[Commlist] cfp: Bypassing Journalism - Journalists and Politicians in a Changing Media Landscape

SPECIAL ISSUE CALL FOR PAPERS

Bypassing Journalism
Journalists and Politicians in a Changing Media Landscape

Keywords: Journalists-politicians relationship; Anti-media populism; 
Influencers; Podcasting; Mediatisation; Broligarchy; News avoidance

EDITORS

Ayala Panievsky (City St George’s University of London, UK)

Lea Hellmueller (City St George’s University of London, UK)

Cherian George (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)

Kalyani Chadha (Northwestern University, US)

THE CALL:

Traditional theories assume that journalists and politicians share 
mutual dependency: journalists depend on political elites as sources of 
inside information and potential scoops, while politicians rely on 
journalists for public exposure and positive media coverage – 
particularly during political campaigns and as elected officials (Davis, 
2009; Van Aelst & Vliegenthart, 2014; Vobič et al., 2017). The metaphors 
scholars use to describe the politicians-journalists relationship 
reflect this interdependency, portraying the relationship as a mutual 
‘tango dance’ at best or ‘tug of war’ at worst (Altheide & Snow, 1979; 
Gans, 1979). However, these theoretical frameworks are being challenged 
by various technologies, platforms, and political strategies that enable 
politicians to bypass journalism – destabilising the balance of power 
between political reporters and the politicians they are expected to 
hold accountable.

In the political arena, a rising movement of anti-media populism, led by 
politicians with authoritarian tendencies – from the US to Germany, from 
India to Hungary, from Israel to Argentina – has reshaped the approach 
of political elites and political reporters (Carlson et al., 2020; 
Panievsky, 2021; Waisbord, 2020). Political leaders no longer feel as 
dependent on professional journalists (Van Dalen, 2021). Quite the 
contrary: bashing the media has become a popular strategy across 
borders, establishing a form of political capital (Ladd & Podkul, 2020). 
Previous norms around political reporting (Hellmueller, 2014), such as 
who belongs in the White House Press Corps, who gets to host election 
debates, and which journalists are rewarded with access to power – are 
questioned and undone.

Despite the attention granted to steps taken recently by Donald Trump’s 
second administration in the US, bypassing journalism is relevant 
worldwide, in the Global North and South. Political leaders like India’s 
Narendra Modi and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu have refused to give 
interviews to professional journalists for years. Brazil’s Jair 
Bolsonaro used bypassing tactics like cancelling press conferences, 
blocking journalists from his social media accounts, and calling to 
boycott critical media outlets – as has Marine Le Pen in France.

The increasing dominance of anti-media media, or ‘pseudo media’ – from 
Fox News in the US (Bauer et al. 2022), through OpIndia in India (Chadha 
and Bhat 2022), to /Wen Wei Po/ in Hong Kong (George 2023) – has made it 
easier for politicians to avoid journalistic scrutiny on their power and 
conduct. Recent technological developments, including the rise of a 
global Broligarchy (a small number of billionaire tech moguls who 
possess immense power over the political conversation, see Merrin & 
Hoskins, 2025) and the introduction of AI-generated “journalists” in 
countries like Zimbabwe and Indonesia (Ndlovu 2024; Rae 2023), have 
added unique challenges to journalists’ negotiation power vis-à-vis 
politicians and parties.

In other words, the emergence of multiple alternatives to journalism on 
the one hand, and the dominance of anti-media populism which capitalises 
on politicians’ hostility towards journalists on the other, have opened 
new paths for political figures to avoid journalistic scrutiny (Van 
Dalen, 2021). It undermines politicians’ presumed dependency on 
reporters, allowing them to increasingly turn to strategic /bypassing of 
journalism/. As observed by Hallin (2018), “Contemporary populist 
movements develop within a fragmented media ecology in which it is 
possible for populist leaders to bypass these legacy media institutions 
and challenge their legitimacy” (p.14).

If journalism is considered a public good, intended to monitor those in 
power, then bypassing journalism is a significant trend that should be 
tackled, both empirically and theoretically. New paradigms, fresh 
concepts, and innovative metaphors – anchored in rigorous and 
cross-national research – are needed to capture the current landscape of 
mediated politics. Bypassing journalists can mean evading public 
accountability – this is the topic at the core of this special issue. 
Whether through influencers, podcasters, AI-generated journalists or 
alternative media forums, present-day politicians can avoid 
communicating with and answering to political reporters. Newsrooms’ 
leverage over political figures appears to be shrinking, particularly 
when tech moguls collaborate with populist leaders to get them public 
attention, amplification and affection, without the annoyance of 
scrutiny by ‘the watchdogs of democracy’.

