Media and Communication seeks abstracts for a thematic issue “Journalism and Social Media: Redistribution of Power?”. The issue focuses on questions of if and how the rise of social media has redistributed power in the news media ecosystem.

The editors invite scholars to explore questions around the functions and roles journalism traditionally fulfilled, and weigh whether and how these have been altered—or taken over—by other players.

[spoiler title=’Here are some themes to consider.’ style=’default’ collapse_link=’true’]

• The power balance between journalists and sources, including politicians and industry leaders, and where these have changed with the rise of social media
• Transformations in journalism practice, epistemology, and (online) news texts that reflect shifting power distributions in the news ecology
• Distributors of “fake” news, or commercial message such as native advertising, who get their messages legitimized in news media discourses and the implications of these distributors on news dynamics
• Participatory practices, polarized audiences and social media for what they signal about divisions within broader society
• Novel methodological approaches to exploring the shifting power relationships between journalism, social media platforms, and other realms of societal power
• Other papers which expand our understanding of these dynamics within fields of journalism, media, and communications studies.[/spoiler]

Deadline for abstracts is on 1 March 2018. Further information is available here.