ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

April 1 - 3, 2026

Paris, Campus des Cordeliers

Deadline: October 15, 2025

https://encore-network.org/call-for-papers/

Since its inception in 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has launched the careers of global stars such as ABBA and Celine Dion. Multicultural and multilingual, and unmatched in scale outside the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the ESC has become a fixture of the European public media landscape. In 2025, the contest reached 166 million television viewers and garnered 1.8 billion views across its social media platforms. As a ceremonial media event (Dayan & Katz, 1996), the ESC carries significant economic, political, and social implications.

On the eve of its 70th anniversary, the ESC is far from being an outdated or kitschy public spectacle. Instead, it crystallizes numerous complex issues. It serves as a platform where Europe and its neighbors express national identities and shared imaginaries, while also reflecting geopolitical rivalries—from East-West tensions during the Cold War to more recent conflicts such as Armenia/Azerbaijan, Ukraine/Russia, and Israel/Palestine. Positioned at the intersection of the cultural and media industries, the ESC raises questions about the construction of norms and the representation of certain populations. Finally, the ESC prompts critical inquiry into cultural legitimacy and its counterpoint—the eclecticism of taste—raising the question: what does it mean today to ‘love the Eurovision Song Contest’?

Studying the ESC thus entails exploring the intersections of identity, collective rituals, and social media participation, while also illuminating the complex political and social dynamics within the cultural and media industries. To what extent can the humanities and social sciences help us to illuminate, understand, and critically analyze the social, cultural, and political issues—both past and present—embodied in the ESC?

In recent years, a growing body of research has examined the ESC through a variety of disciplinary and methodological approaches. This body of work engages with multiple disciplinary perspectives, including explorations of national and cultural identities in Europe (Fricker & Gluhovic (eds.), 2013; Jordan, 2014; Neves, 2017; Panea, 2020; Venon, 2007), as well as approaches rooted in musicology and popular culture (Björnberg, 1987; Fornäs, 2017; Shuker, 2016; Raykoff, 2021; Tragaki (ed.), 2013), cultural sociology and fan studies (Le Guern, 2007; Vieira Lopes, 2023), cultural studies (Carniel, 2018; Coleman, 2008; Salgó, 2017), history (Vuletic, 2018), communication and media studies (Appiotti, Bolz, Boittiaux & Neuvillers, 2025; Pajala, 2011), education studies (Cremona, 2022), and gender studies (Baker, 2024; Imre, 2020; Lemish, 2004; Vänskä & Tuhkanen (eds.), 2007).

The conference “Eurovision Song Contest and the Humanities and Social Sciences” seeks to build upon the collective initiatives that have helped establish an interdisciplinary state of the art in ESC research (Raykoff & Tobin, (eds.), 2007; Fricker & Gluhovic, (eds.), 2013; Dubin, Vuletic & Obregón, (eds.), 2023). Adopting an interdisciplinary and critical perspective, the conference aims to explore and interrogate emerging approaches and studies related to the contest and its multiple dimensions.

The discussions at this conference will be structured around the following central research questions:

• How are the humanities and social sciences approaching the ESC? Conversely, how might the ESC stimulate and challenge the theoretical frameworks and methodologies of these disciplines?
  
• Is the ESC an original social object with its own distinct questions and methods, or does it resemble other research topics that pose similar analytical challenges?
  
• Does current research on the ESC reflect a profound renewal of academic approaches, or is it primarily shaped by long-term dynamics involving the revision and adaptation of existing themes, objects, and analytical frameworks?
  
• What do analyses of the ESC contribute to the humanities and social sciences, particularly in terms of methodological tools, and interpretive perspectives?
  
• How do disciplinary orientations and the ethnocentric perspectives of researchers shape their interpretations of the ESC and influence their research practices?
  

This conference also aims to underscore the importance of diverse perspectives, disciplines, and research traditions, recognizing that only an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach to the ESC can fully capture and update the current state of scholarship on the subject. As such, paper proposals are welcome from a wide range of disciplines and methodologies, including but not limited to: anthropology, communication studies, cultural studies, law, economics, gender studies, tourism studies, aesthetics, geography, history, fan studies, musicology, narratology, performance and theater studies, political science, linguistics, semiotics, and sociology. In particular, papers are expected to include:

• A critical and reflective presentation of the concepts, paradigms, and methodologies employed to address the questions raised by the conference. Special attention should be given to the identification of the disciplinary fields involved and the ways in which they are brought into dialogue. Contributions should demonstrate how these interdisciplinary engagements offer an original lens for understanding the ESC.
  
• An analysis grounded in verifiable and contestable empirical material, such as ethnographic fieldwork, textual or media corpora, databases, or other forms of structured data, allowing for critical debate and scholarly validation.
  

To this end, we propose several thematic areas for consideration. These are not exhaustive and are intended as a guiding framework to assist in the drafting of paper proposals.

1. As stated above, we are interested in the epistemologies and methodologies employed in conducting field research on the ESC:

• Between the “aca-fan” stance (Jenkins, 2006: 4) and the claim to axiological neutrality, how can researchers study the ESC while maintaining reflexivity, critical distance, and scientific rigor?
  
• What approaches are commonly favored to define the ESC as a research subject, and what are the underlying reasons for these preferences?
  
• In what ways do the social, political, and historical contexts of research shape the situated knowledge (Haraway, 1988) of scholars studying the ESC?
  
