Scope

Media and public communication are currently in the middle of a far-reaching change process, caused not only by momentous political and economic transformations, but also by technological innovations. In particular, the global trend towards digitization and media convergence has a significant impact on the functionality of different forms of communication: On the one hand, increasing civic participation, e.g. through social media, brings along new possibilities for deliberative discourses and social togetherness. On the other hand, problematic developments in the digital media world, such as hate speech and disinformation, also pose unforeseen challenges and call for new forms of (legal and ethical) regulation.

The section Media Governance and the Public Sphere intends to map and scrutinize such risks and opportunities by fostering boundary-breaking, interdisciplinary and innovative scholarship with a focus on both normative and structural aspects of public communication. It invites a variety of perspectives, including, most notably, voices from the fields of media ethics and media accountability as well as media governance and political communication, but also from the broader disciplinary contexts of general media and communication studies, political science/international relations, and sociology. Its express goal is to enable critical and progressive research, which challenges orthodoxies and expands intellectual inquiry by moving thinking beyond existing paradigms, ideological boundaries and status quo orientated research agendas.

We are particularly interested in Original Research, Conceptual Analysis, Empirical Study, and Hypothesis and Theory. Although broad in scope, the contributions within the section are united in their joint quest to expand and deepen our understanding of the pivotal role of responsible media and communication for an enlightened public.

Submission

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