ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

May 5, 2026, 5pm-7.30pm (UK time)

Registration: This event is FREE to attend, but registration is essential. To book your place, please email: a.zsubori@lboro.ac.uk

About the event:

Various digital media platforms in illiberal contexts function as a complex double-edged sword. In Hungary, they often act as additional channels for illiberal attitudes, amplifying state-sponsored negative sentiments. Yet, these same spaces remain vital for the expression of liberal views and resistance. This session explores this tension, focusing on how social media spaces have become sites of both systemic hostility and profound resistance for LGBTQ+ communities in Hungary.

We will be joined by Hungarian guest speakers who will discuss the lived reality of navigating this digital environment. The discussion will cover the online and offline consequences of the regime’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, as well as the state-encouraged harassment. Beyond victimisation, our speakers will highlight the diverse strategies of resistance, exploring how marginalised groups utilise digital media to build counter-narratives, maintain community safety, and challenge the illiberal status quo.

The session features a panel of individuals at the forefront of this struggle, including activists, journalists, and individuals with direct lived experience of digital victimisation. By bringing together those who document these harms and those who experience them, this webinar aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how political communication in an illiberal regime translates into real-world harm, and how resistance persists in the face of structural exclusion.

This webinar will be of interest to academics across communication, digital media, gender and LGBTQ+ studies, human rights, and political science, as well as non-academic audiences interested in the lived realities of LGBTQ+ minorities and their digital experiences.

The event is supported by the British Academy and Loughborough University.

Looking forward to seeing you there! Also, feel free to circulate this invitation!

November 5–7, 2026

Online

Deadline: May 31, 2026

Photography Network's Annual Symposium

Photography practitioners, historians, and curators respond in a multitude of ways to political and cultural contexts that challenge their work. Moreover, in response to efforts to remove, omit, occlude, obscure, or manipulate, photographs often persist, transform, and recirculate, reformulating visual worlds. Photographs bear a complex relationship to political and social power; authorities might manipulate or remove photographs to further their goals, but forms of covering up, self-censorship, or self-fashioning might also function in the name of individual privacy, safety, or resistance. Furthermore, as the material capabilities and limitations of photography shift, new questions continually emerge about the role of photographic removal and photographic resilience in constricting cultural climates.

This symposium offers a platform for scholarship that investigates the adaptability of photography and photo history in the face of constraints, be them cultural, governmental, institutional, editorial, individual, or otherwise. What do historians, curators, and photographers do when limitations are placed on their work, and what do the limitations themselves reveal about photography? Relatedly, when is restriction, refusal, or withdrawal protective, strategic, or empowering? Finally, what, if anything, has changed about how the medium navigates social or cultural boundaries—what can we learn from how practitioners have done this in the past that might shed light on present-day questions? We welcome interdisciplinary approaches, and we especially encourage international scholars to submit.

We invite submissions of 15-minute talks related to topics such as:

• Photographic exhibitions in complex political or social contexts
  
• Collecting institutions' navigation of political pressures
  
• Image circulation and content moderation on social media
  
• Privacy and surveillance
  
• Photographic archives and repatriation
  
• Photojournalism, political figures, war imagery
  
• Image withdrawal, refusal, or veiling as a form of justice,
  
• resistance, or repair
  
• Challenges in conducting scholarship on controversial imagery
  
• Cancelled exhibitions, publications, and public history projects
  
• Archives and historical erasure
  
• Cancelled negatives, "killed" negatives
  
• The aesthetics of photographic concealment—the blur, the black rectangle, the crop

We also, of course, encourage approaches to these questions beyond what we have outlined here.

To submit, please send a 250-word abstract and your CV to photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com by May 31, 2026.

August 5 - 15, 2026

Locarno, Switzerland

Submission Deadline: May 28, 2026

Call Description: https://www.locarnofestival.ch/it/about/factory/real-academy.html

Program Overview:

REAL – Reality Exploration Academy of Locarno is a newly reimagined ten-day program dedicated to critically engaging with the evolving landscape of non-fiction cinema. Building on the 26-year legacy of the Documentary Summer School, REAL marks a bold shift toward interdisciplinary exploration at the intersection of audiovisual theory, creative practice, and contemporary media ethics.

Hosted by the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) at Università della Svizzera italiana, in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival, REAL offers a transformative educational journey where critical thinking meets cinematic imagination.

What is REAL?