• From the Super Bowl halftime show to the Olympic Games (Gilbert & Lo, 2007; Baker, 2016; Baker, Atkinson, Grabher & Howcroft, 2025), television competitions (Leveneur-Martel, 2021) and music festivals (Delanty, Giorgi & Sassatelli (eds.), 2011; Djakouane & Négrier, 2021), what comparisons and dialogues can be drawn between the ESC and other cultural phenomena and concrete research topics?
  
• How can alternative research methods and protocols, including action research and research-creation, open new ways for investigating the ESC?
  
• Finally, how do methodological and scientific experiments, for example related to digital research methods in the humanities and social sciences and digital humanities, renew scientific questions and research protocols concerning the ESC?
  

2. The role of the ESC as a mirror reflecting socio-cultural and political issues, tensions, and debates—an aspect that has drawn increasing scholarly attention in recent years—also deserves to be critically examined.

• To what extent does the ESC function as a catalyst, a revealer, or a mirror of past and contemporary social, political, and cultural issues?
  
• How can we move beyond the conventional dichotomy of apoliticism vs. politicization often applied to analyze the ESC, and instead develop a more nuanced understanding of the actors, dynamics, and forms of politicization and depoliticization involved in the contest?
  
• Why—and through what mechanisms—is the ESC frequently connoted, or even disqualified, as an outdated, kitschy, or culturally illegitimate form? How can we (re)qualify the cultural hierarchies and tastes that shape perceptions of the ESC?
  
• Why does the ESC crystallize a wide array of debates, social discourses, values, and ideologies? In what ways are these performed and staged in the public sphere through interpretive conflicts, controversies, and scandals?

3. We also place great importance on the various social actors involved in the ESC. Our aim is to better understand the relational, interactional, and even ‘cooperative-competitive’ (Legavre, 2011) dynamics that structure the interactions among actors within the ‘Eurovision world’.

This line of research invites submissions that explore—whether through monographic case studies or comparative analyses—the understanding of one or more types of social actors gravitating around the ESC, such as:

• The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ; 
  
• Public service media members of the EBU and broadcasters of the contest ; 
  
• Artists and their “cooperation chains” (Becker, 1988): record labels, managers, musicians, dancers, producers, technicians, etc. ; 
  
• Private or public media providing coverage of the competition (Wolther, 2006; Pajala, 2011): journalists, commentators, content creators, influencers, fan media, etc. ; 
  
• The audiences (Ballarini & Ségur (eds.), 2017), non-audiences, and fans of the ESC, in all their diversity of practices and imaginations related to the competition ; 
  
• Politicians, and how they have approached the ESC over the years ; 
  
• ESC sponsors and partner brands. 
  

4. The forms and formats of the ESC could also serve as a focal point for discussion at the conference, particularly in relation to the following aspects:

• A study of performances (songs, lyrics, staging, etc.);
  
• The (multi-)media dimension of the contest: the ESC is a concert stage, a television show, and an unprecedented catalyst for a variety of formats (videos, photos, memes, rankings, predictions, polls, etc.) on the web and on digital social networks;
  
• The ESC as an incubator for technical and technological innovations;
  
• The dramaturgy of the contest, with a continuous evolution of its rules and staging (voting rules, announcement of points, etc.);
  
• The spectacularization of the ESC’s staging: evident both in the increasing professionalization of its shows and artistic performances, as well as in the substantial annual budget allocated to the event’s organization, production, multiple rehearsals, promotion, and broadcasting.
  

5. We also believe that the links between the ESC and the territories provide a valuable gateway for dialogue on the following approaches and themes:

• The value of various scientific approaches, such as geopolitics (Yair, 1995; Yair & Maman, 1996) or socio-history, in understanding: the social and symbolic construction of territories, borders, and cultural identities through the lens of the ESC; the construction of territorial images and imaginaries through diverse discursive strategies (such as narratives of national and cultural identities, and the production and circulation of stereotypes) and semiotic strategies (such as video “postcards” presenting artists, host countries and candidates, costumes, flags, national symbols, etc.);
  
• The role of the ESC in territorial development strategies: particular attention may be given to the economic, territorial, and tourism ecosystem of the ESC in relation to the host country and city. This includes examining its most contested dimensions (Shepherd, 2021), such as public administrations (tourist offices, information centers) and local authorities (city, region, etc.) as well as tourists.
  
• The dialectical tensions between territorialization and deterritorialization (do Carmo Cruz, 2019), as well as between globalization and glocalization (Robertson, 1994) of the ESC.
  

In all cases, fieldwork, corpus-based studies, and reflexive approaches to the ESC’s epistemological and methodological frameworks will be central to our discussions.

Aligned with the founding of the Eurovision Research Network (“Europe and the ‘New’ Europe Research Network,” 2009 in Fricker, Gluhovic, 2013: 3; 6), this conference aims to serve as a catalyst for the formation of an international scholarly network exploring the ESC through interdisciplinary and cross-thematic perspectives.

In a second phase, a collection of double-blind peer-reviewed articles in English is planned for publication in a specialized academic volume.

Calendar 

• Publication of the call for papers: September 1, 2025
  
• Paper proposal submission deadline: October 15, 2025 
  
• Notification of paper acceptance: December 10, 2025 
  

Submission guidelines

Proposals should be sent by October 15, 2025 to the following email address : escconference.paris@gmail.com 

Please submit paper proposals in French or English as follows : 

• A file (in .pdf format) containing: the title of the paper, a short bio-bibliographical note (maximum 500 characters, including surname, first name, and institutional affiliation), an email address, and up to 5 keywords;
  
• An anonymous file (in .pdf format) containing: the title of the paper, the paper proposal of no more than 3,000 characters including spaces, excluding bibliographical references.
  

