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

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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