ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

April 14, 2022

I am pleased to invite you to the next in the series of IPRA Thought Leadership webinars. The webinar Deciphering facts from fiction: lessons learned for communicators will be presented by Tommaso Di Giovanni, Vice President of Global Communications, Philip Morris International on Thursday 14 April 2022 at 12.00 GMT/UCT (unadjusted).

What is the webinar content?

Misinformation is rampant, and often used to drive opposition to progress. Overcoming misinformation is particularly challenging for PMI, because of historical mistrust and skepticism. The webinar will describe how PMI affiliates around the world are countering misinformation and overcoming entrenched biases to promote science-driven change.

How to join

Register here at Airmeet. (The time shown should adjust to your device’s time zone.)

A reminder will be sent 1 hour before the event.

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org

Background to Tommaso Di Giovanni

Tommaso Di Giovanni is Vice President of Global Communications at Philip Morris International (PMI). He leads a global team of 150+ communicators working to elevate PMI’s mission for open and meaningful dialogues on how to accelerate the achievement of a smoke-free future, where cigarettes are replaced with less harmful alternatives, in 100+ diverse markets.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.org

Telephone +44 1634 818308

Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS)

Deadline (Abstracts): June 15, 2022

Edited by Ulla Autenrieth (Fachhochschule Graubünden), Wolfgang Reißmann (FU Berlin), Rebecca Venema (USI Università della Svizzera italiana)

We are seeking contributions for a thematic section of Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) exploring image corpora and dispersed visual practices in and with digital media.

The search for visual patterns has always been core to the field of visual studies. Already classic scholars like Warburg and Panofsky dedicated much of their work to retrace “pathos formula” (cf. Becker, 2013), or to identify “image types,” defined by Panofsky (1978) as specific forms of representation through which certain actors, actions, events, ideas or themes are visualized. Visual communication researchers have adopted previous works in art history, and have stressed the importance to combine iconographic and iconological expertise with profound knowledge of communication processes and image contexts (Knieper & Müller, 2019).

Research on image types has helped to analyze the highly routinized and conventionalized selection and use of images in news media (Grittmann, 2007, 2019) which iterate topic- or discourse-specific repertoires of images with recurring motifs and representational characteristics with which events, constellations of actors and their (inter)actions are depicted. Here, image types bundle visuals with motifs of similar content or meaning and distinct representational features (Grittmann, 2007; Grittmann & Ammann, 2009, 2011). Importantly, image type analysis has shown a way to link a systematic analysis of quantifiable structures and patterns in data sets with a detailed qualitative analysis and interpretation of representation techniques and compositional features and the manifest and latent meaning of image types (for recent applications, e.g., Brantner, Lobinger, & Stehling, 2020; Pentzold, Brantner, & Fölsche, 2019). Furthermore, key features of corpora based on mass media’s image output were carved out by delineating “generic icons” (Perlmutter, 1998, p. 11), or “key images” and “key image sequences” (e.g., handshakes as gestures to symbolize contracts) (Ludes, 2001). Concurrently, communication research has played out its long-standing expertise in quantitative content analysis, and elaborated new forms of quantitative image (content) analysis (Bell, 2006; Geise & Rössler, 2013; Lobinger, 2012, p. 227–243).

Developments in media environments, media- and image-related practices as well as in methodological tools and procedures call for a re-intensified reflection and work on image types and relational and comparative classification such analyses allow and require. In fact, we have witnessed a major shift in media ecologies as well as in research agendas over the last 10–15 years. Whereas mass media and news media coverage were dominant subjects of inquiry until early 2000s, in recent times more and more research efforts focus on the analysis of the multiple visualities in social media (Hand, 2017; Highfield & Leaver, 2016). Visual communication research contributed with both image analyses of selfies, memes and other visuals (Lobinger & Brantner, 2015), and by increasingly taking image-related practices such as “sharing” into account (Autenrieth, 2014; Gomez-Cruz & Lehmuskallio, 2016; Schreiber, 2017). Studies thus have shed light on how different sorts of visuals are appropriated and used in everyday practices of individuals or in different social entities and have tried to make sense of the constant stream of sorts of images with rather short half-lives which molds our visual media ecologies in times of “networked” and “algorithmic images” (Rubinstein & Sluis, 2008, 2013). When it comes to methods and methodological approaches, computational and digital methods promise to provide new insights and ways of grasping large image corpora and related practices (Niederer & Colombo, 2019). Other contributions explore possibilities to cluster “big image data” corpora (Rogers, 2021) with the help of artificial intelligence, machine learning and diverse sorting tools, supervised and unsupervised strategies (e.g., K-means clustering).

