[Commlist] Call for papers: Special issue of *Journalism* on "the emotional turn in journalism studies"

Some of you might be interested in submitting an abstract for this 
special issue of /Journalism/:

____


The emotional turn in journalism studies


Guest editors: Mervi Pantti (University of Helsinki) and Karin 
Wahl-Jorgensen (Cardiff University)


Scholars across humanities and social sciences fields increasingly 
recognise the importance of emotion in social and political life. In 
journalism studies, the interest in emotions has gathered particular 
momentum during the last decade. Research has emphasised the shift 
towards‘affective news’, blending information, opinion, emotion and 
personal experience in the current media environment (Papacharissi 
2015). The need to move beyond traditional dichotomies between 
rationality and emotion, or‘quality journalism’and‘sensationalist 
journalism,’and more closely examinejournalism’s emotional dimensions is 
now broadly acknowledged.


This special issue is particularly interested in how the current media 
environment shapes the emotional practices and work of journalists; 
emotive storytelling across a range of journalistic platforms, genres 
and topics; and the emotional relationship between journalism and its 
audiences. The role of emotion in the production, circulation and 
consumption of journalism is all the more urgent to consider in the 
light of current and emerging technological conditions brought about by 
the digital era and the emergence of networked journalism.


In the context ofproduction, changes in newswork have not only further 
undermined the ideal of the objective and impartial journalist but have 
also led to new demands for emotional labour. Broader economic 
transformations have contributed to insecurity and precarity in 
journalisticwork, shaping journalists’ emotional management of 
relationships with their sources, colleaguesand audiences (Siapera 
2019). This highlights the importance of advancing research on changing 
forms of emotional labour in journalism.


With respect tocontent, scholars argue that emotional storytelling is 
today more pervasive as traditional news organizations are competing to 
engage their audiences through more personal and emotional forms and 
genres (Beckett and Deuze 2016; Wahl-Jorgensen 2019), and through 
connecting with audiences by sharing their work through social media. 
Digital technologies allow for new forms and styles of storytelling 
driven by more authentic emotional experiences, such as‘immersive’ VR or 
AR stories, hyperlocal news, and social media live broadcasting. Recent 
research has highlighted that the emotional engagement with news texts 
has also significant social and political consequences.


Finally, turning to the context of theconsumptionof journalism, emotion 
is a cornerstone for inspiring audience engagement with news texts. This 
suggests the need to understandaudiences’shifting and subjective 
relations with news media. Such research might shed light on what 
motivates particular affective responses of attention, appreciation, 
dislike and hate towards news texts and news organisations.


We welcome both conceptual and empirical, quantitative, qualitative and 
mixed-methods submissions, and single country studies as well as 
cross-national comparisons that advance our understanding of the 
relationship between emotions and journalism vis-à-vis the economic, 
technological, cultural and social transformations.

We encourage submissions including, but not limited to, the following areas:

1. Spaces, genres and forms of emotional storytelling

2. Circulation and regulation of different emotions through journalistic 
texts

3. Emotional attachments and practices of journalists

4. News coverage and public emotions
5. Audience’semotional responses and engagements with journalistic texts


Instructions for contributors and timeline

We invite interested contributors to send a 500-word abstract with 
author name(s), institutional affiliation, and contact details to guest 
issue editors Mervi Pantti ((mervi.pantti /at/ helsinki.fi)) and Karin 
Wahl-Jorgensen ((wahl-jorgensenk /at/ cardiff.ac.uk)) no later than *June 15, 
2019*. The abstract should clearly address the relevance of the proposed 
article to the theme of the special issue. The editors will review the 
abstracts. Author(s) will receive notification on whether they will be 
invited to contribute a full article no later than July 15th, 2019. Full 
articles should be submitted (to the same email address) by December 20, 
2019. Note that all invited articles will still go through full and 
anonymous peer review, and that being invited to submit a full article 
is not a guarantee of final publication in the themed issue. Reviewer 
comments on full articles should be expected no later than February 17, 
2020.



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