[ecrea] call for papers: the role of advocacy in media and telecom policy

Call for Paper Proposals



The Role of Advocacy in Media and Telecom Policy



A by-invitation experts’ workshop

New America Foundation

September 29-October 1, 2013



What is the role of advocacy in the formation of media and telecom 
policy and how do we study the engagement of advocates in policy change? 
Scholars have studied the work of media policy advocates analyzing their 
framing practices, mobilizing strategies, and how they create (or 
hinder) political opportunities for policy reform. There seems to be a 
growing need to study the structural, cultural, and cognitive factors 
that shape the work of media policy advocates, the processes by which 
they build capacities, and the impacts of their work on the policies 
they try to shape, and on inclusive and democratic media governance 
structures. Should media and telecom policy advocacy be seen as central 
to the “laboring of communication” (Mosco & McKerger, 2008), a critical 
form of knowledge work that seeks to redraw the material, symbolic, and 
normative boundaries defining media fields and practices, or are they 
merely another “pressure group” whose impact needs to be evaluated in 
the analysis of the policy process? Does policy advocacy labor serve 
only a taken-for-granted conception about the policy process or does it 
challenge and change such conceptualizations? Can the notion of policy 
advocacy work refocus attention on institutional pressures faced by 
advocates and researchers of media and telecom policy?



The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University, the 
Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of 
Massachusetts, and the New America Foundation are pleased to announce 
this call for paper proposals discussing the role of citizens, 
grassroots organizations, community organizers, action researchers, 
practitioner-advocates, consumer interest advocates and any other form 
of advocacy in the media and communications policy field and their work 
in this field.



Authors of the selected papers will be invited to present and discuss 
them during a 2 day by-invitation-only experts workshop designed to 
bring together up to a dozen experts to be held at the New America 
Foundation in Washington, DC between September 29-October 1, 2013. This 
workshop is part of a series of events focused on “Making Policy 
Research Accessible,” organized by the IIP, with the support of the Ford 
Foundation and the Media Democracy Fund. (For programs of previous 
workshops see: https://blogs.comm.psu.edu/iip/?page_id=24). Presenters 
at the workshop will be invited to submit their completed papers for 
review by the Journal of Information Policy (www.jip-online.org).



Topics of papers may include, but are not limited to issues such as:

· Methodologies for the assessment of capacity building and/or policy 
advocacy projects.

· Analysis of the configuration of advocacy networks and advocacy work.

· Case studies assessing policy advocacy efforts and initiatives

· Theories of policy advocacy and evaluation.

· Impacts of advocacy and activism on changes in media and telecom policy.

· Proposals for meaningful indicators and frameworks of policy advocacy 
impacts.

· Comparative case studies of advocacy training and capacity-building 
programs and activities.

· Evaluation of policy advocacy work focused on historically unserved or 
underserved communities.

· Assessment of policy advocacy initiatives directed at community and 
civil society institutions

· Historical assessments and lessons learned from previous policy 
advocacy battles.

· Philanthropic and practitioner roles and perspectives on policy 
advocacy challenges and solutions.

· Case studies of academic-advocate-practitioner collaborations.

· The niche of media activists within the political economy of U.S. 
media/telecom policy.

· Funding and disclosure in media advocacy and collaborations with 
political organizations.

· Policies to support media policy advocacy and organizations.

· What are the obstacles to successful media policy advocacy?

· “Best practices” for citizen media policy activist groups

· The role of social media in the process of policy advocacy.


Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be 
submitted to (pennstateiip /at/ psu.edu) by July 31, 2013. Please write 
IIPNAFCCAMTP: YOUR NAME in the subject line. Accepted presenters will be 
notified by August 15, 2013


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