ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

January 12-15, 2027

Lisbon, Portugal

Deadline: December 15, 2026

Human dignity is perhaps more at risk today than at any other time in recent memory. Subject to targeted threats like exploitation, misrepresentation and humiliation alongside the more subtle erosion caused by persistent violence, exclusion and inequality, most of us live within entrenched systems that deny us some form of recognition, agency and the right to speak freely or dissent from those in power. Exacerbated by the tumult and uncertainty of war, geopolitical tension, tribalism, exclusionary politics and victimization, today’s realities force growing numbers of individuals into silence, left unable to cope with loss, invisibility, worthlessness, disregard, displacement and dehumanization. Dignity flounders when suffering is normalized, empathy diminished and the protection of human rights abandoned. Today, even threats to dignity that were long avoided or banned—such as public shaming, brute objectification, ignominy, spectacles of violence and hate speech—are back in our lives with a vengeance.

So perhaps it is no surprise that dignity prompts more responses and questions than scholars can easily settle. Some see dignity as an unassailable right—echoing Immanuel Kant’s famous dictum that dignity requires treating individuals as ends, not means—while others maintain its vagueness undercuts its conceptual worth. Some perseverate whether dignity is a value or status, and others wonder whether the concept of dignity is primarily moral, legal or political in nature. Larger questions of impact—how dignity’s repudiation can best be stymied, against which institutions and structures does dignity need to be assessed or with which institutions and structures can it best thrive—remain out of reach. All the while, threats to human dignity continue to loom large, even as we have not figured out how best to identify them, much less wrestle with their resolution.

Hannah Arendt steers us toward the media as a solution to dignity’s predicaments. In her seminal work The Human Condition, she not only makes clear that totalitarianism destroys people’s dignity but also that the respect for human dignity entails recognizing others as “builders of worlds or cobuilders of a common world.” Respect for—or violation of—the right of others to live a dignified life is manifested not only in concrete actions but also in mediated narratives that cultivate empathy or hostility, shaping the humanization or dehumanization of individuals, communities and even nations. Dignity, therefore, is not only safeguarded or threatened by political institutions but is also continuously negotiated within media environments, through communicative practices and regimes of representation.

We aim, then, to shift the discussion of dignity by asking what role do the media play in dignity’s centering and assailment. How do the media help and hinder its presence? As sites of symbolic power, the media both witness and report on dignity’s ascendance and descendance as well as on the conditions that promote its intensification and diminishment. They also give it shape, by determining whose dignity matters and in which way, whose voices are heard and whose remain silenced. Can the media help ensure a more widespread sense of individual and collective worth, acceptance and belonging? And should we expect them to do so? 

In today’s challenging and uncertainty times, the 2027 Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication will discuss the interconnections between Media and Dignity. Dignity can be addressed from a wide range of perspectives, understood as a moral construct but also as a communicative practice that is enacted, negotiated, and either affirmed or violated through language, representation and public visibility. How do the media represent individuals, communities and nations that are presented as threats in political discourses? How do communication practices reproduce or contest stereotypes that legitimize discrimination? And what about those faced to live or flee war: how are their voices made (in)visible? Beyond the media, how do activists use different communitive tools to promote human dignity? Which strategies can be used to push back on exclusionary politics and its promotion of the “other” as unworthy of living a dignified life? How do online harassment, political intimidation and precarious labor conditions undermine journalists’ and media practioners’ capacity to act as advocates of human dignity? These are just some of the questions we aim to debate at the 7th edition of the Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication—a venture begun by the Faculty of Human Sciences (Universidade Católica Portuguesa) and the Center for Media@Risk (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania)—and now coordinated by the Faculty of Human Sciences (Universidade Católica Portuguesa), the Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Journalism and Communication, the University of Helsinki’s Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities and The Europaeum.