As a reminder, paper proposals are expected to include:

• A concise overview of the research context;
  
• A clear and well-structured presentation of the research question, along with the key concepts, paradigms, and methodologies used to engage with the themes of the conference;
  
• A presentation of fieldwork-based analysis (e.g., ethnographic studies, corpora, textual analysis, databases, etc.). If the research is still in progress, please provide initial hypotheses and a description of the research protocol.
  

All information related to this call for papers and the international conference is also available on https://encore-network.org.  

References 

Appiotti, S., Bolz, L., Boittiaux, J., & Neuvillers, M.-C. (8 avril 2025). Mutations de la couverture médiatique du concours Eurovision de la chanson en France (analyse exploratoire de la presse écrite et de la télévision 1998–2024). Presentation at the seminar “Penser l’Eurovision”.

Baker, C. (2016). The ‘gay Olympics’? The Eurovision Song Contest and the politics of LGBT/European belonging. European Journal of International Relations, 23(1), 97–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066116633278

Baker, C. (2024). Lion of Love: Representations of Russian Homosexuality and Homophobia in Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Historical Reflections, 50(2), 61–76.

Baker, C., Atkinson, D., Grabher, B., & Howcroft, M. (2025). Bridging the ‘sport/culture silo’: the Eurovision Song Contest and its lessons for sporting and cultural mega-events. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2025.2521115 

Ballarini, L., & Ségur, C. (eds.). (2017). Devenir public. Modalités et enjeux (Série « Media critic »). Éditions Mare et Martin.

Björnberg, A. (1987). En liten sång som alla andra : Melodifestivalen 1959–1983 [A Little Song Like All the Others: Melodifestivalen 1959–1983] [Doctoral thesis, University of Göteborg].

Carniel, J. (2018). Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in multicultural Australia. Palgrave Macmillan.

Coleman, S. (2008). Why is the Eurovision Song Contest Ridiculous? Exploring a Spectacle of Embarrassment, Irony and Identity. Popular Communication, 6(3), 127–140.

Cremona, G. (2022). The Eurovision University Study Unit and Its Pedagogic Value: A Critical Evaluation of Public and Media Reaction Towards Innovation in Higher Education. International Journal of Higher Education Pedagogies, 3(1), 13–23.

Dayan, D., & Katz, E. (1996). La télévision cérémonielle : anthropologie et histoire en direct. Presses universitaires de France.

Delanty, G., Giorgi, L., & Sassatelli, M. (eds.). (2011). Festivals and the cultural public sphere. Routledge.

Djakouane, A., & Négrier, E. (2021). Festivals, territoire et société. Ministère de la Culture – DEPS. https://doi.org/10.3917/deps.djako.2021.01

Do Carmo Cruz, V. (2019). Territoire et processus de territorialisation : usages et conceptions méthodologiques dans le domaine de la géographie. In Action publique, dynamiques sociales et pauvreté (1‑). Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pulm.21706

Dubin, A., Vuletic, D., & Obregón, A. (eds.). (2022). The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon: From concert halls to the halls of academia. Routledge. 

Fornäs, J. (2017). Euro-Visions: East European Narratives in Televised Popular Music. In J. Fornäs (Dir.), Europe Faces Europe: Narratives from Its Eastern Half (pp. 179–236). Intellect.

Fricker, K., & Gluhovic, M. (eds.). (2013). Performing the “New” Europe. Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilbert, H., & Lo, J. (2007). Cosmopolitics: Cross-cultural Transactions in Australasia. Palgrave Macmillan.

Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066

Imre, A. (2020). The Eurovision Song Contest: Queer Nationalism. In E. Thompson & J. Mittell (eds.), How to Watch Television (2nd ed., pp. 193–202). NYU Press.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York University Press.

Jordan, P. (2014). The Modern Fairy Tale: Nation Branding, National Identity and the Eurovision Song Contest in Estonia. University of Tartu Press.

Le Guern, P. (2007). Aimer l’Eurovision, une faute de goût ? Une approche sociologique du fan club français de l’Eurovision. Réseaux, 25(145), 231–265.

Legavre, J.-B. (2011). Entre conflit et coopération. Les journalistes et les communicants comme « associés-rivaux ». Communication & langages, 169, 105–123. https://doi.org/10.4074/S0336150011003097

Lemish, D. (2004). « My Kind of Campfire »: The Eurovision Song Contest and Israeli Gay Men. Popular Communication, 2(1), 41–63.

Leveneur-Martel, L. (2021). Les cérémonies Miss France, de la télévision à Twitter : Une ritualisation des commentaires (2015–2019). Réseaux, 230(6), 171–214. https://doi.org/10.3917/res.230.0171

Neves, M. (2017). Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest: From an Anti-War Message to the Recognition of a Cultural Tradition. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 48(1), 133–147.

Pajala, M. (2011). Making Television Historical: Cultural memory of the Eurovision Song Contest in the Finnish media 1961–2005. Media History, 17(4), 405–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2011.602859

Panea, J. L. (2020). Las escenografías del Festival de Eurovisión: Estética, tecnología e identidad cultural al albor de la reconstrucción europea (1956–1993). Ámbitos: Revista de Estudios de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 49, 23–40.