Against this background, the Thematic Section invites to reflect on old and new challenges in analyzing and constructing image types on the level of image contents, and / or in typologizing routinized or conventionalized image-related practices on the level of media and image appropriation and usage.

We welcome both, theoretical reflections on methodology and methods as well as qualitative and quantitative empirical studies or mixed approaches. In particular, the Thematic Section asks:

• How do we build up medium-sized or large corpora of images and practices in digital media environments? How do we develop image types or typologies of image-related practices based on those corpora? Which criteria, elements and relations are essential, which are of secondary relevance – why? What (new) legal and research ethics challenges arise from this? How do we deal with them?

• How do we involve manual and automated forms of coding and analyzing? Which limitations have automated and / or AI-driven forms of image clustering? Are image clusters and image types the same thing, or should we nuance conceptual differences? How are procedures of human and automated coding arranged in appropriate ways, e.g., for mutually correcting the “blind spots” of each other?

• How do we deal with the multitude of actors and contexts involved in producing and sharing images in digital media environments? How do we balance the tension between manifest and latent meanings of image types, and the contextual appropriation of specific representatives in different fields by different actors? How do we bring together people’s everyday practices of using or sorting images, folksonomy or platform-driven classifications, and research-centered, corpus-based results?

Submission guidelines​

SComS welcomes submissions in English, German, French, or Italian. However, English and German are the preferred languages of this Thematic Section. Abstracts should be a maximum of 500 words in length and should explain the main research question(s), scientific literature, methodology, and case studies the authors plan to use. Please submit your abstract via e-mail to wolfgang.reissmann@fuberlin.de.

Manuscripts should be a maximum of 9000 words in length (including the abstract and all references, tables, figures, footnotes, appendices). In addition, authors may submit supplementary material that will be published as an online supplement. Authors are invited to submit original papers that are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Articles shall be submitted using the APA reference style, 6th edition. The manuscript itself must be free of any information or references that might reveal the identity of the authors and their institution to allow double-blind peer review. Manuscripts should be submitted via the SComS platform:

https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/about/submissions. We ask authors to carefully prepare submissions according to all rules given in the SComS Submission Guidelines.

Abstract submissions are due June 15 2022. Final acceptance depends on a double-blind peer review process of the manuscripts. The expected publishing date of this thematic section is April / May 2024. However, early submissions that successfully pass the review process will also be immediately published online first.

Contributions that receive positive reviews but are not accepted for the Thematic Section may be considered for publication in a subsequent SComS issue within the General Section

For any further information please contact Wolfgang Reißmann (wolfgang.reissmann@fuberlin.de).

Key dates:

• 15 June 2022:Abstract submission deadline
• 30 June 2022:Decision on acceptance / rejection of abstracts
• 31 October 2022:Full paper submission deadline
• Nov 2022 – Jan 2023:First round of peer review
• 15 March 2023:Resubmission deadline
• March – May 2023:Second round of peer review
• 30 July 2023:Final paper submission
• August 2023:Editorial work / final shape-up

Publication of the Thematic Section is scheduled for April / May 2024

Reference list

Autenrieth, U. (2014). Die Bilderwelten der Social Network Sites. Bildzentrierte Darstellungsstrategien, Freundschaftskommunikation und Handlungsorientierungen von Jugendlichen auf Facebook und Co. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Becker, C. (2013). Aby Warburg’s Pathosformel as methodological paradigm. Journal of Art Historiography, 9, 1–25. Retrieved from https://doaj.org/article/58b051219d61444cb8171e5ebcc44df4

Bell, P. (2006). Content analysis of visual images. In T. van Leeuwen & C. Jewitt (Eds.), Handbook of visual analysis (pp. 10–34). London, UK: SAGE.

