Call for Papers

Special Issue of Journalism Studies on the Mediatization of Politics

Mediatization is in the process of becoming a key concept in research on the media’s influence in different spheres of social and political life. However, it is only recently that scholars have moved beyond using mediatization as a catchall concept. Although there is still not one authoritative definition, most observers agree that ultimately, mediatization of politics refers to media-induced changes in the public representation of politics and the adaptive behaviors of political actors and institutions.

In this process, the role of the news media is central. Theoretically, the process of mediatization of politics gains pace when the news media increase their independence from politics and when news journalism increasingly is shaped by the news media’s own logic and standards of newsworthiness. Since the news media have become the most important communicative link in political circles and to the public, the incentives to adapt to the operating logic of media become stronger, to the extent that media logic may eventually subsume political logic. Hence, on a theoretical level of analysis the news media and news journalism both shape and are shaped by processes of mediatization.

This Special Issue of Journalism Studies on the Mediatization of Politics will thus focus on the role of the news media and of news journalism in the processes of the mediatization of politics. We invite theoretical as well as empirical articles that focus on different aspects on the role of the news media and news journalism in the processes of the mediatization of the politics, including:

– the production of news and the relationship between news media and political actors;
– the content of news journalism and the extent to which it is shaped by different logics;
– the news media as an institution;
– the extent to which as well as how political actors adapt to the news media;
– the implications of the rise of digital media for the mediatization of politics.

Prospective authors should email an abstract of approximately 500 words to Jesper Strömbäck (jesper.stromback@miun.se) and Frank Esser (f.esser@ipmz.uzh.ch). The editors will review all submissions, and successful authors will be invited to submit a full manuscript. Selected papers will be subjected to peer review.

• Deadline for abstracts: December 15, 2012.

• Deadline for submission of full articles: June 2013