Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Political Communication online


The 3rd issue of Political Communication is online: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/upcp20/current

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

Call for Special Issue

The United States Presidential Election 2012
Perspectives from Election Studies, Political and Communication Sciences

Edited by Christoph Bieber & Klaus Kamps

With Barack Obama and Mitt Romney engaged in a tight race for the White House, the 2012 US Presidential Election will offer a broad range of starting-points for academic scrutiny. Especially, the use of media (old and new) will be crucial for the candidates, as well as for the public perception of the political system as a whole. The role of the US in international politics, an enduring global economic crisis, a struggling European Union, and the emergence of a set of new players on the global political stage provide the context for various analyses from different perspectives in the Social Sciences. In the US, the polarized party system with some new undercurrents (Tea Party Patriots, Occupy Movement), the advent of the SuperPACs, and the rise of social media have significantly changed the foundations for political campaigning.
The book will examine the complex aspects of the US presidential election, reflecting it as a multi-faceted communication process in the context of current societal conditions. Within the German-speaking social sciences, some monographs are concerned with e.g. the electoral system or electoral demographics in the US, but there is no integrated approach combining the resources and methods from different disciplines. This collection promises a comprehensive approach and provides additional perspectives for further (e.g. comparative) research.
The book will be published by Springer VS in the summer of 2013, editors are Christoph Bieber (University of Duisburg-Essen / Germany) & Klaus Kamps (University of Erfurt / Germany); papers may be written (and will be published) in English or German.
To give a few examples of what individual chapters might include:

Basics, for example:

- Recent Trends in Presidential Elections
- Recent Trends in US-political Culture
- Role and Function of Midterm Elections
- Lobbying and Campaign Financing
- Reform of Campaign Finance: “Citizens United” and the Rise of SuperPACs
- Third parties? Tea Party, Organizing for America, #Occupy
- Early Voting, Electronic Voting and Other Ways of Modernizing the Electoral Process

Election studies, for example:
- Election Outcome and Electoral Behavior
- Sociology of Electoral Behavior from a Historical Perspective
- Dynamics of Electoral Agendas

Studies on the protagonists and communicative strategies, for example
- Campaign Strategies, Dynamics of Campaign Communication
- Campaign Events (e.g. Conventions, Debates)
- Perception of Campaigns
- Innovations in Campaigning
- Elections and Transparency (e.g. OpenSecrets, Sunlight Foundation)
- Campaign Coverage

Governmental studies, for example:
- Transition: From Election Day to Inauguration
- The Rhetoric Presidency / The Presidential Party

Contributions may address one or more of these aspects and may be delivered in German as well as in English (APA6 style).
Subject to funding, a symposium of authors will be held in Duisburg in February 2013, where authors will be invited to discuss their chapters.

Deadlines:
Deadline for EXTENDED ABSTRACTS (max. 1,500 words) is October 15th, 2012.
Deadline for contributions to the symposium of authors (about 5,000 words) is January 31st, 2013.
Deadline for the first version of the FINAL MANUSCRIPT is April 15th, 2013.
Deadline for the last version of the FINAL MANUSCRIPT is May 15th, 2013.

Please send your proposals to:
christoph.bieber@uni-due.de
klaus.kamps@uni-erfurt.de

Virtual Panel on Mobilization, Activism, and Communication Technologies

Mobilization, Activism, and Communication Technologies , a co-sponsored panel of Division 40, Information Technology and Politics, and Division 38, Political Communications has scheduled a virtual panel for October 2, 2012 at 10:00 .a.m. CST.

The URL for the virtual panel is http://www.anymeeting.com/conferencepdyuz1 . The forum that our panel is using is anymeeting. Our virtual conference room has the ability to accommodate 25 presenters and attendees. There will be approximately 15 openings for attendees.


For additional information about this panel please contact Charles Mitchell at mitchellc@gram.edu.