Journalism Studies News/ December 2025

Call for Papers

"Cyber Events. Journalism, Narratives and Technocriticism”

Editors: Dr. Philip Di Salvo (Universität St. Gallen) and Dr. Paolo Bory (Politecnico di Milano)

Under contract in the “Frontiers in Journalism Studies”, published by Peter Lang

Book rationale:

 Journalism has been central to shaping public understanding of the economic, political, and cultural impacts of digital technologies. It has also served as a key arena where competing visions of emerging technologies are negotiated. Media narratives often oscillate from early utopian or dystopian excitement to more grounded critique as technologies become embedded in society. 

The edited volume will examine journalism’s role in key moments and controversies in the recent history of digital technologies, exploring both how it has shaped and disseminated narratives and how it has been influenced by these events. The newsworthiness of certain events and technologies has at times pushed journalism toward speculative or sensational accounts, drawing on unreliable sources or projecting the future impact of emerging technologies. Such narratives, as shown by scholarship in media and journalism studies, have the capacity to influence technological trajectories by shaping perceptions among a broad audience, including readers, stakeholders, institutions, and tech companies. In other cases, particularly over the past two decades, journalism has actively contributed to shaping narratives through scoops and revelations. Events such as the Snowden disclosures or the Cambridge Analytica scandal, while centered on technological issues, carried broader social, political, and ethical implications. By reporting on these events, journalists have elevated critical topics, such as surveillance, data justice, and the datafication of citizens and media users, into the public sphere, reaching audiences that were previously limited to experts, academics, or activists. Overall, the volume aims to provide a comprehensive overview of journalism’s dual role in both reflecting and influencing the development, perception, and societal impact of digital technologies, highlighting its power to shape public understanding and the course of technological change.

To join the dots of these narratives and debates and address the impact they have had on our contemporary societies, this volume aims at bringing together the critical view of scholars on some key events in the recent history of digitization and on how journalism has played a part in reporting them to the public. More importantly, it will broaden the focus on these events from addressing their coverage to also reflect on how journalism actively played a part in the shaping these events and how, wherever possible, journalism was also influenced by these events. Cyber events refer to media events of international significance that put the role and socio-historical changes that a given technology, or a specific interaction with it, can bring about at the centre of public discourse. The concept of the cyber event serves here as a theoretical anchor to identify those moments when the status quo of the socio-technical landscape has been challenged.

A number of contributions have already been allocated, and we are now seeking up to seven chapters that address, but are not limited to, the following themes: the launch of ChatGPT-3; the Snowden case a decade later; the rise and implications of “the Techlash”; the Pegasus spyware scandal; the development and impact of the AI Act; and Gamergate. Proposals that approach these themes from interdisciplinary perspectives are especially encouraged. The book is not intended to be limited to content, framing, or discourse analysis. While such approaches may certainly be incorporated within individual chapters, the overarching aim is to engage with broader meta-discourses, critically examining how journalism has interpreted and made sense of these cyber events, how it has been shaped by them, and how it has, in turn, been affected or transformed by their occurrence. We particularly welcome contributions that widen the geographical, methodological, and conceptual scope of the volume. As we are committed to assembling a diverse and inclusive authorship, we strongly encourage submissions from scholars of varied gender identities, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and especially from researchers based outside Europe and the United States. 

Interested authors are invited to submit an abstract of maximum 500 words by January 11th. The abstract should clearly outline the scope of the chapter, its methodological approach, and the main narrative or argument. Please include a brief author bio with your submission. Abstracts should be sent via email to: philip.disalvo@unisg.ch and paolo.bory@polimi.it. Selected authors will be notified by January 31st, and the deadline for full chapters (maximum 6,500 words) is May 31st. For any questions about the edited volume, please reach out to the editors. 

Call for Papers

JOURNALISM, PLATFORMS, AND PUBLIC INTEREST TECHNOLOGIES

Applying PIT to Rebuild Trust, Infrastructure, and Civic Purpose in Journalism

Pre-conference to the ECREA Journalism Studies Section 2026

April 8, 2026 – University of Groningen

Conference Topic

In recent years, Public Interest Technology (PIT) has emerged as a field devoted to rethinking the institutions, infrastructures, and technology-embedded services that shape society for the common good. Defined by Tara Dawson McGuinness and Hana Schank (2021) as “the application of design, data, and delivery to advance the public interest and promote the public good in the digital age,” PIT has largely concentrated on governmental and nonprofit contexts. Yet journalism and media studies are increasingly recognizing the value of this framework for interrogating—and redesigning—the technological systems that underpin news production, distribution, and engagement.

This turn is overdue. Journalism’s long-standing mission to hold power accountable has been widely understood as foundational to democracy (Helberger, 2019;  Hampton, 2009). But that mission is under strain. Privately controlled digital infrastructures (Luitse, 2024; Simon, 2022), opaque platform architectures, metrics-driven newsroom cultures (Dodds et al., 2023; Schaetz, 2024; Christin, 2020), and rapidly advancing automation systems are reshaping the conditions under which journalism can operate in the public interest (Sevignani et al., 2025). These shifts raise urgent questions about how journalists might adopt PIT principles to critically assess the technologies they depend on and how the field can imagine alternatives that better serve democratic needs.

