[Commlist] CfP Journalism Studies special issue

/Call for papers Journalism Studies special issue/

*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 examine journalism’s emotional dimensions is now broadly 
acknowledged.

This special issue of /Journalism Studies/ 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 of production, 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 journalistic

work, shaping journalists’ emotional management of relationships with 
their sources, colleagues

and audiences (Siapera 2019). This highlights the importance of 
advancing research on changing

forms of emotional labour in journalism.

With respect to content, 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 the consumption of journalism, 
emotion is a cornerstone for

inspiring audience engagement with news texts. This suggests the need to 
understand audiences’

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’s emotional 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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