[Commlist] CfP Political Scandals in a Global Context

CALL FOR PAPERS for the special issue of the

Media Studies Journal (Medijske studije)

POLITICAL SCANDALS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Abstract submission deadline (up to 500 words): 1 March 2023

Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 March 2023

Full paper submission deadline: 1 June 2023

Special issue publication date: December 2023

A multitude of political scandals came to public attention in recent 
years all around the world, involving all kinds of nepotism, sexual 
misdemeanor and harassment, coercion and abuses of power. To name just a 
few examples, the scandals leading to the downfall of former British 
prime minister Boris Johnson, the sheer disregard for political 
hallmarks, namely lack of peaceful transfer of power by populists, such 
as Donald Trump or Jair Bolsonaro, or a new bundle of offshore-leaks, 
including tax-evasion schemes of not only the rich and powerful but also 
numerous key political figures, show that political misconduct is one of 
the main issues in media coverage on a global scale. In this regard, 
scandals of less severity, similar to the concept of “talk scandals” 
(Ekström & Johansson, 2008), are becoming more prominent in public 
discourse about politics as well. In some instances, such provocative 
acts are strategic forms of “self-scandalization” (Haller, 2013) to 
increase attention for controversial political messages which gain 
prominence in discourse through media coverage and engagement in social 
media (Kleiman, 2019). Populist politicians, notably right-wing 
populists, have been especially skilled in using scandalous behavior and 
deliberate provocations to instrumentalize media coverage and trigger 
public attention (Maurer, 2022). On the other hand, there is evidence 
that the emergence of scandals, especially corruption scandals, may help 
the prospects of populist parties (Foresta, 2020).

In this light, politics appears to have entered a mode of perpetual 
crisis and growing dysfunctionality. The rapid succession of scandals 
may be a symptom of this crisis, while being its catalyst at the same 
time. With respect to this very broad diagnosis, we must first ask what 
defines a political scandal and, second, how such scandals are relevant 
for a polity and public discourse. According to Thompson (2000), 
political scandals in modern societies are mediated through journalism. 
Some scholars argue that scandal coverage is useful for democracies 
because it may repair dysfunctionalities (Hondrich, 2002), as outrage 
may be an instrument for societal change (Hessel, 2010). Other 
researchers claim that scandals and outrage are often constructed with 
strategic interests by public players and may have harmful effects on 
societies (Kepplinger, 2020).

A cause of a number of political scandals in the last decades can be 
attributed to overall transformations of media and journalism in the 
digital age. On the one hand, technological infrastructure and digital 
tools give reporters new means to investigate political scandals that 
deal with substantial misconduct, such as corruption and other phenomena 
of power abuse.

On the other hand, we can observe how social media offer new means to 
vent emotional attacks, spark outrage, or voice public discontent. 
Politicians are regularly subject to such firestorms. The rise of social 
media, particularly social network sites, led to a higher number of 
audience-induced scandals and to a faster distribution of accusations 
(Burkhardt, 2018). Participatory digital publics can create a 
‘spill-over’-effect so that the consequences of misconduct, such as 
sexual harassment, may incite a more substantiated discourse in the 
political system and in conventional journalistic mass media (Coombs & 
Holladay, 2021).

Proposals may focus on - but are not limited to - topics such as:

● the role of political scandals in modern post-industrial societies as 
an instrument for societal change (e.g., Hondrich, 2002);

● audience-induced scandals and emotional outrage in participatory 
digital publics (e.g., Burkhardt, 2018);

● political scandalization and reputation management in hybrid media 
systems (e.g., Chadwick, 2017; Samoilenko et al., 2020);

● populism and political scandals (e.g., Maurer, 2022; Herkman & 
Matikainen, 2019)

● political scandalization and self-scandalization in the age of 
authenticity (e.g., Enli & Rosenberg, 2018);

● political scandals and gender (e.g., Cucchi & Cavazza, 2020; 
Courtemanche & Connor Green, 2020);

● scandals and celebritization of politics (e.g., Street, 2019; von 
Sikorski et al., 2018).

Guest editors:

Hendrik Michael, University of Bamberg

Andre Haller, University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol

Abstracts should be sent to (hendrik.michael /at/ uni-bamberg.de) 
<mailto:(hendrik.michael /at/ uni-bamberg.de)>, (andre.haller /at/ fh-kufstein.ac.at) 
<mailto:(andre.haller /at/ fh-kufstein.ac.at)>, (ms /at/ fpzg.hr) <mailto:(ms /at/ fpzg.hr)>

Manuscripts should be submitted directly through the Media Studies OJS 
system, available here, where they will undergo double-blind peer 
review, following the standard procedures of the journal. When 
submitting the manuscript, specify that the submission is for the 
special issue Political scandals in global context.

Papers should be up to 8000 words, including footnotes and references. 
Detailed instructions for authors can be found here: .

For more information about the special issue please contact: 
(hendrik.michael /at/ uni-bamberg.de) <mailto:(hendrik.michael /at/ uni-bamberg.de)>, 
(andre.haller /at/ fh-kufstein.ac.at) <mailto:(andre.haller /at/ fh-kufstein.ac.at)>, 
(grbesa /at/ fpzg.hr) <mailto:(grbesa /at/ fpzg.hr)>, (ms /at/ fpzg.hr) <mailto:(ms /at/ fpzg.hr)>

Articles published in the Media Studies journal are indexed in Web of 
Science Core Collection, Scopus, ProQuest - Social Science Database and 
Social Science Premium Collection, ERIH PLUS, Hrčak – The Portal of 
Croatian Scientific Journals and DOAJ – the Directory of Open Access 
Journals.

For more information about the journal visit Media Studies.

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