Raykoff, I. (2021). Another Song for Europe. Music, Taste, and Values in the Eurovision Song Contest. Routledge

Raykoff, I., & Tobin, R. D. (eds.). (2007). A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Routledge.

Robertson, R. (1994). Globalisation or glocalisation? Journal of International Communication, 1(1), 33–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/13216597.1994.9751780

Salgó, E. (2017). ‘Rise like a Phoenix’: A New Anthem for (Federal) Europe. In Images from Paradise: The Visual Communication of the European Union’s Federalist Utopia (pp. 141–159). Berghahn Books.

Shepherd, J. (2021). ‘I’m not your toy’ : rejecting a tourism boycott. Tourism Recreation Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2021.1998874

Shuker, R. (2016). Understanding Popular Music Culture. Routledge.

Tragaki, D. (Ed.). (2013). Empire of Song: Europe and Nation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Scarecrow Press.

Vänskä, A., & Tuhkanen, M. (eds.). (2007). Special Issue: “Queer Eurovision”. SQS: Journal of Queer Studies in Finland, 2(2). https://journal.fi/sqs/issue/view/3606

Venon, F. (2007). L’Eurovision et les frontières culturelles de l’Europe. Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography. http://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/5633

Vieira Lopes, S. (2023). Música, televisão, memória e representação: Um estudo do Festival RTP da Canção (1964–2020) [Doctoral thesis, Universidade Nova de Lisboa].

Vuletic, D. (2018). Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest. Bloomsbury.

Wolther, I. (2006). Der Eurovision Song Contest als Mittel national-kultureller Repräsentation. Königshausen & Neumann.

Yair, G. (1995). Unite, Unite, Europe: The Political and Cultural Structures of Europe as Reflected in the Eurovision Song Contest. Social Networks, 17(2), 147–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(95)00253-K

Yair, G., & Maman, D. (1996). The Persistent Structure of Hegemony in the Eurovision Song Contest. Acta Sociologica, 39(3), 309–325. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4194833

Organizing committee

Sébastien Appiotti, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Lisa Bolz, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Johan Boittiaux, LabSIC, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Philippe Le Guern, PTAC, Université Rennes 2

Marie-Caroline Neuvillers, Centre Norbert Elias, Avignon Université

Scientific committee

Sébastien Appiotti, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Catherine Baker, University of Hull

Alix Bénistant, LabSIC, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Johan Boittiaux, LabSIC, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Lisa Bolz, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Marcin Bogucki, Instytut Kultury Polskej, University of Warsaw

Isabel Campelo, NOVA University of Lisbon

Jessica Carniel, University of Southern Queensland

Juliette Charbonneaux, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Thierry Devars, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Karen Fricker, Brock University

Thibault Grison, GERiiCO, Université de Lille

Jonathan Hendrickx, University of Copenhagen

Zhao Alexandre Huang, Dicen-IDF, Université Gustave Eiffel

Virginie Julliard, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

Valeriya Korablyova, University Charles Michel

Philippe Le Guern, PTAC, Université Rennes 2

Louisa Martin-Chevalier, IreMuS, Sorbonne Université

Marie-Caroline Neuvillers, Centre Norbert Elias, Avignon Université

Ivan Raykoff, New School, New York

Simon Renoir, Centre Norbert Elias, Avignon Université

Sofia Vieira Lopes, NOVA University of Lisbon

Hécate Vergopoulos, GRIPIC, CELSA – Sorbonne Université

November 11, 2025, 14:00 CET

Registration for ECREA members is now open: https://forms.gle/YzAQWM7LoVmGHY3v6

The recent years have been marked by wars and authoritarian repression that have greatly affected the academic community. There have been various responses from academic institutions aimed at supporting scholars at risk, supporting academic freedom, and discussing the role educational institutions should have in responding to conflict and pressure. Wars, persecution, and insecurities have pushed scholars into exile, forcing them to adapt to new academic environments.  

ECREA already started the discussion with a focus on Ukraine and Gaza, which opened many questions about the academic role in responding to mass atrocities and authoritarian threats to academic freedom. For this reason, the EDI subcommittee proposed ECREA to hold a series of webinars to discuss academic freedom, scholars at risk, and strategies for assisting scholars. 

The first webinar will address the issue of scholars in exile and strategies for supporting them. The discussion will focus on the experiences of scholars who were forced to leave their country and adapt to a new academic environment. The webinar will provide an opportunity to reflect on the structures or circumstances that forced scholars into exile, as well as the pressures, expectations, and roles scholars experience while in exile.

In what ways can ECREA protect and support its members, whose physical safety can be at risk if they are in zones of war or violence, or whose academic and civic freedoms might be under attack from repressive governments or institutions, including academic institutions? We hope the webinar series will help ECREA develop a response to these issues, such as recommendations or other practices designed to support academics.

Confirmed Speakers:

Dr. Bermal Aydın, formerly a lecturer at Mersin University in Turkey, was dismissed, banned from public employment, and had her passport cancelled for signing the Peace Petition, “We will not be a party to this crime.” Supported by CARA (Council for At-Risk Academics), she became a postdoctoral fellow and later a guest teacher at the London School of Economics (LSE), researching authoritarian neoliberalism and the politically motivated precarisation of academics and journalists in Turkey. She taught and supervised master’s dissertations at LSE, published in journals such as Globalizations and Turkish Studies, co-edited books, contributed chapters, and continues her work independently.