This conference invites scholars, practitioners, and technologists to examine what is working, what is changing, and what tensions arise as journalism adapts its public mission through the lenses of design, data, and delivery. How might PIT reshape journalistic practices, media organizations, platform relationships, and collaborative models within newsrooms, across media systems, with platforms, and alongside public and civic actors?

Proposed Topics:

• Conceptualizations of Public Interest Technology (PIT) for journalism.

• Journalistic practices, in a broad sense, including fact-checking, open-source investigations, data journalism, visual investigations, and others, particularly when they advance the public interest.

• New theorizations of the intersection between journalism, technology, (digital) infrastructure, power, and publics.

• Experimentation in newsrooms (investigative collaboration, innovation labs, participatory and community-centered design, alternative distribution models) that reflects journalism’s evolving role as an architect of public-interest infrastructures.

• Examinations of tensions between platform-driven technological logics and public-oriented visions of journalism.  

• New organizational, financial, technological, and collaborative models that are reshaping possibilities for PIT. 

• Platform governance, algorithmic visibility, content moderation, and data control that directly influence journalism’s capacity to function in the public interest. 

• Publics and communities that are emerging as co-designers, co-producers, and evaluators of journalistic knowledge and delivery systems, redefining trust, legitimacy, and shared meaning. 

• PIT as a form of critical media infrastructure that creates spaces in which citizens can engage in respectful, transparent, and equitable dialogue, offering a counterbalance to commercial platforms.

Different types of submissions are possible. You can submit a traditional research talk on one of the pre-conference topics, but you can also submit “work-in-progress” contributions on research projects that are still in progress. For those, the conference provides an opportunity to discuss their theoretical and methodological approaches, research designs, data collection, and other matters of interest. 

The pre-conference aims to bring together researchers from diverse backgrounds. Experts from outside academia are also welcome, particularly to foster discussion between scholars and practitioners about central actors in the implementation of AI in journalism. In addition, we specifically encourage submissions from young and emerging scholars, particularly from the YECREA network. 

When submitting, please note

• The conference will be held in English.

• Speakers are expected to be present. Virtual presentations are not possible.

• Submissions must be in English and submitted as a .pdf file. 

• Please state whether your contribution is a research talk or a work-in-progress talk.

• Please indicate whether the first author is a PhD student.

• The abstracts should include the main idea/argument, research questions, theoretical perspectives, and/or information on methodology and empirical findings (if relevant).

What, where, and when to submit

• Abstracts of no more than 500 words (references excluded) should be sent to doddsrojas@wisc.edu by 17 January 2026, 23:59 (Central European Time)

• All submitted abstracts will be reviewed. Acceptance notifications will be sent out on February 31, 2026.

• Deadline for confirmation of participation is March 10, 2026.

The pre-conference will take place on April 8, 2026, at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Groningen.

There is no conference fee. Participants with special needs are kindly asked to contact the organizers.

Conference Organization

• Tomás Dodds, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Nadja Schaetz, University of Hamburg

• Agustin Ferrari Braun, University of Amsterdam

• Seth Lewis, University of Oregon

• Bronwyn Jones, University of Edinburgh

• Colin Porlezza, Università della Svizzera italiana

• James Meese, RMIT University

Job Alerts

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN DIGITAL METHODS AND THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Aarhus University

Apply here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPG525/postdoctoral-researcher-in-digital-methods-and-the-creator-economy   

The Department of Media and Journalism Studies within the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University invites applications for a postdoctoral position in digital methods and the creator economy. The postdoctoral position is part of the research project ‘PAY4PLAY: Entrepreneurial Organising in the Platform Society,’ led by Assistant Professor Blake Hallinan and funded by the European Research Council (ERC).

The postdoc is a full time, 2.5-year fixed-term position. It begins on 1 February 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The School of Communication and Culture is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their personal background.

PhD Position

Institute of Media and Journalism at USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland)

100%, starting date 1 March 2026

The research group focusing on young people, the media and fan cultures led by Dr. Eleonora Benecchi at the Institute of Media and Journalism at USI Università della Svizzera italiana is seeking to fill a doctoral position. The position is primarily linked to the SNSF-funded research project «Swiss Fan Worlds and Social Exclusion». This project explores how children and young people engaged in fan worlds perceive and experience online risks, develop social and emotional capacities, and implement coping strategies in digital spaces.

The Institute for Media and Globalization (IMeG) provides an international, interdisciplinary, and intellectually stimulating environment that embraces diverse perspectives and methodologies while fostering a culture of collaboration and mutual support. Within the Institute, scholars and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds work together to generate knowledge with meaningful societal impact. IMeG also offers outstanding opportunities for both national and international networking. 

Job description: 

• Conduct high-quality research in the field of media and digital culture

• Complete a dissertation in three to four years

• Excellent oral and written English skills

• Excellent oral and written German is an advantage

• Attend academic conferences and publish in academic journals in the field

• Handle organizational and administrative tasks

• Collaborate in existing projects and develop new projects with members of the research team related to media and fan cultures

• Cover the role of a teaching assistant for courses at Bachelor and Master levels   

Application deadline: 15 December 2025