REAL– Reality Exploration Academy of Locarno is where critical thinking meets cinematic imagination. Held during the Locarno Film Festival and hosted by the Institute of Media and Journalism at the Università della Svizzera italiana, REAL provides a transformative educational experience that dives deep into core questions: What is the “real” today? How do we engage with it ethically, creatively, critically?

This is the only program at the Locarno Film Festival awarding ECTS credits (up to 6), making it a unique opportunity for Bachelor, Master, and PhD students, as well as emerging filmmakers who want to deepen their theoretical reflection on the real. REAL embraces an innovative approach that incorporates video essays as practice-based research, utilizing Locarno Film Festival as a laboratory environment for both study and creation.

REAL is not just a course. It’s a journey of discovery that opens doors to new insights and forms lifelong bonds among the next generation of talents. It’s a conversation, a community, and a launchpad for reimagining and questioning how we engage with reality through cinema.

Is REAL for You?

If you’re curious, critical, and ready to challenge the way we see the world through film—then REAL is the right place for you.

REAL is calling for:

• University students at Bachelor, Master, or PhD level who want more than just classroom theory.
  
• Emerging filmmakers who want to deepen their understanding of reality through moving images.
  
• Cinematic minds, curious thinkers and bold storytellers obsessed with exploring reality on screen— from raw truths to hybrid forms.
  
• Fluent English speakers ready to dive into global conversations (all sessions are in English).
  

If I am selected, what can I expect from the REAL Academy?

10 unforgettable days of ideas, images, and inspiration at one of the world’s most iconic film festivals.

• Inspiring lectures with leading international scholars and filmmakers
  
• Privileged/priority access to the Locarno “Future of Cinema” conference, August 10-12, which brings leading international researchers on cinema and the audiovisual.
  
• Curated screenings and Q&As from the Locarno Film Festival and Semaine de la Critique
  
• A deep-dive seminar on the video essay, blending artistic research and critical media theory
  
• Creation of a final video essay expressing, your personal reflection on the real, to receive your credit for to up to 6 ECTS recognition
  
• (Experience with video production is encouraged but not required - video essay assignments are adaptable to all levels of expertise).
  
• An official certificate of participation
  
• Festival Accreditation that gives you access to everything the Festival has to offer
• 10 nights at the Papio College in Ascona, cozy triple rooms shared with fellow participants, private bathroom, and breakfast included, all in a beautiful lakeside setting just 8 minutes from the Festival hub, with easy access via the Festival shuttle bus – included in your participation.
  
• Evening events, informal gatherings, real networking — the kind that shifts your perspective, not just your LinkedIn profile.
  
• A global networking playground with fellow creatives and thinkers from around the world.
  

Participation fee: CHF 800 covering your stay, festival accreditation, lectures, screenings, and more. You just cover your travel and meals (except breakfast).

Which dates do I need to put in my diary and keep free if selected?

• March 10, 2026 – applications open
  
• May 28, 2026 - deadline for sending in your application
  
• June 14, 2026 – by this date you will receive an answer in respect of your application
  
• 5–15 August 2026 – participation in the program and Locarno Film Festival
  

Organizing Committee

• Prof. Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema and the Audiovisual Arts at USI. Filmmaker, media artist, and leading expert in video essays and artistic research.
  
• Dr. Eleonora Benecchi, Lecturer and Researcher at USI, expert in audiovisual theory, digital cultures, and social media.
  
• Laura Pranteddu, Doctoral student and researcher at USI, responsible for the audiovisual theory and production lab, with expertise in AI in journalism.
  
• Flavia Mazzarino, Doctoral student and researcher at USI in visual arts, with expertise in experimental cinema, curatorial practices, and avant-garde film production.
  
• Giulia Villani, Doctoral student and researcher at USI in digital communication, with expertise in consumer culture, public opinion, and cultural production in online environments.
  

April 10, 2026

The third event in the 2026 By/For: Photography & Democracy virtual lecture series is coming up on Friday, April 10, at 1pm ET: “When Home is a Photograph: Blackness and Belonging in the World” with Leigh Raiford. Learn more and register here.

By/For: Photography & Democracy is a collaborative partnership between three photographic historians, Dr. Tom Allbeson, Dr. Colleen O’Reilly, and Helen Trompeteler. Our collective investigates photography’s assumed democratic credentials as an art form and a medium of mass communication. We believe a historical perspective on the complex relationship between photography and democracy is critical to understanding how the medium and related visual technologies can address the social and political issues of our time.