Dr. Zeina Al Azmeh is political sociologist at the University of Cambridge. Her work examines the cultural sociologies of knowledge production in exile and their impact on diasporic political subjectivities. Her book Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving will be published this December with Cambridge University Press. She has published in journals such as Theory and Society, Cultural Sociology, Qualitative Inquiry, and IJPCS and chairs the Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK.

Dr. Olena Zinenko is a media scholar and senior lecturer at Institute of Sociology and Media Communication, Karazin Kharkiv National University in Ukraine, a feminist peace activist, and currently a PSI Visiting Fellow at the IFHV, Ruhr University, Bochum. Her research focuses on media discourse analysis, investigating the role of media in peace processes and public communication in Ukraine. 

The webinar will be accessible to ECREA members only. 

Nordic Journal of Media Studies

Deadline: January 15, 2026

Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2027 issue exploring how scandals unfold and are communicated across media.

Editors: 

• Nete Nørgaard Kristensen (University of Copenhagen): netenk@hum.ku.dk
  
• Anne Jerslev (University of Copenhagen): jerslev@hum.ku.dk 
  

Important dates:

• Deadline for abstracts: 15 January
  
• Deadline for full submissions: 15 August 
  

Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2027 issue exploring how scandals unfold and are communicated across media. The issue welcomes international as well as Nordic perspectives and asks the following questions: How have the emergence and development of scandals evolved with the advent of social media, algorithmic amplification, and platform-driven visibility? In what ways do audiences, users, and digital publics engage in the exposure, circulation, and escalation of scandal online? What counts as “scandalous” – and to whom? What are the (social, political, cultural, and personal) consequences of the disclosure of morally dubious and transgressive actions in a networked media landscape? How can scandals be understood as cross-platform and cross-mediated public events today? Can value be attributed to scandal communication and scandals as networked public events? What role do automation and emerging technologies of generative AI play in accelerating or fabricating scandal? How do new technologies complicate questions of responsibility and accountability in scandals and their aftermath? By addressing these questions, this issue offers new insights about the multiple trajectories and shifting temporalities of contemporary scandals, particularly in view of audiences taking on active roles in exposing, co-constructing, and driving scandal.  

Media studies have long conceptualised scandals as the mediated disclosure of what a society considers morally dubious and objectionable (e.g., Lull & Hinerman, 1997). John B. Thompson’s (2000) classical definition stated that “‘scandal’ refers to actions or events involving certain kinds of transgressions which become known to others and are sufficiently serious to elicit a public response”. Occupied with the processes through which moral transgressions were scandalised and with the public reaction to scandal, Ari Adut (2008) similarly regarded scandals as “symbolic centers” that confirm, contest, or reinforce societal values. Scandals used to be extraordinary media events; however, mediatisation, personalisation, and celebritisation have, over the past decades, made, for instance, political, financial, and celebrity scandals the “new normal” (Pollack et al., 2018; Entman, 2012). Tabloid and investigative journalism continue to give prominence to the coverage of transgressive behaviour among celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and so on, but the rise of social media has also challenged the key role played by news media in uncovering, defining, and framing scandal and the scandalous.  

Demarcating and tracing the unfolding of scandals has thus become more complex. Scandals today emerge and progress across media, involve multiple actors, are fuelled and amplified by emotionalised, personalised, and polarised communication online, and unfold intensely for short periods of time with more or less severe consequences for those involved. One might say that mediated scandals – or scandals as (news) media events (Thompson, 2000) – have transitioned into socio-mediated scandals – or scandals as communicative events (Zulli, 2021). Understanding scandals today necessitates analysing their rise and development as more unpredictable processes, as well as recognising the role of (social) media users in co-constructing and circulating the scandalous. At times, these users take on the role of investigating and exposing possible transgressions which may then travel to traditional news media. This challenges clear distinctions between participants and non-participants in scandals and the temporal unfolding of a scandal in relatively linear phases across media, as originally conceptualised by Thomspon (2000). Finally, the altered circuits of communication suggest that scandals may serve as sites for public value negotiation and creation with unifying, empowering, yet also polarising potential, as audiences articulate their worries, interests, and emotions online. As such, scandal communication may be seen as expressions or gestures of concern (Ingraham, 2021).

With this issue of Nordic Journal of Media Studies, we thus invite scholars to explore how to understand processes of scandalisation and scandal communication in an era when social media users play a significant role in co-constructing the scandalous.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Scandals as cross-media events  Visual dimensions of scandal communication
  
• Memetic scandal communication
  
• Gossip, rumours, and audiences’ scandal communication
  
• Humor, irony, and scandal communication
  
• Hate speech and scandal communication
  
• Scandal and audience engagement in digital niche communities
  
• Audience polarisation and scandal communication
  
• Audience motivations for engaging in scandal communication
  
• Audience engagement and public value  
  
• Self-scandalisation as a strategy for audience engagement
  
• Methods for studying audiences’ participation in scandal
  
• Theoretical perspectives on changing scandal dynamics
  
• Historical perspectives on changing scandal dynamics
  
• Comparative perspectives on audiences and scandal
  
• Nordic perspectives on audiences and scandal
  
• Emotion/affect in audiences’ scandal communication  
  
• Scandal as a site for changing morals and values
  
• Scandal and the culture war 
  
• GenAI and scandalisation

References 

Adut, A. (2008). On scandal: Moral disturbances in society, politics and art. Cambridge University Press. 

