[Commlist] Call for Abstract/Draft Articles: Media and the EU Governance. Democracy, participation, and innovation

Call for Abstract/Draft Articles
(no payment from the authors)

*Media and the EU Governance. Democracy, participation, and innovation*

Special Issue De Europa (http://www.deeuropa.unito.it/ 
<http://www.deeuropa.unito.it/>)
Edited by Marinella Belluati (University of Turin, 
(marinella.belluati /at/ unito.it) <mailto:(marinella.belluati /at/ unito.it)>)
Luciano Morganti (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, (luciano.morganti /at/ vub.be) 
<mailto:(luciano.morganti /at/ vub.be)>)

Special Issue 2022

*The Background and Rationale *

While the European Union (EU) has become increasingly crucial for the 
life and the work of its 450M citizens, the European integration process 
itself has historically been characterized by cyclical crises.
While looking back, it is clear that economic and political tensions 
have previously opened new opportunities for widening and deepening the 
EU's integration. The present crisis seems different. A long-term 
falling trend of public trust in national and EU institutions has been 
undermining the European integration process and more recently “citizen 
dissatisfaction with national governments and disaffection from the EU 
has been on the rise” (Schmidt, 2015, p.57). The EU has had to face a 
long-lasting economic crisis, accompanied by the rise of populist and 
anti-EU parties that have been present in the European Parliament since 
the last two legislatures. Today, and on top of the political crisis 
described earlier, for the first time in the history of the EU, an 
unexpected force of disruption, such as the health crisis caused by the 
spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, has contributed to create an 
unprecedented critical situation for the European Union.
Aware of this epochal conjuncture, European leaders and Policy Makers 
have called for "The Future of Europe'' conference. This Conference 
should help to address the crisis openly, enlarge the participation of 
European citizens in European governance, and ultimately define the 
fundamental values and principles that have shaped the European 
communities, whose building “has always been plagued by uncertainty” 
(Williams, 2009, p.551). Following the delay caused by the COVID-19 
pandemic outbreak, the debate is now restarting with renewed energies.
Recently, the European Commission has launched the European Democracy 
Action Plan (EDAP) to counter disinformation and the rise of extremism 
and nurture pluralism in the European public space. Media, politics, and 
Institutions are all involved in contrasting the rise of extremism and 
reducing the distance between people and politicians, strengthening 
media freedom, and fighting disinformation. The EDAP tries to connect 
traditional goals pursued by the institutions over time: citizens’ 
empowerment and participation, transparency, innovation as institutional 
tools to improve internal cohesion in the European Public Sphere.
Together with the EDAP, the European Commission has also launched the 
European Media Action Plan (EMAP) to recognize the role of information 
as a structural aspect to support the recovery and transformation. The 
EMAP recognizes that the media and audiovisual sectors, heavily hit by 
the coronavirus crisis, are essential for democracy, Europe's cultural 
diversity and digital autonomy. In line with this comprehensive approach 
a NEWS more specific initiative for the support of the news media sector 
has been announced, with the scope of bundling existing and future 
actions, to provide a coordinated answer to the most pressing needs of 
the news sector (European Commission, 2020).
It is evident that the simultaneous launch of the EDAP and the EMAP is a 
sign of the fact that media and democracy are now seen as tightly 
connected and essential to the critical re-launch of the European 
project that puts the citizens and their participation at the center of 
the debate.

By acknowledging the importance of citizens’ participation and the role 
of media in making the EU integration process more democratic and 
participative, the aim of this De Europa Special Issue on Media and the 
EU Governance - Democracy, participation, and innovation is to shed 
light on the essential relations between Media, Democracy and 
Participation in the particular context of the EU multi-level governance
and multi-actors structure. In this complex setting, in which 
participative practices, actions for the support of the media and EU 
related information and communication strategies have to find a precise 
role and place, it is vital to understand and discuss the delicate 
balance between the EU institutions, the Member States, their citizens 
and stakeholders at large on the backdrop of a changing media environment.


*Call for Abstracts/Draft articles *

The De Europa Special Issue on Media and the EU Governance - Democracy, 
participation, and innovation is inviting the submission of 
abstracts/draft articles in Three main themes that broadly concern:

1) Media, Democracy and participation,
2) Media and EU governance
3) Innovation in Media

For theme 1) Media, Democracy and participation, the editorial committee 
welcomes contributions that reflect on the following theoretical and 
empirical aspects of 1) established news media as enablers of meaningful 
participation; 2) the impact of Disinformation actions and 
Disinformation dynamics in the EU and an assessment of the European and 
national policies and actions to counter-fight disinformation; 3) 
specific actions and policies implemented by the EU institutions and EU 
co-financed projects to foster participatory practices. Comparative 
research (at national, transnational and European level) that addresses 
the 3 issues above are also welcome.

For theme 2) Media and EU governance, the editorial committee welcomes 
contributions that reflect on 1) the theoretical and empirical aspects 
of the role of established news media in Europe in informing European 
citizens about the EU integration process; 2) the strategies and 
policies to develop critical (European) thinking through the legacy and 
new media; 3) the critical role of (EU and Member States) institutional 
information and communication actions and policies to help develop 
better governance practices in the EU.

For theme 3) Innovation in Media, the editorial committee welcomes 
contributions that reflect on the theoretical and empirical aspects of 
innovation in the EU media sector and in particular on 1) Innovations 
happening at socio, economic, technological and business level in and in 
between media outlets in the EU; 2) new users’ appropriation modalities 
and new communication flows as well as new editorial innovation 
practices of social media and radio, television and the press; 3) the 
ethical and policy challenges open by Artificial Intelligence and Big 
Data in the EU and in EU media.

N.B.: The three themes above indicate thematic areas and should not 
impede the submission of draft articles and abstracts that are in line 
with the Background and Rationale and with the Call for Articles 
indicated above.

Abstract Length, specs and deadlines

 01/07/2021 submission of abstracts (max 600 words, containing the main 
research question(s) addressed, the methodology used in the study and an 
indication of the main findings of the research), or draft articles, 
should be sent via e-mail to: *(marinella.belluati /at/ unito.it) 
<mailto:(marinella.belluati /at/ unito.it)>, (luciano.morganti /at/ vub.be) 
<mailto:(luciano.morganti /at/ vub.be)> * (subject De Europa Special Issue C/c 
*(redazione.deeuropa /at/ unito.it) <mailto:(redazione.deeuropa /at/ unito.it)>*)

 01/09/2021 notification of acceptance of abstracts communicated to authors

 01/02/2022 submission of papers for review (5,000–7,000 words)

 01/05/2022 reviews sent to authors

 30/07/2022 final paper submission

 01/10/2022 De Europa n. 2/2022 publication.

The complete papers will go under double-blind peer review before 
publication.

Information about editorial rules can be found here:
http://www.deeuropa.unito.it/content/Submit_an_article 
<http://www.deeuropa.unito.it/content/Submit_an_article>



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