In 2026, we invite you to join leading thinkers Anne Strachan Cross & Matthew Fox-Amato, Vindhya Buthpitiya, Leigh Raiford, Jeehey Kim, Zahid R. Chaudhary, and Tiffany Fairey for thought-provoking conversations on photography and democracy. Explore season two, view recordings, and register for all events here.

August 8–16, 2026  

Astana, Kazakhstan 

Deadline: May 31, 2026

YOUNG SCHOLAR CONFERENCE & RESEARCH SCHOOL

The Kazakhstan Sociology Lab in partnership with the School of Sciences and Humanities at Nazarbayev University invites applications for the Young Scholar Conference & Research School AI & Methods in Computational Communication (AIM-CC 2026).

Computational social science is undergoing a profound transformation driven by artificial intelligence. Methods that once relied on limited automation and classical analytical approaches are now being reshaped by large language models, embedding-based techniques, generative agents, and AI-assisted experimental designs. These developments open new analytical possibilities while simultaneously raising important methodological and epistemological questions.

AIM-CC 2026 is designed to address these transformations directly. The Conference & School provides structured methodological training in major areas of Computational Social Science and Computational Communication Research, while systematically integrating AI-related developments into each course.

The program is designed for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, advanced Master’s students, and early-career scholars working in Computational Communication Research, Computational Social Science, digital sociology, political communication, network science, AI & Society, and related fields. Alongside intensive methodological training, participants will have a chance to present their research in a poster session and receive feedback from instructors and mentors, with the opportunity to further refine and present updated versions of their work.

Instructors

• Taha Yasseri – Director, TCD–TU Dublin Joint Centre for Sociology of Humans and Machines (SOHAM), Full Professor and Chair of Technology and Society, Trinity College Dublin & Technological University Dublin
  
• Ivan Smirnov – research consultant for AI in Research and Researcher Training, University of Technology Sydney; External Faculty Member, Complexity Science Hub Vienna
  
• Olessia Koltsova – Director,  Laboratory for Social and Cognitive Informatics, Professor, Department of Sociology, HSE University
  
• Basak Taraktas - Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bogazici University
  
• Miriam Schirmer – Postdoctoral researcher, LINK Lab, Northwestern University

Courses and workshops:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences
  
• Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences
  
• Experimental Methods and Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences
  
• Workshop: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Misinformation - Current Trends, Detection, and Mitigation
  

Contact  

More details on the eligibility criteria, application process and travel information are available on the AIM-CC 2026 website. For inquiries, please contact: aim_cc26@kazsoclab.kz

April 24, 2026

Online

The Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab) is pleased to present the Influencer Diplomacy Symposium. This is a one-day, online-only, open-access event focusing on the multifaceted role of influencers in diplomacy. The symposium offers a platform for scholars to examine how influencer cultures, practices, and industries shape diplomatic processes: from influencers taking on diplomatic roles and politicians adopting influencer strategies, to the ways influencer diplomacy extends beyond formal state and institutional settings into everyday politics, influencing public discourse and social engagement.

The symposium will feature a keynote address alongside a series of panel sessions that bring together scholars to discuss the evolving role of influencers in contemporary diplomacy.

More information about this event can be found here: https://ierlab.com/influencer-diplomacy/

The event will take place 24 April, Friday 10.00-16.00hrs AWST (GMT+8). Registration is free, and open now. Please use the link below to register only if you intend to attend live: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_h-voOmGWSUub8nDVMi1Gog

If you cannot attend live, event will be recorded and recordings will be made available shortly after on our website: https://ierlab.com/influencer-diplomacy/ 

Please feel free to share this email with your networks, and any questions about this event can be sent to contact@ierlab.com

June 8-11, 2026

Göteborg, Sweden

Deadline: March 30, 2026

ACM UMAP is the premier international conference that brings together research in AI and HCI to support effective human-AI collaboration via interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users. The conference is sponsored by ACM SIGCHI and SIGWEB User Modeling Inc., as the core Steering Committee oversees the conference organization. UMAP operates under the ACM Conference Code of Conduct.