Entman, R. M. (2012). Scandal and silence: Media responses to presidential misconduct. Polity. 

Ingraham, C. (2021). Gestures of concern. Duke University Press. 

Lull, J., & Hinerman, S. (Eds.). (1997). Media scandals: Morality and desire in the popular culture marketplace. Columbia University Press. 

Pollack, E., Allern, S., Kantola, A., & Ørsten, M. (2018). The new normal: Scandals as a standard feature of political life in Nordic countries. International Journal of Communication, 12, 3087–3108. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7099 

Thompson, J. B. (2000). Political scandal: Power and visibility in the media age. Polity. 

Zulli, D. (2021). Socio-mediated scandals: Theorizing political scandals in a digital media environment. Communication Theory, 31(4), 862–883. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtaa014 

Procedure 

Those with an interest in contributing should write an abstract (max. 750 words) where the main theme (or argument) of the intended article is described. The abstract should contain the preliminary title and five keywords. How the article fits with the overall description of the issue should be mentioned.  

Send your abstract to both editors by 15 January 2026 at the latest

Scholars invited to submit a full manuscript (6,000–8,000 words) will be notified by e-mail after the abstracts have been assessed by the editors. All submissions should be original works and must not be under consideration by other publishers. All submissions are submitted to Similarity Check – a Crossref service utilising iThenticate text comparison software to detect text-recycling or self-plagiarism.

Visit Crossref to learn more about Similarity Check 

 After the initial submission and review process, manuscripts that are accepted for publication must adhere to our guidelines upon final manuscript delivery. You may choose to use our templates to assist you in correctly formatting your manuscript.

Read the instructions for authors and download a manuscript template here 

About Nordic Journal of Media Studies 

Nordic Journal of Media Studies is a peer-reviewed international publication dedicated to media research. The journal is a meeting place for Nordic, European, and global perspectives on media studies. It is a thematic digital-only journal published once a year. The editors stress the importance of innovative and interdisciplinary research, and welcome contributions on both contemporary developments and historical topics.

Read the aims & scope of NJMS 

About the publisher

Nordicom is a centre for Nordic media research at the University of Gothenburg, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Nordicom publishes all works under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence, which allows for non-commercial, non-derivative types of reuse and sharing with proper attribution. All works are published Open Access and are available to read free of charge and without requirement for registration. There are no article processing charges for authors, and authors retain copyright.  

Read Nordicom's editorial policies 

Visit Creative Commons to learn more about the CC licence 

Journal of Advertising (Special issue)

Deadline: July 31, 2026

Advertising regulation is becoming increasingly important as governments, industry bodies and international organizations respond to mounting concerns over online harms, misinformation, sustainability, and consumer vulnerability. With the rapid growth of social media, AI-generated content and advanced forms of data tracking, advertising is now woven into the fabric of daily life, often in ways that are not visible or well understood. These technological and market developments have moved faster than the regulatory systems intended to manage them, creating significant gaps in the protection of the public, particularly for children and other vulnerable groups.

Globally, regulators are rethinking how advertising should be governed in the face of a shifting digital landscape and rising pressure for more responsible corporate behavior (Dickinson-Delaporte et al., 2020; Stewart, 2019). The rapid growth of digital advertising has significantly complicated regulatory oversight, as traditional rules struggle to keep pace with real-time, algorithm-driven targeting, cross-border content flows, and platform-mediated ad placements. This complexity is heightened by the opacity of digital advertising supply chains, where intermediaries and platform algorithms operate with limited transparency, highlighting the need for more responsive and accountable regulatory approaches.

Advertising regulatory approaches vary across the globe, and typically include government regulation, where laws and public agencies enforce advertising standards; industry self-regulation, where advertising bodies develop and apply their own codes of practice; media-led regulation, where platforms or publishers set and enforce their own standards of practice; and the laissez-faire approach, which relies on market forces and consumer response to address advertising issues without formal oversight. There is often a hybrid approach in practice, with many countries combining elements of these models to suit regulatory, cultural, and market contexts (see Appendix 1 for advertising regulation models in top 10 ad-spending countries).

Increasingly, there is recognition of the need for stronger mechanisms and greater international coordination (Greer & Thompson, 1985) across different regulatory forms, in order to address the dynamic issues of the contemporary world, such as online safety (Ahmad et al., 2024; Diaz Ruiz, 2025), advertising fraud (Liang et al., 2024), the use of AI (Hardcastle et al., 2025), influencer advertising (Asquith & Fraser, 2020), environmental claims and greenwashing (Parguel et al., 2015; Schmuck et al., 2018), advertising of harmful products (Abernethy & Teel, 1986; Adams et al., 2012), and gender stereotyping (Antoniou & Akrivos, 2020; Knoll et al., 2011) (see Appendix 2 for examples of recent changes in advertising regulation).

At the same time, efforts to enhance consumer protections are meeting resistance. In contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States, anti-regulatory sentiment is gaining traction, driven by concerns that increased oversight might restrict innovation and economic progress. This push and pull between protecting the public and preserving commercial freedom is making the regulation of advertising a more urgent and contested issue. Public distrust of digital platforms and unease about how personal data is used for advertising only sharpen the need for a re-evaluation of current frameworks. In this context, we highlight the crucial role advertising research plays in informing and shaping such regulatory frameworks (Kees & Andrews, 2019).

