[Commlist] Call for papers: Sport and mediatization

*/Communication & Sport /*

*Call for Papers
Special Issue
on
Sport and Mediatization: Sports Events and Cultures Across the World *

*No payment from the authors will be reguired*

*About *

*/Communication & Sport /*

/Communication & Sport /is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for a 
Special Issue “Sport and Mediatization: Sports Events and Cultures 
Across the World”. Now in its ninth year, /Communication and Sport (C&S) 
/is a cutting-edge, peer-reviewed bimonthly journal that fosters 
international scholarly understanding of the nexus of communication and 
sport. /C&S /publishes research and critical analysis from diverse 
disciplinary and theoretical perspectives to advance understanding of 
communication phenomena in the varied contexts through which sport 
touches individuals, society, and culture. In 2018, /Communication & 
Sport /was the winner of the prestigious PROSE Award as the Best New 
Journal in the Social Sciences. /Communication & Sport /has a current 
Clarivate Analytics two-year impact factor of 1.292 and is ranked 64/92 
(2020) in the Communication and 46/56 in Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & 
Tourism categories, ranking above many longstanding legacy journals in 
both Communication/Media and Sport Studies. Detailed information about 
/Communication & Sport /may be found at: 
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/com.

*About the Special Issue
Sport and Mediatization: Sports Events and Cultures Across the World *

Sport is a central cultural element for populations worldwide, not least 
due to its intense relationship with the media. Interest in sport and 
its coverage in the media are massive, and they periodically become the 
predominant topic of conversation. But, coverage and the nature of the 
relationship between sport and media vary by continent, country, and 
sometimes even by city, often in relation to the nation as an imagined 
community (Anderson, 2006). Mega-events like the Olympic Games and the 
FIFA World Cup demonstrate the impact of the sport-media nexus on 
political and economic systems (Wenner & Billings, 2017). Yet, while we 
can observe these influences in virtually all societies, they do so in 
very different ways.

Theories of mediatization (Hepp, 2020; Hepp, Hjavard & Lundby, 2015; 
Schulz, 2004) try to describe and explain these phenomena. Hepp (2013) 
defines mediatization as “a concept used to analyse the (long-term) 
interrelation between the change of media and communication on the one 
hand, and the change of culture and society on the other hand in a 
critical manner” (p. 619). Hjarvard (2013) describes mediatization as 
the growing interdependency between media and other social and cultural 
domains – like sport. Several studies have focused on sport and 
mediatization regarding different aspects of social media, various 
sports (Birkner & Nölleke, 2016; Frandsen, 2016; 2020, Nölleke & 
Birkner, 2019) and the development of “media sport” (Horky, 2009; 
Wenner, 1998). Recently, Frandsen (2020) presented an overview of 
mediatization as an analytical perspective in sport and proposed the 
idea of “media becoming sport”, using the example of Esport (p. 116).

The Covid-19 pandemic has added new challenges for sport and its 
mediatization all over the world. In particular, the postponement, 
eventual cancellations of big events like the Tokyo Olympics and 
coverage of others from empty stadiums reveals how strongly sport and 
media are mutually dependent. Therefore, we call for contributions 
addressing such effects and debates about how the pandemic has raised 
important questions regarding the mediatization of sport today. Answers 
to such questions can be found not just in relation to sport media, but 
also journalism, politics, law, economy or culture.

The aim of this special issue is to discuss how the relationship between 
media and sport varies across the world, especially when comparing sport 
communication in different countries and media frameworks. The focus is 
not only on sport and sport disciplines, but also on issues such as the 
impact of nationalism and identity, and the relationships between fan 
cultures and new digital technologies (Hutchins & Rowe, 2013; Skey et 
al., 2018). Analysing the intertwinement of media and sport, and their 
impact on societies, will provide further insights into countries’ media 
systems, sport systems, and political cultures. The relationships 
between what can be called “national sport” and global sporting events 
is of particular interest.

Topics for this special issue may include:

  * The media-related behavior of sportspeople in different sports;
  * The development of interdependencies between sport and media in
    different countries;
  * The impact of mediatization on sporting media events;
  * The impact of political and societal conditions on the development
    and mediatization of sport;
  * The influence of media logic (Altheide & Snow, 1979) on sport;
  * The influence of the pandemic on professional and grassroots sport,
    and on political and cultural systems in different regions;
  * The integration of media and mediated communication into the
    everyday life of organizations and athletes;
  * The processes of datafication and datafied communication as drivers
    of change in sport.
This special issue encourages submissions grounded in comparative and 
interdisciplinary perspectives on several topics including, but not 
limited to, sport and its mediatization in different regions, as well as 
sporting events and their impact on economies, political and/or cultural 
systems. We hope that scholars, especially those based outside countries 
featuring big media sport, will contribute submissions examining 
specific situations in various nations and regions. We wish to attract 
scholars from different research fields, including sport sociology, 
media studies and communication research, as well as economics, 
political science, cultural studies, history and others. Our overall aim 
is to advance debate on the importance of traditional and new media 
sport communication in a global perspective. Scholars and practitioners 
from Asia and Africa are especially encouraged to submit manuscripts to 
this Special Issue.

*Manuscript Submissions *

*Manuscripts for this special issue should be submitted beginning May 
1**st **2021 and before October 1**st **2021 *at 
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/commsport to facilitate full 
consideration. In the submission process, authors should mention in 
their cover letter that the submission is for the “Sport and 
Mediatization” special issue of /Communication & Sport /and choose 
“Sport and Mediatization Special Issue” as the “Manuscript Type”. 
Manuscripts should follow the Manuscript Submission Guidelines at 
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/com. All manuscripts will be subject 
to peer review under the supervision of the Special Issue Editors and 
Editor-in-Chief. Expressions of interest, abstracts for consideration, 
and questions may be directed to the Special Issue Editors: Thomas Horky 
((t.horky /at/ macromedia.de)/corresponding editor), Kirsten Frandsen 
((imvkf /at/ dac.au.dk)), Simon Licen ((simon.licen /at/ wsu.edu)), Chuka Onwumechili 
((onwumechili /at/ howard.edu)), or Wei Wei ((weiweiscu06 /at/ sina.com)).

*Selected References *

Altheide, D. L., & Snow, R. P. (1979). /Media logic/. Sage.
Birkner, T., & Nölleke, D. (2016). Soccer players and their 
media-related behavior: A contribution on the mediatization of sports. 
/Communication & Sport, 4/, 367–384. Frandsen, K. (2016). Sports 
organizations in a new wave of mediatization. /Communication & Sport, 
4/, 385–400.
Frandsen, K. (2020). /Sport and mediatization/. Routledge.
Hepp, A. (2020). /Deep mediatization/. Routledge.
Skey, M., Stone, C., Jenzen, O., & Mangan, A. (2018). Mediatization and 
sport: A bottom-up perspective. /Communication & Sport, 6/, 588-604.

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