Brantner, C., Lobinger, K., & Stehling, M. (2020). Memes against sexism? A multi-method analysis of the feminist protest hashtag #distractinglysexy and its resonance in the mainstream news media. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(3), 674–696. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856519827804

Geise, S., & Rössler, P. (2013). Standardisierte Bildinhaltsanalyse. In W. Möhring & D. Schlütz (Eds.), Handbuch standardisierte Erhebungsverfahren in der Kommunikationswissenschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-18776-1_17

Gomez-Cruz, E., & Lehmuskallio, A. (Eds.) (2016). Digital photography and everyday life. empirical studies on material visual practices. Oxford, UK: Routledge.

Grittmann, E. (2007). Das politische Bild. Fotojournalismus und Pressefotografie in Theorie und Empirie. Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.

Grittmann, E. (2019). Methoden der Medienbildanalyse in der Visuellen Kommunikationsforschung: Ein Überblick. In K. Lobinger (Ed.), Handbuch Visuelle Kommunikationsforschung (pp. 527–546). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-06738-0_25-1

Grittmann, E., & Ammann, I. (2009). Die Methode der quantitativen Bildtypenanalyse. Zur Routinisierung der Bildberichterstattung am Beispiel von 9/11 in der journalistischen Erinnerungskultur. In T. Petersen & C. Schwender (Eds.), Visuelle Stereotype (pp. 141–158). Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.

Grittmann, E., & Ammann, I. (2011). Quantitative Bildtypenanalyse. In T. Petersen & C. Schwender (Eds.), Die Entschlüsselung der Bilder. Methoden zur Erforschung visueller Kommunikation. Ein Handbuch (pp. 163–177). Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.

Hand, M. (2017). Visuality in social media: Researching images, circulations and practices. In L. Sloan & A.

Quan-Haase (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods (pp. 215–231). London, UK: SAGE. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781473983847

Highfield, T., & Leaver, T. (2016). Instagrammatics and digital methods: Studying visual social media, from selfies and GIFs to memes and emoji. Communication Research and Practice, 2(1), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2016.1155332

Knieper T., & Müller, M. G. (2019). Zur Bedeutung von Bildkontexten und Produktionsprozessen für die Analyse visueller Kommunikation. In K. Lobinger (Ed.), Handbuch Visuelle Kommunikationsforschung (pp. 515–526).

Wiesbaden: Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-06508-9_23

Lobinger, K. (2012). Visuelle Kommunikationsforschung. Medienbilder als Herausforderung für die Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft. Wiesbaden: VS.

Lobinger, K., & Brantner, C. (2015). Selfies | In the eye of the beholder: Subjective views on the authenticity of selfies. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1848–1860. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3151

Ludes, P. (2001). Schlüsselbild-Gewohnheiten. Visuelle Habitualisierungen und visuelle Koordinationen. In T. Knieper & M. G. Müller (Eds.), Kommunikation visuell. Das Bild als Forschungsgegenstand – Grundlagen und Perspektiven (pp. 64–78). Köln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.

Niederer, S., & Colombo, G. (2019). Visual methodologies for networked images: Designing visualizations for collaborative research, cross-platform analysis, and public participation. Disena, 14, 40–67. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.14.40-67

Panofsky, E. (1978/1996). Sinn und Deutung in der bildenden Kunst. Köln: DuMont.

Pentzold, C., Brantner, C., & Fölsche, L. (2019). Imagining big data: Illustrations of “big data” in US news articles, 2010–2016. New Media & Society, 21(1), 139–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818791326

Perlmutter, D. D. (1998). Photojournalism and foreign policy. Icons of outrage in international crises. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Rogers, R. (2021). Visual media analysis for Instagram and other online platforms. Big Data & Society, 8(1), 1– 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211022370

Rubinstein D., & Sluis, K. (2013). The digital image in photographic culture: Algorithmic photography and the crisis of representation. In M. Lister (Ed.), The photographic image in digital culture (2nd ed., pp. 22–40), London, UK: Routledge.

Rubinstein, D., & Sluis, K. (2008). A life more photographic: Mapping the networked image. Photographies, 1(1), 9–28.

Schreiber, M. (2017). Audiences, aesthetics and affordances: Analysing practices of visual communication on social media. Digital Culture & Society, 3(2), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/13519

22 August - 2 September 2022 (online)

Maastricht Summer School, Maastricht University

Deadline: August 1, 2022

The focus of this Summer School course is on critical discourse analysis, social semiotics and news framing. A key objective is to enable you to design an analytical framework to study media representations with textual and/or visual elements (e.g. newspaper/magazine articles with photos, cartoons and social media posts). You can read more about the course content, course objectives and recommended literature below. You also find there the link to the timetable.