With this Special Issue, we focus on the systems that govern advertising, rather than on advertising content or ethical intention alone. Our interest lies in the legal, institutional, and procedural arrangements that support, or fail to support, ethical and socially beneficial advertising. We aim to draw attention to the conditions under which regulation can enable greater transparency, accountability, and harm reduction. Beyond analyzing what regulation currently does, we also seek to develop theory on what advertising regulation could become: how regulatory development might advance social wellbeing, shape markets more ethically, and position advertising as a force for social good. The purpose is not to promote one model of regulation over another, but to build a deeper understanding of how governance - in all its forms - shapes advertising’s societal influence and its capacity to address pressing societal issues.

We encourage submissions that theorize how regulatory approaches effect social change, and conceptual papers that propose new directions for research on advertising governance. We welcome empirical contributions that adopt multidisciplinary perspectives (Rotfeld & Taylor, 2009) and employ diverse methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks, including—but not limited to—work grounded in Transformative Advertising Research (Gurrieri et al., 2022), institutional theory, market shaping, and ethics. We are especially interested in scholarship that explores where regulation is falling short, how new interventions affect both industry and society, and theorizing that can help reimagine advertising regulation in light of contemporary challenges.

Key Themes and topics

We invite submissions that address regulatory questions across the following areas:

• Advertising and Institutional Change: How advertising regulation influences social norms, consumer rights, and the broader role of advertising in shaping public life, which may include examination of the role of consumer advocacy.
  
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Accountability: The use of regulation to support sustainable advertising, reduce greenwashing and strengthen corporate responsibility, which may include for example, how different jurisdictions address misleading sustainability advertising.
  
• Risk, Innovation and Regulatory Resilience: The effects of regulation on managing business risk, and how to design adaptable frameworks that remain effective in fast-moving digital environments.
  
• Regulation of Cross-Border Challenges, Geo-socio-political Contexts and Global Disparities: Comparative studies of regulatory approaches to particular challenges, including successful reforms, international coordination, and lessons for different contexts. How governmental structures, socio-political context, or culture influence forms of regulation and prioritization of regulatory issues across different geographical contexts.
  
• Industry Practice, Responsibility and Culture: The impact of regulation on advertising professionals, industry cultures, and legal responsibility for harmful advertising processes or outcomes.
  
• Online Harms and Safety, Surveillance and Algorithmic Systems: Regulatory responses to harmful online advertising practices, particularly concerning vulnerable populations. The role of advertising platforms in spreading or combating harmful content, for example online hate speech and misinformation.
  
• Advertising Fraud: The rise of advertising fraud, including deceptive programmatic ads, click fraud, and misleading financial promotions.
  
• Gender Stereotypes and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): Evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory interventions in addressing gendered advertising harms.
  
• Social Media Influencers and Digital Advertising: Regulatory gaps in influencer marketing and sponsored content disclosures.
  
• Generative AI and Deepfake Advertising: Ethical and regulatory challenges posed by AI-generated advertising content.
  
• Harmful or Addictive Products: Regulatory approaches to advertising of HFSS foods, alcohol, gambling, and social media addiction.
  
• As advertising continues to shape consumer behavior and societal norms, regulation plays a crucial role in mitigating harm and fostering positive change. This Special Issue seeks to advance discussions on how regulatory frameworks can help to create an advertising ecosystem that prioritizes social good, consumer well-being, and ethical advertising practices.

(please contact Guest Editors for list of references)

Submission Instructions

Submissions should follow the manuscript format guidelines for JA found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=ujoa20. The word count should be no longer than 12,000 words for Original Research Articles and Literature Reviews, and 6,000 words for Research Notes (including references, tables, figures, and appendices).

The submission deadline is July 31, 2026

All manuscripts should be submitted through the JA Submission Site. The link to the submission site can be found at this link (“Go to submission site”). Authors should select “Article Type” (e.g., research article, literature review) on the first page of the submission website. On the second page, authors will be asked if this is for a specific special issue or article collection. Select “Yes” and select “Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation” from the drop-down menu. Please also note in the cover letter that the submission is for the Special Issue on Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation: New Challenges and Opportunities.

All articles will undergo blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

The anticipated date for publication of the Special Issue is June 2027.

Any questions about the Special Issue can be sent to the guest editors: Drs. Karen Middleton, Kristina Auxtova, Lauren Gurrieri & Sean Sands at AdRegulationJA@gmail.com.

ECREA is still deeply concerned about the state's pressure on the academic community in Serbia.

See the updated Public Statement HERE.

Please consider signing a letter in support of Associate Professor Jelena Kleut (University of Novi Sad), ECREA Governing Body member, who was targeted in a campaign recently.

You can sign the letter HERE.

On 2 September 2025, Commissioner Ekatherina Zarahieva clarified that the European Commission (EC) proposal from 16 July 2025 aims at strengthening research on Society within Pillar 2. EASSH welcomes the move and invites legislators to confirm the commitment.

EASSH calls for the European Parliament and the EU member states to support the key issues described in the paper in the EC proposal for a new framework programme (FP10).

EASSH also invites member and related organisations to endorse this position paper. Please send your organisation's contact details and logo to executive.secretary@eassh.eu.

Download paper HERE.

October 16-18, 2025

São Miguel, Azores (Portugal)

Deadline: October 8, 2025

Dear colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the International Forum Citizenship through Aesthetics, to be held in São Miguel, Azores (Portugal), from 16 to 18 October 2025.