ACM UMAP 2026 invites Late-Breaking Results (LBR) papers as well as Demonstrations (demos) of innovative UMAP-based systems (including research prototypes). The topics for these submissions are the same as the ones included in the Call for Full and Short Papers. However, their scope, timing, and length are different. In particular, the maximum length of LBR papers is shorter than that of short papers from the main track. More importantly, LBR papers are expected to present innovative ideas that are still being explored and have shown some promising results. The track is also a dissemination channel for new research directions. Mature results that have already undergone extensive experimental validation are more suitable for the general call, either as a full or short paper. Note that LBR papers are also to be presented in person at the conference in poster format, allowing for more informal discussion of the ideas shared.

Demos are intended to present systems relevant to the UMAP conference. These should either have been used to achieve the research outcomes presented as full and short papers, or currently be used as a platform for future research. As such, we highly recommend authors of accepted full and short papers to also prepare a submission for a demo of their system to be showcased at the conference in the LBR and Demo session.

Important Dates

• March 30, 2026 - Submission
  
• April 21, 2026 - Notification of Acceptance
  
• April 28, 2026 - Camera-ready Submission (TAPS system)
  

Note: the submission deadline is at 11:59 pm AoE (Anywhere on Earth) time.

Submission

All submissions must be written in English. They should be submitted electronically, in a PDF format, through the EasyChair submission system, https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=umap2026, by selecting the “UMAP26 Late Breaking Results and Demo Papers” track and, subsequently, choosing the specific format (LBR or demos).

Late-Breaking Results Format

Page Limit. Up to 4 pages, including references (figures, tables, proofs, appendices, acknowledgments, and any other content count toward the page limit).

Proceedings. Publication in the ACM UMAP 2026 main proceedings. Please note that LBR papers will be exempt from the ACM Open APCs (Article Processing Charges), as they fall under the “work in progress” category.

Presentation format. Presented in-person (physically) as a poster during the conference.

Description. LBRs are research-in-progress that must contain original and unpublished accounts of innovative research ideas and preliminary results, addressing both the theory and practice of UMAP. In addition, papers introducing recently started research projects or summarizing project results are welcome. We encourage researchers and practitioners to submit late-breaking work as it provides a unique opportunity for sharing valuable ideas, eliciting useful feedback on early-stage work, and fostering discussions and collaborations among colleagues.

In case papers rejected in the main track (i.e., submitted as full or short papers) are submitted to this track, they should be revised. On the one hand, they should take into account the comments made to help improve the paper. On the other hand, they should also fulfill the scope of the LBR, which emphasizes the novelty of ideas. This is also valid for papers that have been recommended as an LBR when rejected in the main track.

Demos Format

Page Limit. Up to 3 pages, including references and all other content (figures, tables, proofs, appendices, acknowledgments, etc.). On an extra page (not to be published), submissions should include a specification of the technical requirements for demonstrating the system at UMAP 2026.

Supporting Material. Video or external material demonstrating the system.

Proceedings. Publication in ACM UMAP 2026 main proceedings. Please note that Demo papers will be exempt from the ACM Open APCs (Article Processing Charges), as they fall under the “Demonstration” category.

Presentation format. Presented in-person (physically) as a demo, plus as a poster during the conference.

Description. Demos will showcase research (system) prototypes, industry showcases, and commercially available products in a dedicated session. Demo submissions must be based on an implemented and tested system that pursues one or more innovative ideas in the interest areas of the conference. Demonstrations are an excellent and exciting way to showcase implementations and receive valuable feedback from the community, especially for those papers that have been presented in the main track. Each demo submission must make clear which aspects of the system will be demonstrated, and how these will be demonstrated on-site as well as online.

To better identify the value of demos, we also encourage authors to submit a pointer to a screencast (max. 5 minutes on Vimeo or YouTube) or any external material related to the demo (e.g., shared code on GitHub).

More Details

Non-Anonymity

Submissions for both LBR and demos will be reviewed single-masked (i.e., authors’ names must be included in the papers), thus there is no need to anonymize before submission.

Template

Following the ACM Publication Workflow, the proposal should be arranged based on the new ACM two-column format. Instructions for the organizers are given below:

• LaTeX (use \documentclass[review,sigconf]{acmart} in the sample-authordraft.tex file for two-column). Please carefully follow the ACM’s instructions for preparing your article with LaTeX.
  
• Overleaf (use \documentclass[review,sigconf]{acmart} for two-column). Please carefully follow the ACM’s instructions for preparing your article with Overleaf.
  
