[Commlist] Call for Papers- Mediating ‘ForeignConflicts’: The Role of News Media and Social Media in Shaping Perceptions of Extranational Conflicts

Call for Papers- Mediating ‘Foreign Conflicts’: The Role of News Media 
and Social Media in Shaping Perceptions of Extranational Conflicts
Journal: Tripodos

Special Issue: Mediating ‘Foreign Conflicts’: The Role of News Media and 
Social Media in Shaping Perceptions of Extranational Conflicts

Guest-Editors: Stephen Goulding, Amy McCroy, Zixiu Liu

Deadline for articles: March 31st, 2025
View the full call here: 
https://tripodos.com/index.php/Facultat_Comunicacio_Blanquerna/announcement/view/79
In an era marked by a growing number of international and regional 
conflicts –such as the Russo-Ukrainian War, the latest phase of the 
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, numerous coups and civil wars in 
post-colonial states in Africa, and regional conflicts like the Red Sea 
crisis – it is increasingly important to understand how these conflicts 
are mediated through (supra)national media systems and by nationally 
determined networks of social media users in national contexts not 
directly involved in conflict. In response to this, Tripodos 58 aims to 
elucidate the nuanced ways in which news and social media in specific 
nations represent, frame, and construct conflicts that occur in other 
national or regional contexts outside their borders. In studying such 
‘foreign conflicts’ – that is, conflicts that are extranational to those 
mediating them—the central role of news and social media in informing 
the national audience about the conflict is of crucial concern.

International conflicts stress-test geopolitical alliances and shape the 
perceptions of other nation-states as political actors. Accordingly, the 
nuances of how conflicts that occur outside the borders of a nation are 
represented, framed, and understood by its news media and netizens have 
significant consequences: conditioning, inter alia, geopolitical 
allegiances, levels of public support for the provision of aid or care 
to refugees, and future political outcomes. Therefore, it is becoming 
increasingly important to highlight the impactful role of news media and 
social media discourses in shaping national public opinion, influencing 
national policy decisions, and impacting the interpretation of ‘foreign’ 
conflicts globally.

While research has paid attention to this dynamic in historical 
conflicts, contemporary research focusing on more recent conflicts 
remains sparse. This gap is particularly problematic as these conflicts 
can be regarded as the first truly ‘digital’ conflicts, where converged 
media and bottom-up affordances have disrupted the traditional 
information flows through which conflicts were represented and 
understood around the world. Furthermore, digitisation and media 
convergence have ensured that sources of information and 
mis-/dis-information have become more prevalent in shaping the 
representation of global conflicts. For example, new media have enabled 
the likes of drone footage and open-source intelligence to become more 
salient features in social and news media discourses but have also 
enabled a rise in disinformation campaigns designed to manipulate public 
opinion on conflicts.

/Tripodos 58/ seeks to contribute to existing research by examining how 
news and social media from different nations portray and represent 
conflicts occurring outside of their own countries. We invite empirical 
and theoretical contributions that focus on both mainstream national 
news media and social media platforms to uncover how they condition 
public perceptions and discourse surrounding international, national and 
regional conflicts.
Topics that may be examined include, but are not limited to:

-  Textual analyses of national news media reportage on foreign 
conflicts, focusing on framing, discursive construction and 
representation of combatant nations and their actions
-  Analyses of narratives and frames used by the news media or social 
media users to represent foreign conflicts, focusing on themes of 
nationalism, victimisation, and demonisation of opposing national or 
regional actors
-  The construction, legitimation and normalisation of geopolitical 
allegiances through the prism of foreign conflict discourses
-  Analyses of social media platforms and affective publics, 
highlighting how users construct discourses around various international 
conflicts and how new media affordances have disrupted traditional 
perceptions of foreign conflicts
-  Sentiment analyses, emotional analyses or networked agenda-setting 
analyses of large bodies of news or social media data related to foreign 
conflicts
-  Case studies of astroturfing, misinformation, and/or disinformation 
campaigns designed to curtail public deliberation and perception of 
conflicts between different nations or (para)militant groups
-  Audience and media effects research that highlights the impact of 
media representations of foreign conflicts on public opinion, 
policy-making and political interventions
-  Examinations of how advancements in technology and digital media have 
transformed the reporting and reception of international conflicts
-  Critical discussions on the ethical and normative challenges faced by 
journalists and media outlets when reporting on foreign conflicts, 
including issues of bias, propaganda, and journalistic responsibility, 
as well as those focusing on the ethics of citizen journalism in this regard

Contributors are encouraged to employ a variety of methodological 
approaches and theoretical frameworks. Given the special issue's remit, 
interdisciplinary works that synthesise aspects of communication 
studies, media studies, conflict studies, international relations, and 
other cognate disciplines are particularly welcome.
*Informal enquiries about the special issue can be sent to the 
corresponding guest editor, Dr Stephen Goulding at 
(stephen.goulding /at/ nottingham.edu.cn)
Articles submissions
Papers should be sent by March 31st, 2025. Rules and instructions 
regarding the submission of originals can be consulted at

https://tripodos.com/index.php/Facultat_Comunicacio_Blanquerna/about/submissions

For any queries, please contact the editorial team at 
(redaccio_tripodos /at/ blanquerna.url.edu).

The issue will be entirely in English.
No fees/ APCs are required for publication.
Deadline for articles: March 31st, 2025
Expected publication: Autumn 2025

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