The course fee is €399. To apply for the course, please visit the DreamApply website. For more information, please contact course coordinator Leonhardt.

Course Description

The tweets of US-President Donald Trump, the heated social media debate on Greta Thunberg and the many angles on migration stress the pivotal role of texts and images in our societies. This course teaches you the analytical skills to study the possible meanings of textual and visual media representations.

Interactive lectures offer you concepts and methods to examine what combinations of words and/or visual elements mean in terms of a broader debate in society. These lectures further help you to understand how national identities and power relations affect the interpretations of media representations. Your individual assignment concerns a short paper, in which you apply a method to study one or two news articles, cartoons or social media posts.

Dr Leonhardt van Efferink developed an exclusive Summer School template that helps you to write a well-structured course paper. On top of this, he offers individual feedback in class and active personal tutoring by e-mail. Finally, his support includes a simple framework to develop focused, consistent and transparent research questions.

Below you find the course objectives, a link to the timetable and suggested literature.

Course Objectives

1. Designing an analytical framework to study media representations with textual and/or visual elements (e.g. newspaper/magazine articles with photos, cartoons and social media posts).

2. Developing a research method that draws on critical discourse analysis, social semiotic analysis and/or news framing analysis, in line with your research objectives.

3. Explaining the role of the national and ideological contexts in which (social) media content is being produced.

4. Understanding the complexity of text-image relations and their role in meaning-making processes.

5. Producing a research design and dataset for your thesis or dissertation that is manageable.

Timetable

The fourth online edition of this course lasts from 22 August until 2 September 2022. The three earlier online editions in 2020/2021 were fully booked and seven earlier editions took place on-campus in Maastricht between 2014 and 2019. This edition has daily teaching sessions of at most three hours. Teaching days will start at 13.00 (Maastricht time zone/GMT+2) and end at the latest at 16.00 (Maastricht time zone/GMT+2). This makes it easier for students from far away countries to deal with the large time differences. Please check Leonhardt's website for most up-to-date version of the timetable: https://vanefferink.com/en/media-representations-and-research-methods-summer-school-critical-discourse-analysis-social-semiotics-and-news-framing/

Literature

Leonhardt has based this course on publications in various languages (see overview below for some examples). You are not required to do pre-course reading. However, if you would like to do so, you are advised to select one of the publications below. You can also contact Leonhardt for tailor-made reading advice.

1. Caple, H. (2013) Photojournalism. A Social Semiotic Approach.

2. Dahinden, U. (2006). Framing. Eine integrative Theorie der Massenkommunikation.

3. D’Angelo, P. (ed.) (2018) Doing News Framing Analysis II. Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives.

4. Geise, S., & Lobinger, K. (eds.). (2013). Visual Framing. Perspektiven und Herausforderungen der visuellen Kommunikationsforschung.

5. Machin, D. (2007) Introduction to Multimodal Analysis.

6. Machin, D. and Mayr, A. (2012) How to do Critical Discourse Analysis.

7. Richardson, J. (2007) Analysing Newspapers. An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis.

8. Royce, T. D. (2006). Intersemiotic Complementarity. A Framework for Multimodal Discourse Analysis. In T. D. Royce, & W. Bowcher (Eds.), New Directions in the Analysis of Multimodal Discourse (pp. 63-109).

9. Van Gorp, B. (2010) Strategies to take the Subjectivity out of Framing Analysis. In P. D’Angelo, & J. A. Kuypers (Eds.), Doing News Framing Analysis. Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 84-109).

10. Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (eds., 2016) Methods of Critical Discourse Studies.

Student reviews (from LinkedIn recommendations)

1. “I found Leonhardt very well familiar with all the dynamics of his class room, as he very efficiently caters to the need of all his students coming from different social, cultural and educational backgrounds.” – Sadia from Pakistan

2. “Leonhardt is a great lecturer who knows his subject matter. I found his inclusive approach particularly useful in teaching media analysis techniques.” – Koen from Belgium

3. “Not only did Leonhardt demonstrate a high level of expertise in the subject, but he also helped his students understand difficult concepts in a very accessible way, effectively bridging the gap between theory and practice, and fostering fruitful discussions in class.” – Carolina from Brazil

"What could be done to help the Russian civil society against the reinforced censorship implemented by the government since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and to make the Russian population aware of what is succeeding ?