• Word. Please carefully follow the ACM’s instructions for preparing your article with Microsoft Word, ignoring the single-column instructions and the single-column submission template. Please use the double-column Word template.
  

Should you have any questions or issues going through the instructions above, please contact support at acmtexsupport@aptaracorp.com for LaTeX and Microsoft Word inquiries.

Accessibility

Authors are strongly encouraged to provide “alt text” (alternative text) for floats (images, tables, etc.) in their content so that readers with disabilities can be given descriptive information for these floats that are important to the work. The descriptive text will be displayed in place of a float if the float cannot be loaded. This benefits the author, and it broadens the reader base for the author’s work. Moreover, the alt text provides in-depth float descriptions to search engine crawlers, which helps to properly index these floats. Additionally, authors should follow the ACM Accessibility Recommendations for Publishing in Color and SIG ACCESS guidelines on describing figures.

Submission Policy

All submissions and reviews will be handled electronically. ACM UMAP has a no dual submission policy, which is why submitted manuscripts should not be currently under review at another publication venue. Particularly, please consider the following ACM’s publication policies:

• “By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.” https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects
  
• “Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start, and we have recently made a commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published authors. We are committed to improving author discoverability, ensuring proper attribution, and contributing to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.”
  

Review Process & Camera-ready Submission

Review 

Submissions will be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. They will be assessed based on their originality and novelty, potential contribution to the research field, potential impact in specific use cases, usefulness of presented experiences, and their overall readability. Papers that exceed the page limits or do not adhere to the formatting guidelines will be returned without review.

The ACM Code of Ethics gives the UMAP program committee the right to (desk-)reject papers that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, employ unethical research practices, or uncritically present outcomes/implications that clearly disadvantage minority communities. Further, reviewers will be explicitly asked to consider whether the research was conducted in compliance with professional ethical standards and applicable regulatory guidelines. Failure to do so could lead to a (desk-)rejection.

Camera-ready Information

Accepted papers will be subject to further revision to meet the requirements of the camera-ready format required by ACM. We strongly recommend the use of LaTeX/Overleaf for the camera-ready papers to minimize the extent of reformatting. Users of the Word template must use either the version for Microsoft Word for Windows, Macintosh Office 2011, or Macintosh Office 2016 (other formats, such as Open Office, etc., are not permitted) for the camera-ready submission to avoid incompatibility issues.

Instructions for preparing the camera-ready versions of accepted papers will be provided after acceptance. This might include instructions to prepare a video of the accepted contribution. Camera-ready versions of accepted papers will be later submitted using ACM’s new production platform, where authors will be able to review PDF and HTML output formats before publication.

In-person attendance policy and Open Access

Each accepted contribution must be presented in person to be included in the conference proceedings. All UMAP 2026 papers will be published under ACM Open. Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial or discretionary waiver.

During the conference, all categories will be presented at the poster reception, in the form of a poster and/or a software demonstration, following the poster format. This form of presentation will provide presenters with an opportunity to obtain direct feedback about their work from a wide audience during the conference.

Late-Breaking Results and Demos Chairs

• Sherry Sahebi, University at Albany-SUNY, USA
  
• Alain Starke, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
  

Contact information: umap2026-lbr@um.org

September 15-17, 2026

Hamburg, Germany

Deadline: April 30, 2026

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of the Search Engines and Society Network (SEASON), we invite submissions for the 2026 edition of the Search Engines and Society Annual Conference (SEASON 2026), to be held at HAW Hamburg, Germany, from 15-17 September 2026.

Following the success of SEASON 2025, which brought together an engaged and diverse international community of researchers, practitioners, and students, SEASON continues as a dedicated conference series for critical and interdisciplinary research on search engines and their societal implications.

SEASON explores the multifaceted role of search engines in today’s culture and society. The conference fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration to deepen our understanding of search engines as cultural, societal, political, and technical artefacts, as well as their role in everyday practices.