When so many alternative platforms allow politicians to spread their 
messages to the public, and any critical coverage is quickly labelled 
‘biased’ and ‘treason’– what leverage do reporters still hold against 
their political sources? How does this power manifest itself in 
different cultural and political climates? And what may be the future 
implications for journalists-politicians turbulent relationship?

We welcome theoretical, empirical, and cross-country contributions and 
encourage studies from the global south. We are particularly interested 
in submissions focusing on the following issues:

  * Which strategies do politicians apply to bypass political reporters
    in a changing digital landscape?
  * How do journalists cope with new initiatives to bypass the media?
  * What role do influencers and podcasters play in the relationship
    between journalists and politicians?
  * How do newsrooms cover media access restrictions?
  * What does bypassing journalism mean in different media systems and
    cultural contexts?
  * What are the public perceptions of politicians’ efforts to
    marginalise professional journalists?
  * How can traditional theories be re-conceptualized to explain the
    phenomenon of bypassing journalism?
  * What media effects can be observed when bypassing journalism – for
    audiences, journalists, and democracy?
  * What role does the dominance of hyper-partisan media play in
    facilitating bypassing journalism?
  * What kind of policies could help counter the efforts to bypass
    journalism?
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Proposals should include: an extended abstract of 500-750 words (not 
including references), background information on the authors, and an 
abbreviated bio that describes previous and current research related to 
the special issue theme. Please submit your proposal as one file (PDF) 
with your names clearly stated in the file name and first page. Use the 
special issue title as a header in the email. Send your proposal to 
Ayala Panievsky to (_Ayala.panievsky /at/ city.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(Ayala.panievsky /at/ city.ac.uk)>_ by September 1, 2025. Authors of 
accepted proposals are expected to develop and submit their original 
article for full-blind review. Articles should be between 7000 and 9000 
words and follow standard journal guidelines.

APC: If you choose to publish open access in Digital Journalism, you may 
be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to 
publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if 
your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or 
membership with Taylor & Francis. If you choose not to publish open 
access in this journal, there is no APC.

TIMELINE

Abstract submission deadline: September 1, 2025

Notification on submitted abstracts: October 1, 2025

Article submission deadline: March 1, 2026

Special issue editors:

Ayala Panievskyis a Presidential Fellow at City University of London, 
specialising in media under attack, authoritarian populism, and 
democratic backsliding. Her research appears in journals like /Digital 
Journalism/, /The International Journal of Press/Politics/, and /The 
International Journal of Communication/. She is the recipient of the 
2025 AEJMC Dissertation Award, the 2024 ICA Outstanding Dissertation 
Award, and the 2023 IJPP Article of the Year Award. Her first book, /The 
New Censorship/, will be out this year.

Lea Hellmueller is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Associate 
Dean of Research at City University of London. She is also affiliated 
with the Violence & Society Centre. Hellmueller has published widely on 
the role of media and journalism with extensive expertise in comparative 
journalism research. She wrote /The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 
21st Century/ and co-edited /Journalistic Role Performance/. She worked 
as a journalist in Switzerland, South Africa, and the US.

Cherian George is a professor of media studies at Hong Kong Baptist 
University’s School of Communication. His research centres on freedom of 
expression in public life, hate propaganda, and polarisation. His book, 
/Red Lines: Political Cartoons and the Struggle against Censorship/ 
(2021), was honoured by the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE 
Awards as one of the year’s three top scholarly books. His next book, 
/Fighting Polarisation: Shared Communicative Spaces in Divided 
Democracies/, will be published by Polity in 2025.

Kalyani Chadha is a journalism professor at Northwestern University’s 
Medill School of Journalism. Informed by critical approaches, her recent 
work focuses on the rise of alternative media. She wrote /Disrupting 
Mainstream Journalism in India/ (2024) and co-edited /Newswork and 
Precarity /(2022). Chadha published over thirty articles in leading 
journals including /Digital Journalism/ and /Media, Culture & Society/. 
She serves on the editorial boards of /Journalism Practice/, /Mass Media 
and Media/ and /Journalism and Communication Monographs/.


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