The Denis Diderot Committee, created by various experts in the field of European audiovisual matters has launched the proposal of EU sanctions against the two Russian pay-TV platforms NTV+ and Trikolor, operating on Eutelsat 36E satellites. Taking advantage of their gatekeeper position, those two platforms have since early March eliminated 8 international news channels from their offer. Sanctions by the EU and possibly by the intergovernmental organisation EUTELSAT IGO could allow Eutelsat SA to reallocate capacities to the international news channels and independent Russian or Ukrainian speaking channels, with the possibility of reaching in a free-to-air DTH manner around 30 % of Russian TV households.

The Denis Diderot Committee has published a report and a petition, available on its website https://histv3.wixsite.com/denisdiderot.

The petition was signed by various professionals and by various researchers in communication, including ECREA Chairman John Downey and also by all the Members of the National Council for Radio and Television of Ukraine, the regulatory authority in this country

https://histv3.wixsite.com/denisdiderot/petition

If you wish to have your name included in the list of signatories, you may send an email to me. If you prefer sign it without your name being published, you can sign the petition on Avaaz :

in English https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/l_union_europeenne_et_eutelsat_igo_pour_des_sanctions_contre_ntv_et_trikolor_censeurs_russes_de_l_information_pluraliste

or in French : https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/fr/l_union_europeenne_et_eutelsat_igo_pour_des_sanctions_contre_ntv_et_trikolor_censeurs_russes_de_l_information_pluraliste/

The report and the petition were already submitted to the various concerned bodies of the European Union, to the Executive Secretary of the EUTELSAT IGO and to the national regulatory authorities members of the ERGA.

Further signatures will of course reinforce the possible impact of the proposal.

Thank you in advance for your attention and support.

Dr André Lange

Coordinator of the Denis Diderot Committee

Scientific collaborator of the Department Media, Culture and Communication

Former Head of Department at the European Audiovisual Observatory

histv3@gmail.com

Zylinska, Joanna

How do we combat post-truth in the news? Are social media influencers the journalists of today? What is it like to live in a smart city? Does AI really change ‘everything’? The Future of Media investigates the future of media industries and technologies (journalism, TV, film, photography, radio, publishing, social media), while exploring how media shape our future – on a political, economic, cultural and individual level. Issues of diversity, media reform, labour, activism and art take the discussion into a wider social context. Through this, the book celebrates the importance and vitality of media in the modern world. The Future of Media is also an experiment in collaborative modes of thinking and working. Co-authored by theorists and practitioners from one of the world’s most established media departments and their collaborators, it offers a radical, creative and critical take on media industries – and on world affairs.

An open-access version of the book can be downloaded from the GRO repository [click on the download button]: https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31658/

If you like the book, we hope you will be able to support Goldsmiths Press by ordering a paper copy for yourself and/or your library, via their distributor, MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/future-media

The book also has a companion website, featuring practice works engaging with the future of media: ;https://www.golddust.org.uk/futureofmedia

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, has endorsed a PR initiative to create the Ukraine Communications Support Network (UCSN). The network, hosted by the UK-based Public Relations and Communications Association and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation, seeks to coordinate volunteer communications activity in support of the people of Ukraine.

The UCSN invites PR professionals around the world to submit proposals for voluntary communications activity. A steering committee, comprised of Ukrainian and international communicators, will oversee approval of these proposals.

How to help

Communications professionals are invited to submit proposals across 12 categories including Ukrainian government media relations, assisting journalists, promoting fund raising for refugee organizations, and the countering of misinformation. Proposals can be submitted here.

IPRA President Etsuko Tsugihara comments: “IPRA is proud to support this excellent initiative and will rally its network of global experts to help.”

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.orgTelephone +44 1634 818308

Recruitment for the Special Edition „for Ukraine” of the Young Media and Communication Scholars Mentoring Program is open.

If you are a MA or PhD student with affiliation at a Ukrainian university and your scientific interests are related to social sciences and social media, this information is for you. Thanks to the program, you will develop your scientific competence and cooperate with renowned researchers from Poland. Participation in the program is possible in Polish, English and Ukrainian (in the case of mentors who agreed to it) and will be confirmed by a certificate.

