Archive for calls, October 2016

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[ecrea] ICA Media Industry Studies Interest Group -- Call for Panelists on Method and Methodology in the Political Economy of Communication

Thu Oct 20 18:57:29 GMT 2016



ICA Media Industry Studies Interest Group -- Call for Panelists on Method and Methodology in the Political Economy of Communication


We are looking for 2-3 more panelists for the following proposed ICA 2017 panel on method and methodology in the political economy of communication (PEC). The panel will be proposed to the Media Industry Studies Interest Group. If you are interested in being part of the panel, please send the following to T.C. Corrigan ((corrigan /at/ csusb.edu) <mailto:(corrigan /at/ csusb.edu)>) by Wednesday, 10/26: 1) a topic of focus; 2) a 150-word abstract; and 3) a brief description of your qualifications regarding the proposed topic.


Panel Title:Making the implicit explicit: Rethinking method and methodology in the political economy of communication


Panel Organizers:

  *

    Thomas F. Corrigan (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
    Studies, California State University, San Bernardino)

  *

    Brice Nixon (Visiting Scholar, Annenberg School for Communication,
    University of Pennsylvania)


Panel Description:Mosco (2009) describes the political economy of communication (PEC) as “a major communication research perspective” (p. 1) Unlike in other major communication perspectives, though, PEC researchers rarely articulate or justify their methods (Lent & Amazeen, 2016; Meehan, Mosco, & Wasko, 1993; Nixon, 2012). As Meehan, Mosco, and Wasko (1993) explain, “political economy tends to treat its methods and criteria implicitly; practitioners are expected to follow criteria implicit in the paradigm and then to select the method best suited to the problem” (pp. 112-113).


This methods gap is problematic, though. How can PEC researchers share their approaches with one another or justify their findings to the wider scholarly community without explicitly articulating their methods? Failure to do so invites confusion and suspicion. As Meehan, Mosco, and Wasko (1993) argue, “The process of finding and analyzing data is and should remain as rigorous for political economists as for other media researchers. Research sources and data must be evaluated; the criteria for that assessment must be made explicit” (p. 113, emphasis added).


This panel aims to make PEC’s implicit methods explicit. What research methods do (or should) PEC researchers use? What are the strengths and limitations of those methods? What are their origins? What makes them distinct (if anything) to PEC? And to what extent are those methods compatible with other critical media and communication studies approaches? Nixon (2012) also distinguishes between PEC’s “analytical methods” (i.e., data collection and analysis techniques) and its “method of reasoning,” which he identifies as a “historical materialist dialectical method.” Indeed, Hardy (2014) argues that what characterizes critical political economy is not a particular method, but “the questions asked and the orientation of scholars” (p. 7). Thus, this panel welcomes contributions that speak to PEC method, broadly understood.


This panel also aims to begin a wider conversation about the place of method and methodology in PEC. Why have method and methodology been blindspots, historically, in PEC, and what are the consequences (both positive and negative) of this tendency? How can PEC researchers better communicate their methods without succumbing to the methodolatry of other communication sub-disciplines? Political economists have regularly sought to “rethink,” “renew,” and “reassess” the project (Meehan et. al, 1993; Mosco, 1996). Can method and methodology be an entry point for those processes?







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