We welcome proposals by doctoral students and early career post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to discuss the intertwined relations between media and dignity in different geographies and temporalities. The list below illustrates some of topics for possible consideration. Other topics dealing with media and dignity are also welcome:

-       Human dignity in war and tragedy

-       Covering loss, suffering and displacement

-       Media activism and the promotion of human dignity

-       Otherness and dignity

-       Loss of reputation

-       Us versus Them narratives

-       Stereotypes and misrepresentations 

-       Visibility and invisibility in the media 

-       Symbolic exclusion versus mutual recognition

-       The effect of sensationalism on representation 

-       Attacks on free speech

-       Online harassment and political threats and intimidation

-       Digital media and humiliation

-       Reality TV

-       Cyberbullying, trolling, image based violence and online harassment

-       Exclusionary politics and dehumanization 

-       Discursive eroding of human dignity

-       Human rights amidst war and exclusionary politics

-       Denouncing hate speech and aggression against gender, racial and religious minorities

-       The platformization of news: reducing journalists to content producers

-       Media, precarity and professional dignity

-       Algorithms, AI and human dignity

-       The eroding of human dignity in specific national or regional contexts

-       … 

PAPER PROPOSALS

Proposals should be sent to lisbonwinterschool@ucp.pt no later than 15 September 2026 and include a paper title, extended abstract in English (700 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research. Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by early October. 

FULL PAPER SUBMISSION 

Presenters will be required to submit full papers (max. 20 pages, 1.5 spacing) by 15 December 2026. The papers will be shared with the respondents but will not be published online. After the Lisbon Winter School, the authors of some of the best papers may be invited to publish their work in a special journal issue.  

ORGANIZERS

Nelson Ribeiro & Barbie Zelizer 

CONVENORS

Sarah Banet-Weiser,  Risto Kunelius & Francis Lee

For more information visit lisbonwinterschool.com

Edited by : Jorge Vázquez-Herrero, María-Cruz Negreira-Rey, and Ana-Isabel Rodríguez-Vázquez

'TikTok Journalism' offers an international perspective on news, media, and journalists in the age of platforms and short-form video

The book 'TikTok Journalism: News, Media, and Journalists in the Short Video Era' has recently been published by Peter Lang. This collective work compiles international research and perspectives on the evolution and challenges of news and journalism on TikTok.

TikTok has become an increasingly central platform in the contemporary media landscape, transforming how news is produced, distributed, and consumed. As media platformization advances, news organizations and journalists are adapting to an environment shaped by algorithmic recommendations, virality, platform affordances, emerging formats, trends, and new forms of audience engagement.

The volume includes 31 chapters authored by 58 scholars from 15 countries, and is organized into five thematic sections: understanding and researching TikTok journalism; news media outlets; journalists; audiences and the public sphere; and information disorders and fact-checking. The book features a foreword by Claudia Mellado, professor and researcher at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

This book is the first in our field to capture TikTok's profound influence on journalism worldwide. With a globally diverse ensemble of authors and case studies, TikTok Journalism sets the agenda for understanding how news is being reshaped by short video, algorithmic culture, and platform logics -and why that matters for the future of media and public life.

Seth C. Lewis – University of Virginia

TikTok Journalism is a timely and comprehensive volume that examines how journalism is evolving on a hugely popular short-form video platform. By bringing together diverse perspectives and contexts, the book offers a space for a much-needed reflection on what journalism is, what it should be, and what it could become.

Edson C. Tandoc Jr. – Nanyang Technological University Singapore

The book is edited by Jorge Vázquez-Herrero, María-Cruz Negreira-Rey, and Ana-Isabel Rodríguez-Vázquez, with the support of the Novos Medios research group (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela). 'TikTok Journalism' is now available through Peter Lang's website and other platforms, and it will become open access within one year.

The #ECC2026, hosted by the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University, titled "Shifting Grounds: Paths, Connections, and Futures," takes place from 8-11 September in the Czech Republic. The 2026 ECC theme captures the urgency and potential of communication in shaping multiple possible futures and brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on current academic challenges. Stay in touch with #ECC2026 on Facebook, BlueSky and LinkedIn. 

Follow the conference on Facebook and Bluesky for regular updates, highlights, and moments from Brno. If LinkedIn is your preferred platform, follow the Department of Media Studies and Communication, where we will share the most important conference highlights.

Sofie Van Bauwel, Tonny Krijnen

This is not merely a book on methods; it is a toolbox designed to provide students with the critical guidelines and ethical reflections needed to conduct research on gender and media. It serves as an indispensable researcher’s companion, guiding them through every step – from selecting a research topic to drawing meaningful conclusions from their analysis.