To register, please send your application to mentoring.fmmik@gmail.com. It should include your name, type of studies, affiliation, institute/faculty and the name of the master's or doctoral dissertation supervisor. In addition, you should briefly summarize your scientific interests, justify the selection of the PTKS research section, define the purpose of participation in the program and the intended end result (article or conference speech). Applications are accepted in Polish and English. There is continuous recruitment.

Application form and detailed information are available here: https://www.ptks.pl/en/programs/pca-mentoring-program

If you have any additional questions, do not hesitate to contact the program coordinators, Roksana M. Zdunek and Joanna Najbor: mentoring.fmmik@gmail.com

Special issue of TMG – Journal for Media History.

Deadline (Abstracts): May 16, 2022

Contemporary research predominantly conceives of ‘new media’—i.e., media worthy of scholarly attention—as digital media and computer technologies (Peters, 2009; Borah, 2017). Media historical scholarship has responded to this in various ways. Media archaeologists, for example, argue that historicising media helps to counter teleological perspectives concerning the current digital media landscape, as well as the corporate-fed idea that present-day media are more disruptive and transformative than ever. Others seek to historicise the current media ecosystem and its conceptual underpinnings to investigate claims of their supposed “newness” (Balbi, Ribeiro, Schafer & Schwarzenegger 2021). Media history at large has thus shifted from a central focus on traditional mass media towards a more diverse set of research ambitions, also including transnational media histories.

However, media and technologies that emerged or prospered over the course of the 1980s and 1990s have largely been neglected, some exceptions notwithstanding (e.g., Arceneaux 2005; Moe & Van den Bulck 2016; Slootweg 2018; Verhoef 2022). This is problematic, for it results in a gap in our socio-cultural knowledge. After all, scholars have abundantly made clear that media histories form an apt prism through which to analyse ‘a rich web of cultural practices and ideas’ (Douglas 1987: xv). Seminal works have highlighted the societal changes that older media technologies, such as the telegraph (Czitrom 1982), telephone (Fischer 1992), radio (Douglas 1987) and television (Spigel 1992) engendered and reflected—yet there is a dearth of similar histories pertaining to the 1980s and 1990s. An earlier special issue of TMG—Journal for Media History sought to bring electromagnetic media such as video back into the limelight. More needs to be done, however. We believe that encouraging 1980s and 1990s media histories is imperative to understand historical developments such as burgeoning individualisation, consumerism or neoliberalism—developments which continue to affect our lives today. In short, 1980s and 1990s media technologies moved fast and broke things, too.

This special issue of TMG—Journal for Media History aims to give media historical research into the 1980s and 1990s a new impetus. Which sources can be used and on what empirical grounds can we construct histories of those media that have fallen through the cracks of traditional and current media historical inquiry? We welcome a variety of disciplines and approaches to make a head start in realising our ambition to present these histories. Contributions can, for instance, focus on well- and lesser-known media technologies such as the Walkman, videodisc, CD-I, Datasette, Teletext, pager/beeper, cell phone, Discman, various home computer systems or video game consoles (e.g., the NES). Media that underperformed in one market, but flourished in others, also qualify. Relevant topics and themes for this special issue might include, but are not limited to:

• media histories as a lens to reflect on wider socio-cultural developments, to ‘chart the desires and concerns of a given social context and the preoccupations of particular moments in history’ (Sturken & Thomas 2004: 1).
• the social construction of media and technologies, including popular consciousness, discourses and imaginaries and the ways in which such media were advertised.
• media archaeological investigations of forgotten and neglected media technologies from the 1980s and 1990s
• various legacy media from the 1980s and 1990s that are important to understand their purported convergence during the current digital media landscapes (cf. Balbi 2015)
• the exhibition of media. Consumer electronics exhibitions and trade events such as Firato (Amsterdam) and Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) were crucial cultural intermediaries in the dissemination of media and technology.
• other intermediaries that helped promote and adopt media, such as designers (e.g. du Gay et al. 2017) and sites where users, consumers and/or producers convened, such as hobby clubs (e.g. Veraart 2011).

