023.

  • The 73rd ICA (International Communication Association) conference held at Toronto, Canada (Chair of the “Visual Affect: Self and Others” panel and Discussant at the “Future of Images, Imagining Futures: Evolving Technologies and Emerging Visual Trends”, Visual Communication Studies Division). 

  • The 25th ISCA (Israeli Communication Association) conference held at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel, April 2023 (chair and commentator, Computer-Mediated Relations)

  • The 24th ISCA (Israeli Communication Association) conference held at the Hebrew University, Israel, June 2022 (chair and commentator, Social Gaps and National Disruption).

  • “Live and Kicking: Digital Live-Broadcasting Technologies, Participating Strangers and News Mobility. Paper presented at the 72nd ICA conference (Mobile Communication Division) held at Paris, France, May 2022.

  • “Live and Kicking: Digital Live Broadcast Technologies, Live “Prodnewsers” and News Mobility”. Paper presented at the 8th International Congress of Audiovisual Researchers (CIIA) [on-line] held at the University of  Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal, June 2021. 

  • “We Now Go Live: Digital Live-News Technologies and the “Reinvention of Live” in Professional TV News Broadcasting. Paper presented at the 27th SEP International Congress (Digital Transformation: Challenges and Expectations for Journalism) conference [on-line] held at Seville, Spain, May 2021.

  • “Reinventing Live in the News? LiveU’s Digital Live Broadcast Technology and its Implementation in Professional TV News”. Paper presented at the IAMCR [on-line] conference (Journalism Research & Education section) held at Tampere, Finland, July 2020.

  • “Who was wrong and where”. Conference held at the Begin-Saadat Center for strategic research (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, May 2019 (Chairman at the session: “The Blue & White party’s Commanders in Chief of the IDF and the Israeli Left: A sign of hope or disappointment?”).

  • “Saving some news for later: The making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler”. Paper presented at the Third biennial conference of the Brussels Institute for Journalism Studies (BIJU) (“What’s (the) News? Values, Viruses and Vectors of Newsworthiness”) held at Brussels, Belgium, December 2018.

  • “Local news imagery for global news markets: Glocalization and international news-photo production”. Paper presented at the ICA conference (Journalism Studies Division) held at Prague, Czech Republic, May 2018.

  • The 22nd ISCA (Israeli Communication Association) conference held at the College of Management, Rishon Lezion, Israel, March 2018 (commentator at the Media and National Memory panel).

  • “Film—Novel Rivalry in the Eyes of the Beholders: Viewers’ Observations on the Hobbit Cinematographic Adaptations”. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Association of Adaptation Studies Conference held at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, September 2017.

  • “A cinematic triumph or a catastrophic adaptation: Interpretive struggles of The Hobbit’s cinematic adaptation”. Paper presented at the Israeli Communications Association (ISCA) held at the Sapir College, Israel, April 2017. 

  • “Where has all the magic gone?: Audience interpretive strategies of The Hobbit’s film-novel rivalry”. Paper presented at the Edinburgh International Film Audiences Conference (EIFAC) held at Edinburgh, Scotland, March 2017.

  • “Visual images for global news markets: Production mechanisms and international news organizations”. Paper presented at the “News images and icons in the digital age: Photojournalism in transition” workshop held at Tel-Aviv and Hebrew universities, Israel, January 2017.

  • “Words selling images: International news pictures’ production and the word force dedicated to their commercial success”. Paper presented at the ICA conference (Media Industries division) held at Fukuoka, Japan, June 2016.

  • “News and the word-image problematic: A (key)word on international news pictures’ production”.  Paper presented at the ISCA conference held at Kineret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel, April 2016.

  • “News and the word-image problematic: A (key)word on international news pictures’ production”. Paper presented at the IAMCR conference (Journalism Research & Education section) held at UQAM, Montreal, Canada, July 2015.

  • “Picturing the World's News: News Photography, Cultural Production, Thomson Reuters and the International Process of News Making”  presented at the “Advancing Media Production Research” – an  International Communication Association (ICA) post-conference symposium, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, June 2013.

  • “Picturing the World's News: News Photography and Cultural Production in 'Thomson-Reuters’ International News Agency”. Presented at "History of electronic images: a long term perspective”. Cite’ des Te’le’coms, Pleumeur-Bodou, France. September, 2009.

  • Doctoral thesis presented at the “Media, Communication and information Technologies: Developing Perspectives in Social Research” workshop. London School of Economics and Political Science. June 2009.

  • “Shooting News for the world to see: Production Processes of News Pictures in a Global News Agency”. Paper presented at the conference “Behind the Camera, in front of the system”, Hadassah college of Jerusalem, Israel, May 2007.

Last Updated Date : 24/07/2024