The emphasis is on critical thinking and reflection in relation to inequalities, power, and privilege, encouraging readers to consider the consequences of research choices and guiding them through difficult dilemmas in relation to methods and ethics. With a focus on mass media, this book discusses a variety of methods and methodologies that can be used to study media representations, production, and consumption. Throughout, textboxes, references to further reading, exercises, and contemporary case studies help readers understand how to apply specific methodologies and methods in their research.

Researching Gender and Media: Tools, Guidelines, and Ethical Reflections is essential reading for any student interested in conducting research on gender and media, from undergraduate to graduate level. This book will also benefit instructors teaching research methods courses with a focus on gender and media.

More information on the book can be found on https://www.routledge.com/Researching-Gender-and-Media-Tools-Guidelines-and-Ethical-Reflections/VanBauwel-Krijnen/p/book/9781032490908

PhD course (7.5 credits, distance learning online)

Course leader Annette Hill

Dates: spring 2027 Thursday afternoons, January to March

PhD thesis work takes multiple forms, from monographs and journal articles, to conference presentations and collaboration in networks. This course engages with thesis work in humanities and social sciences and explores and examines the various ways to publish in the academic landscape.

The course contextualises the publishing environment for academic writing, including recorded talks with leading publishers (eg Routledge and Intellect) on their tips for publishing with large and medium sized academic publishers. The course addresses journal publishing, from submitting an article, to editing a journal and reviewing for journals. There is a focus on abstract writing, from conferences to submissions for calls for contributions to journals and edited collections, to abstracts for academic writing that makes the authors stand out from the crowd in terms of searching and impact. And the course navigates book proposals, book chapters and tips on writing and handling editorial feedback for different collections and editorial teams.

Students taking this course will be able to motivate a publications plan arising from their thesis work and evaluate quality practices for academic writing in different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Course Team

Course leader: Annette Hill is Professor of Media and Communications at Jönköping University. Her research focuses on media audiences, with interests in media engagement and experiences, everyday life, genres, production studies and cultures of viewing. She is the author of eleven books and over 90 articles and book chapters. Her latest book with Peter Lunt is The Routledge Companion to Media Audiences (2024). Her next book is Media Imaginaries (with Joke Hermes and Simon Dawes, Intellect 2026).

Guest speaker: Natalie Foster is Senior Publisher for Communication and Media Arts at Routledge and has over twenty years’ experience commissioning media and cultural studies books.

Guest speaker: Julia Brockley is Senior Commissioning Editor for Media and Communication Studies at Intellect and a Senior Associate with Maverick Publishing Specialists. Her publishing experience, which spans over 25 years, includes all product types - books, journals, reference, and digital resources.

How to Apply?

Click link to register online by 30 November, and email Annette Hill with CV and short cover letter

Course syllabuses are available on the doctoral program's website. Jönköping University

Register here no later than 30 November.

April 12-13, 2027

Turin, Italy

Abstract submission deadline: September 30, 2026

The conference explores the circulation, transformation and reinterpretation of cultural heritage from an interdisciplinary perspective. It welcomes contributions addressing the intersections between media, media practices and cultural heritage, including the circulation of audiovisual media, archives and memories, formats and modes of mediation, and the role of media in the transmission and transformation of cultural heritage.

The call is open to PhD researchers and early-career scholars who obtained their PhD no more than three years ago, working in media and communication studies, cultural heritage studies, game studies, and related fields.

Full Call for Abstracts (english version below):

https://dott-patrimonio.campusnet.unito.it/do/avvisi.pl/ShowFile?_id=8hte;field=allegato;key=LQbXrWYUjgc7MU2Dh9E9NI5LeLiT5LCXA;t=8682

November 18, 2026

University of Klagenfurt

Deadline: September 30, 2026

Early-Career Workshop "How to Deal with Challenging Platform Environments? Ethics and Methodological Self-Reflection", organized by the early career representatives of the Visual Communication Section of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) as a pre-conference to the annual conference "25 Years of Images in Focus. Paradigms, Practices and Perspectives".