Since the majority of media histories tend to focus on the English-speaking world, we also welcome contributions that focus on other countries or regions around the globe.

Submission guidelines​

Contributions should be in English. Abstracts should present the main research question(s), scientific literature, method, and case study the authors plan to use. They should not exceed 500 words. Please submit your abstract via e-mail to 80sand90smediahistories@gmail.com. Abstract submissions are due on May 16 2022.

Manuscripts: 6,000-8,000 words (including notes). Deviations are possible, subject to the agreement of the editors. Authors are to submit original papers that are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Final acceptance depends on a double-blind peer review process of the manuscripts. The expected publishing date of this special issue of TMG—Journal for Media History is in autumn 2023.

Contributions that receive positive reviews but are not accepted for the special issue may be considered for publication in another issue of TMG—Journal for Media History.

If you have questions, please reach the editors, dr. Jesper Verhoef (Utrecht University) and dr. Tom Slootweg (University of Groningen), via 80sand90smediahistories@gmail.com.

Key dates:

Abstract submission deadline: May 16 2022

Authors receive confirmation of selection of papers: June 7 2022

Full paper submission deadline: November 16 2022

References

Arceneaux, Noah. 2005. “The World Is a Phone Booth: The American Response to Mobile Phones, 1981-2000.” Convergence 11 (2): 22–31.

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Balbi, Gabriele, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer & Christian Schwarzenegger, eds. 2021. Digital Roots: Historicizing Media and Communication Concepts of the Digital Age. Oldenburg: De Gruyter.

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Tabe Bergman and Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman (eds.)

Deadline: May 1, 2022

The war in Ukraine could well mark a sharp turning point in global history, as the West isolates Russia, which now appears to try to more closely align itself with non-Western powers. Though the long-term consequences of the conflict cannot yet be fully understood, many observers have noted that the world is going through one of the most dangerous phases in its history, with conflict between nuclear-armed states a real possibility.

The present moment calls for academics, journalists, and other experts to engage with the ‘first rough draft’ of history that is being produced and disseminated by the media. There exists an urgent need to explore the information war from all sides with the aim to understand the media’s role in war and, hopefully, peace. Specifically, academics and other experts can play a part in resisting the observed tendency of national and global media, especially during war, to silo themselves off by excluding voices that run counter to established state narratives.

The world’s chances to resolve the crisis will improve when people have ready access to the main, relevant perspectives and arguments from all sides to the conflict, and when they can avail themselves of informed critiques of the coverage by national media systems and global media outlets, and of insightful contextualization of the media, including the commercial and political interests they might have.

Therefore, we would like to invite abstracts for chapters that critically explore:

• National coverage of the war in Ukraine
• Comparative coverage of the war
• Coverage of the refugee crisis
• Propaganda and information warfare
• Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation
• Censorship by governments
• Censorship by private media companies
• Other topics that fit the call for chapters

We are especially keen on chapters that include an original, structured analysis of media content with any quantitative or qualitative method, and that reflect on strengths and weaknesses of the coverage, and on the relations between the media and other societal forces, including politics and economics.

If you would like to participate, please send an abstract of maximum 500 words and a bio of 150 to 200 words to the editors. Routledge has expressed interest in publishing the book. Once the abstracts have been selected the full book proposal will be submitted to the publisher.

Timeline

Abstract deadline: 1 May

Abstract decisions: 30 May

Full chapter deadline: 1 December 2022

Chapter length: 6 to 7 thousand words

Contact

Tabe Bergman: Tabe.Bergman@xjtlu.edu.cn

Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman: Johearnsbranaman@uic.edu.cn

Forthcoming

Hearns Branaman, Jesse Owen and Tabe Bergman (eds.). 2022. Journalism and Foreign Policy: How the US and UK Media Cover Official Enemies. London: Routledge.

October 2022

Abstracts Deadline: 1 June 2022

Organised by the Cultural Theory Cluster at the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, at Birmingham City University, ‘Disruption, Voice and Listening’ is a 2-day free online ‘flipped conference’ in October 2022, exploring the interplay between ‘disruption’, ‘voice’ and ‘listening’.