The Forum is conceived as a space of gathering, reflection, and action at the intersection of art, politics, imagination, and community. It will bring together artists, scholars, curators, cultural programmers, and civic agents to explore how aesthetic practices can shape processes of active and critical citizenship.

Open Call — Public Speech Acts

We invite proposals for short interventions (max. 15 minutes) designed as speech acts: critical and poetic gestures capable of provoking debate and opening shared space.

• Deadline for submissions: 8 October 2025
  
• Notification of results: 10 October 2025
  
• Public presentations: 16 October 2025 · 17:00–20:00 · Ponta Delgada, São Miguel (Azores)
  

Support offered:

Selected participants will receive travel, accommodation, and meals covered, plus a gift bag and a ticket for the closing performance of the POP Festival (May B, by Maguy Marin). All applicants will benefit from special accommodation and meal conditions during the Forum.

More information and the full programme:

www.aestheticivitas.org

internationalforum@aestheticivitas.org

Policy & Internet Journal

Deadline: November 2, 2025

Policy & Internet Journal has launched a special issue call for papers on the topic of “Shaping the Future of the Information Society: WSIS+20 and Beyond”, edited by Prof. Dr. Jonathon Hutchinson (University of Sydney) and Nadia Tjahja (United Nations University-CRIS and Free University of Brussels):

https://internet-policy-meco.sydney.edu.au/2025/09/specialissuewsis20/

We invite papers that explore:

Governance Modalities and Stakeholder Dynamics

We welcome papers that critically examine the evolving architecture of Internet governance, key questions include:

  *   Modes of Governance and Participation: Analyses of the WSIS+20 Review process, including its modalities, elements and drafts.

  *   Stakeholder Inclusion and Participation Models: Reviewing how the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and WSIS have approached multistakeholderism, inclusion and diversity in its processes.

  *   Meta-participation in Digital Governance: Exploring second-order stakeholder engagement – where stakeholders not only participate in processes, but actively shape the process itself

  *   Norm Development and Frameworks: Studies on the alignment and adoption of the SDGs, Sao Paulo Principles, the GDC Frameworks and ROAM-X as normative anchors.

  *   Multilateralism and Multistakeholderism: Reviewing the interplay between multilateralism and multistakeholderism

  *   Global and regional multistakeholderism: Evaluating tensions, synergies and practical implications in decision-making

Institutional Futures in Internet Governance

We invite contributions that address the evolution and future of key institutions shaping Internet governance:

  *   Preserving and Evolving the IGF: The future of multistakeholder governance through the IGF and its potentially renewed mandate

  *   Developing Institutional Architectures: Reevaluating the changing role of different offices such as the UN Tech Envoy’s office/ODET, and proposals for new bodies for future governance.

  *   Evolving institutions: Reflecting on ICANN’s role in the evolving governance ecosystems and its place in future frameworks.

  *   Governing Artificial Intelligence: Proposals for new spaces or mechanisms to coordinate global AI governance across stakeholders.

User-centric Perspectives in Internet Governance: Exploring Internet use and its socioeconomic consequences

We invite contributions that are user-centric and/or address topics related to the WSIS Action Lines:

  *   Digital Inclusion and Equity

  *   User rights

  *   Behavioural and psychological impacts

  *   Economic and labour transformations

  *   Education

  *   Cultural and language diversity

  *   Data sovereignty

  *   Topics related to the WSIS Action Lines

Submission Guidelines:

Please send through your title and 300-word abstract to Jonathon Hutchinson [jonathon.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au] and Nadia Tjahja [nadia.tjahja@vub.be] with the subject line: “Policy & Internet Special Issue” by 2 November 2025.

  *   Abstracts: up to 300 words

  *   Abstract deadline: 2 November

  *   Full papers: 6000-8000 words

  *   Full paper Deadline: 1 March 2026

Kind regards,

Jonathon (on behalf of Nadia Tjahja).

IE University, Madrid

IE University is hiring at least one tenure-track Assistant Professor of Communication & Media, to begin in September 2026. Applications are due on 24 November. The call is open but some of our areas of interest include Media Studies and Political Communication; Strategic, Corporate, and Visual Communication; and Critical, Cultural, and International Communication.

We are a research-intensive institution with an international student body. Salary is competitive. Courses are taught in English. Spanish proficiency is helpful but not required.

Find the full call here: https://apply.interfolio.com/174413

Please don't hesitate to reach out to search chair Dr. Vincent Doyle at vdoyle@faculty.ie.edu if you have any questions.

December 5-6, 2025

Porto, Portugal

Deadline (extended): October 9, 2025

https://videojogos2025.ipmaia.pt/

The call for full papers, short papers, posters, doctoral consortium papers, workshops, demos, and games is open for the 15th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts (Videojogos 2025), organised by IPMaia (Porto) and Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências dos Videojogos.

Important update:

The submission deadline has been extended - New date: 09/10/2025

The submission platforms and forms are now fully operational.

Main website: https://videojogos2025.ipmaia.pt

Paper submissions: https://pubreview.maieutica.pt

Games, demos & workshops submissions: https://forms.gle/c4ysRzmAChQvhNgj9

All selected papers (short or full) must be submitted in English to be eligible for international publication. The top 40% of research papers—peer-reviewed and evaluated for originality, relevance, and presentation quality—will be published in the annual Springer proceedings volume (Communications in Computer and Information Science – CCIS series).

The conference will be held on the 4th and 5th of December 2025 in Porto, and more information about keynotes and programme will be available soon.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and to seeing you at Videojogos 2025.