 We invite submissions for:

• Long presentations  
  
• Short presentations  
  
• Interactive sessions (e.g., panels and workshops)  
  
• Posters 
  

 Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Social and cultural aspects of relevance  
  
• Epistemic implications of search-engine use  
  
• Search engines and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)  
  
• Search engines and information disorders (e.g., disinformation, data voids)  
  
• AI and changing patterns of search engine use  
  
• Search engines and environmental crises  
  
• Political economy of search  
• Accountability and responsibility of search engine providers  
• Search engine bias and fair search  
  
• Ethical and affective dimensions of search  
  
• Media and information literacy  
  
• Search engines in everyday life and educational settings  
  
• Search engines and specific communities  
  
• Methods and data collection for search engine research  
  
• Comparative and historical studies of web search  
  
• Approaches to opening the “black box” of search engine rankings  
  

We welcome conceptual and empirical contributions from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including the humanities, social sciences, and technical disciplines. Interdisciplinary approaches, work in progress, submissions from practitioners, and student contributions are especially encouraged.

Submission categories and formats:

• Long presentations: Extended abstracts, max. 1000 words (excluding references)  
  
• Short presentations: Abstracts, max. 500 words (excluding references)  
  
• Interactive sessions: Proposals (60–90 minutes), max. 1000 words (excluding references)  
  
• Posters: Abstracts, max. 500 words (excluding references)  
  

Submission guidelines:

-Submissions must be in PDF format  

-APA referencing style   

Please submit via EasyChair:  https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=season2026

Submission deadline: 30 April 2026

Accepted contributions will be made available to conference participants ahead of the event. All accepted abstracts will be freely accessible after the conference.

SEASON 2026 Website: https://searchenginesandsociety.net/season-2026/

We look forward to your contributions.

With best regards,

The SEASON 2026 Organizing Team

Today the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project released its reports on market, policy and technological developments in a swathe of communication, internet and media industries for both Poland and Sweden:

-  The Sweden report was written by: Jonas Ohlsson and Tobias Lindberg (both of University of Gothenburg)

 - The Poland report was written by: Petr Szczepanik, Martin Mišúr, Jan Bergl, Petr Lelek and Jan Hanzlík (all of Charles University)

These follow editions we have already published on the state of media and internet concentration in Canada, Mexico, South Africa, China, the United States and many more, with the end goal a library of regularly updated reports for all of the nearly 40 countries that make up the GMICP.

 Finally:

- Our newly launched data dashboard allows anyone to explore our data and to create comparative visualisations across sectors and markets - check it out here.

-  We invite other researchers to contribute their expertise to our efforts – please reach out to us here.

Media & Communication (special issue)

Deadline: June 15, 2026

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/futureissues#i537

Over the past decade, emergent technologies have opened new avenues for political actors to shape public opinion, discredit rivals, and gain advantage—often by subverting established norms of political communication. Billionaires purchase media platforms to influence discourse, influencers are paid to spread covert political messages, and bots and trolls distort opinion and stoke discord to serve hidden agendas. Meanwhile, journalists, institutions, and the public struggle to respond in a chaotic, attention-driven environment where information is weaponised and trust eroded.

This climate has empowered malevolent actors who stage public spectacles to distract attention while operating behind the scenes to weaken democratic norms and concentrate power without scrutiny. While recent research on disinformation and “fake news” has focused on tracking problematic content and its effects, scholars now increasingly recognise that these are not external threats but systemic tools often wielded by elite actors. Yet, there remains a lack of understanding around how specific actors exploit new media to pursue anti-democratic goals.

This thematic issue brings together global scholars to explore how technological affordances are exploited to undermine political institutions, destabilise liberal democracy, and promote nativism, racism, and authoritarianism. By investigating these strategic communication tactics, we aim to identify the roots of political dysfunction and build resilience against these threats.

We welcome research on the communication practices of malign elites and extreme actors, especially from the Global South and East, and non-Western political systems. We also seek work examining intersections with colonial legacies, wealth inequality, and gendered harm.

Topics of interest include:

Strategic political communication in the attention economy, such as micro-targeting;

• How “culture war” topics and/or polarisation discourses are used to drive anti-democratic or anti-establishment sentiment;
  
• The strategic use of disinformation tactics and/or conspiracy theories for political advantage;
  
• Use of AI and automation by malign political actors;
  
• Media manipulation strategies, such as the relationship between political actors and hyper-partisan media outlets;
  
• Efforts to erode public trust in institutions and governance.
  

Instructions for Authors

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Media and Communication is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Open Access

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

Academic Editor(s): Stephen Harrington (Queensland University of Technology), Timothy Graham (Queensland University of Technology), Ella Chorazy (Queensland University of Technology), and Aljosha Karim Schapals (Queensland University of Technology)

Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 June 2026

Submission of Full Papers: 15-30 October 2026

Publication of the Issue: January/June 2027