[ecrea] CfP: Workshop "New Media, Old Money"

New Media, Old Money: Digital Technology, Social Media
and the New Challenges to Campaigning and Democracy

A by-invitation experts' workshop to be held at
The Embassy of Switzerland in the United States of America
Washington, DC, September 27-29, 2015

Electronic media have played a central role in politics almost since 
their introduction. The role of media in election campaigns is often 
seen as the origin of media and communication studies. The variety of 
political systems worldwide, the wide range of media systems that 
operate within them, and the extensive array of regulatory schemes that 
govern this association raise thought provoking questions about the role 
of media in democracy. The media-politics-capital triad has raised 
concerns about the effect of money on the health and fairness of 
political and media structures. The use of digital technologies and 
collaborative media has now become a critical part of these complex 
relationships.

Increasingly, political campaigns are built around digital strategies 
rather than on traditional broadcast ad buys. The internet offers many 
additional groups cheap access to the public sphere and new 
possibilities for information and discussion. Accordingly, much of the 
most "impactful" money is spent "online," calling on expertise in 
building networks, conversations and communities using social networking 
platforms, combined with applications designed to amplify messaging as 
well as volunteers and users generating their own content. In addition, 
the ability to find, analyze and apply personal information from "big 
data" is becoming more important than market research and the focus has 
shifted to the development of comprehensive social media strategies for 
young, ethnic, gendered and special interest groups. Finally, legacy 
media and their traditional business models are affected by change as 
well, raising questions about implications of the internet for 
journalism and democracy.

As a result, any current understanding of campaign spending and 
political communication must incorporate not just traditional 
advertising, but equally spending on internet and social networking 
platforms and the use of information technologies to identify and reach 
voters through multiple platforms. The same "Old Money" is being used to 
try to gain influence, but new media offer new approaches both to 
enhance and conceal its effects. Moreover, the same media brands with 
the same powerful owners prevail online as well.

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State, the Department of 
Communication and Media Research DCM at the University of Fribourg and 
the Journal of Information Policy, are pleased to announce this call for 
paper proposals. Authors of selected papers will be invited to present 
them during a two day (September 28th and 29th, 2015) by-invitation 
workshop designed to bring together up to a dozen American and 
international experts and to be held at the Embassy of Switzerland in 
Washington, DC. The workshop will open with a reception on September 
27th. Presenters at the workshop will be invited to submit their 
completed papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy 
(www.jip-online.org). By focusing on the media-politics-capital triad, 
and taking place a year before the presidential elections in the US and 
only weeks before the national elections in Switzerland, the workshop is 
ideally suited to provide important insights not only for scholarly 
research but also for policy-makers in both countries.

Invited topics include, but are not limited to:

* The role of media in election and referendum campaigns
* The (democratic) need for regulation of media and campaigns
* The role of money in campaigning and political communication
* The role of money in media policy and regulation
* Commercialization of the media and its effect on political coverage
* Ownership structures of new and old media and their implications for 
democracy, political communication and media policy
* Changes of political communication and journalism due to digitization
* The strategic use of social media by political actors
* Comparative studies of media regulation, political communication and 
campaigns
* New metrics for campaign expenditures in the digital age
* Political campaign money spending in online campaigns
* Limitations on campaign spending
* Limitations on contributions; on sources of contributions; 
requirements for disclosure; regulation of spending by advocacy groups; 
by political parties; and by individuals
* The challenge of diversity of views and voices in the digital age
* Applying broadcast political speech rules be applied on the Internet
* Should social media, blogs, listserves and websites be subject to 
political speech rules?
* How have the larger changes in the economics of media affected 
political news and commentary?

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be 
submitted to (pennstateiip /at/ psu.edu) by July 10, 2015. Please write 
"IIPFUWS: Your Last Name" in the subject line. Accepted presenters will 
be notified by July 25, 2015.




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