Disruption, Voice, and Listening invites proposals that consider the critical role of disruption in shaping our contemporaneity, and its relationship to the politics of voice and listening. Through a range of contributions that will include presentations, articles, podcasts, or vlogs, we want to explore the narratives of continuity and disruption. Sited within a department whose research activities have been disrupted like those of many universities, the flipped conference will serve as a platform to consider issues including the breakdown of authority exposed by the pandemic, polarising ‘culture war’ tactics, the ‘crises’ of migration, rights and social movements. How does these relate to neoliberal ideologies and practices, and neoliberalism’s heroisation of ‘innovative disruptors’? Throughout, we want to pay attention to whose voices make up both the status quo and its interruption. Can we now think of the seismic events of the past two years as disrupting a set of otherwise continuous narratives? Who controls such rifts, and how? Whose voices are enabled by recent disruptions, and whose are silenced?

Bringing together ‘disruption’ and ‘listening’, our key questions include:

• How can an ethics of listening be cultivated that is itself disruptive to conventions of authorized political discourse?
• How can techniques of collective listening disrupt processes of mediating the public sphere determined by power?
• Can listening as a political process challenge ‘culture war’ tactics which push people into taking one side or another?
• How might we learn from activist and artistic practices, movements, and campaigns that have tried to create spaces for unheard, marginalised voices?
• How do forms of disruption create space for marginalised voices, or alternatively, shut them down?

As a ‘flipped conference’, the speaker will deliver a 10-15 minute presentation (video and audio formats also welcome) complemented by a ‘position statement’. The position statement can be read by participants as a ‘conversation starter’, enabling a more dialogic presentation format. The ‘position statement’ can take the form of a classic blog post, a short podcast, or vlog (equivalent to 800-1000 words). These will be hosted on the BCMCR website (bcmcr.org), and the Post Pandemic

University website (https://postpandemicuniversity.net/). Delegates will be encouraged to read ‘position statements’ before the event.

We also welcome alternative formats for presentation, including performances, artworks and poetry.

Subthemes

Disruption and politics

• Disruption as intrinsic to neoliberalism and authoritarian populism: ‘innovative disruption’, spectacle, and ‘disaster capitalism’ (Klein 2008); states of exception’ (Agamben 2005).
• Disruption as catalysing new ways of thinking: as ‘natality’ (Arendt 2004) and ‘acts’ (Isin 2012).
• Forms of disruption (for example caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate emergency) that are tolerated by the state and capital.
• Disruption as a performed narrative. The intended and unintended audiences for such narratives.

Disruption, voice, scales and social movements

• Acts that emerge as a disruption (for example, protests, industrial action, etc).
• The disruption of forcing issues into public debate
• Disrupting the global North/South hierarchies.
• Disruptions which create enabling spaces to marginalised groups to share their experiences and voice.

Disruption and temporality

• Forms of 'rhythmic unconscious' (Alhadeff-Jones 2019) which the liminal space-time of a crisis/disruption conjure up.
• The tempo and temporality of crisis.
• The beginnings and ends of disruption, and its framing and narration.
• Disruption as creating liminal spaces and the emergence of new possibilities but also as potentially shutting these spaces down.

Activist and art disruptions, disruptions in urban space

• Interventions within urban spaces.
• The potential for ‘innovation’ in disruptive artistic practices in the age of institutionallysanctioned socially engaged arts practice.
• The institutional response/absorption/neutralisation of disruptive art practices (Charnley 2021).

Disruption, migration, and citizenship

• How migration disrupts imperial legacies.
• How migrant solidarities and migrant voices disrupt an anti-immigrant habitus and consensus.
• How transversal solidarities (Yuval-Davis 1999) disrupt and transform authorized scripts of how to act as a liberal national citizen, and what ‘performative citizenship’ (Isin 2017) offers as a conceptual frame for examining this issue.

Disruption and the neoliberal university

• The disrupted university (for example, teaching/learning during the pandemic) and attempts to learn from these or alternatively impose ‘business as usual’.
• The fetishization of “disruptive innovators” within neoliberal academic cultures.
• The emergence of alternative/para-academic institutions, industrial action in universities, disruptions of hierarchies within academic cultures.

Timescales

• 1 June CFP deadline; responses by mid-June 2022
• 12 Sept deadline for blog posts, podcasts and vlogs
• 5 and 13 October: Provisional online event dates

Proposal submissions

Please send submissions, including title, 250-word abstract and contact information to disruptionvoicelistening@gmail.com.