The workshop is aimed at doctoral candidates, postdocs and master's students and offers space for shared discussion of ethical and methodological challenges in researching particularly challenging visual platform environments (ranging from extremist content to mental health communities to kidfluencers). The program's first part features keynote talks by Moa Eriksson Krutrök (Associate Professor in Sociology at Umeå University, Sweden), Veronica Bezold (Research Associate in the ForGeRex research consortium at the University of Passau) and Franziska Koschei (Research Associate in the Research Department of JFF – Institute for Media Education in Research and Practice and part of the "ForGeRex" research consortium), while the second part consists of interactive Method & Ethics Circles addressing individual cases brought by the workshop participants.

The workshop aims to conclude with the joint development of a working paper. The workshop will take place in hybrid format on November 18, 2026 (10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.) at the University of Klagenfurt. Participation is free of charge. Contributions (max. 300 words) can be submitted until September 30, 2026. Registration is also possible for the keynote talks only. For further information, please see the Call for Participation on the conference website. (Submission deadline: September 30, 2026)

mediastudies.press invites you to join Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz and Yves Winkin for the launch of the Goffman in the Open book series. The free, one-hour online event will highlight the first three books in the series: Winkin’s From Erving to Goffman: A Work in Performance? (2026), Leeds-Hurwitz’s Mapping Goffman’s Invisible College (2025), and Goffman’s 1953 dissertation, Communication Conduct in an Island Community (2026, with an introduction by Winkin)—all diamond open access. Leeds-Hurwitz and Winkin will speak about the backstories of their books, with Winkin adding details about his visit to Unst, the Scottish island-site of Goffman’s dissertation fieldwork. Plenty of time will be set aside for Q&A. 

• September 18, 2026
  
• 14:00 UTC (10am EDT/3pm BST/4pm CET)
  
• One hour
  
• Register here
  

mediastudies.press is a scholar-led, nonprofit, no-fee open access publisher in the media, film, and communication studies fields.

Questions? Email press@mediastudies.press

Written by: Jannie Møller Hartley

Read and download the book Open Access: https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/just-you

Every day, invisible algorithms decide what news reaches us, what stories fade from view, and, quietly, how we come to understand the world. To uncover how these systems work, Jannie Møller Hartley spent years inside the machinery of personalisation, following journalists, editors, and data scientists as they grapple with what it means when machines take on something as deeply human as judgment.

Running through this story is the extraordinary life of Ada Lovelace, whose nineteenth-century vision of algorithms offers a powerful and historic lens on today’s debates about artificial intelligence, creativity, and human agency.

Blending storytelling, the history of algorithms, and original research, this book reveals how the technologies shaping our information environment influence what we know, what we notice, and how democratic life unfolds. It shows that algorithms carry human values, ambitions, and blind spots.

Written for researchers, journalists, students, technologists, policymakers, and anyone curious about life in an AI-powered information ecosystem, this book invites readers to imagine how these systems could be built differently.

Dear colleagues

I wanted to bring to your attention two recent publications from the Digital Futures for Children centre:

1. 'Assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning: A scoping review of meta-analyses' (by Kruakae Pothong, Kim Ringmar Sylwander, Sonia Livingstone, and Sandra El Gemayel) 

Open access link: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/140402/

We conducted a scoping review of meta-studies assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning. This review considers 56 meta-analyses, encompassing findings from 2,111 studies, involving many thousands of children worldwide. The evidence shows that gains from EdTech are realised in very particular contexts and conditions of implementation. Thus, we find that learning effects depend on how and by whom technology is deployed and used, rather than on an EdTech technology in isolation. EdTech produces its strongest effects when embedded in active, collaborative and contextually grounded pedagogical approaches. When findings are disaggregated by children with different needs, ages and abilities, the measured impact varies greatly, and the evidence is the weakest for the most vulnerable children.

2. Our anthology 'Children's rights under pressure in a digital world' (edited by Kim R Sylwander, Gazal Shekhawat and Sonia Livingstone) 

Open access link:  https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work/rights-under-pressure

The DFC's first anthology showcases work presented at the ICA 2026 pre-conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Spanning continents, the anthology's papers are organised around five themes: participation, regulation, family, commercial interests, and new technology. We invite readers to engage with the papers and seek conversation and collaboration with our anthology collaborators across the world. 

You can learn more about the DFC's work here: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work 

All the very best, Sonia