[Commlist] CfP: Media & Journalism/ special issue on “Audiences and Intersectionalities”

*CfP: /Media & Journalism/ special issue on “Audiences and 
Intersectionalities”.

Deadline (Abstracts): September 15, 2025.

Thematic editors:
Juan José Sánchez Soriano (Universidad de Murcia, España),
Rafael Ventura (Universitat de Lleida, España)
Isabel Villegas Simón (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España)

The research topic of this call for papers primarily focuses on studies 
of audience reception across various intersectionalities, including 
LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, older adults, racialized 
communities, people with diverse body types, and women. The objective is 
to analyze how these social groups interpret and engage with their 
representation in various media formats (TV news, press, reality shows, 
TV series, feature films, social media, content creation platforms, 
etc.). Additionally, it is valuable to examine how general audiences 
perceive media discourses surrounding these intersectionalities. In this 
way, the goal is to explore both the mirror effect and the window effect 
within the audience.
On the one hand, we define audiences in a broad sense, encompassing all 
individuals who engage with and interact with media content reflective 
of their time (Ha, 2020). Moreover, we propose viewing audiences not 
merely as passive consumers of cultural and media content, but as active 
agents with a crucial role in interpreting these messages (Livingstone, 
2015). Therefore, it is essential to understand and explore how these 
audiences relate to and engage with such content, as evidenced by recent 
studies, such as those examining the interpretations of trans 
individuals regarding their representation in television series 
(Villegas-Simón et al., 2024).
On the other hand, like the society in which it exists, the audience is 
diverse and heterogeneous (Kristensen & From, 2015). Thus, we are in a 
context where, historically, the representation of minority social 
groups has been underrepresented or often constructed through stigma and 
negative stereotypes (Sánchez-Soriano, 2023), as is the case with people 
with disabilities (Page et al., 2024) or individuals with diverse body 
types (Collins et al., 2024). As a result, numerous studies have focused 
on discourse analysis of both traditional and emerging representations 
(Ventura et al., 2024). However, we believe it is essential to shift the 
focus to the final stage of the entire media cycle: how audiences 
interact with these representations, examining how they engage with and 
respond to such content.
At the same time, social media has allowed the emergence of new content 
and representations that generate seemingly more diverse discourses, but 
which also compete with the spread of hate speech (Miranda et al., 
2024). For this reason, it is valuable to develop new research that, 
within the framework of intersectionality, focuses on analyzing the 
reception of content from any media and format, including the press, 
radio, and cinema, as well as social media and content creation 
platforms like SVODs, while focusing on the current cultural and media 
context. 


Topics:
* Methodologies focused on audiences and their interactions with 
cultural and media content. Reflections and ethics surrounding their 
application;
* Minority audiences and their media and cultural consumption, including 
women, LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, older adults, 
racialized communities, and individuals with diverse body types;
* Perceptions, interactions, and responses of general audiences to 
content addressing diversity and intersectionality;
* Media literacy and intersectionality. Formal and informal learning 
about diversity and intersectionality through the media;
Fandom and intersectionality;
* Youth, intersectionality, and cultural and media consumption;
* Digital audiences and intersectionality. Interaction, consumption, and 
responses to content generated on digital platforms;
* Meta-research focused on academic production about audiences and 
intersectionalities.

_Important Dates_
Deadline for submitting articles: September 15, 2025

Editors' decision: January 2026
Expected publication date: April 2026

Media & Journalism e-journal, ISSN 1645 5681, is a NOVA Institute of 
Communication  publication of the NOVA University of Lisbon, published 
by Coimbra  University Press, and funded by the Foundation for Science 
and Technology (FCT). The journal has a rigorous scientific arbitration 
system and is published twice a year. It is indexed in different 
platforms and databases of scientific journals, both nationally and 
internationally, like WoS, SCOPUS, EBSCO – Academic Search Premier, DOAJ 
– Directory of Open Access Journals, Elektronischen 
Zeitschriftenbibliothek, SciELO. Since 2024 it has been published 
continuously (online-first).
Each paper is sent to two reviewers, who are invited in advance to 
evaluate it based on the criteria of quality, originality, and relevance 
in line with the aim and theme of the specific issue of the journal.
Articles can be submitted in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s website 
<https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj 
<https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj>>. Once accessing RMJ for the first 
time, registration is required to submit the article and track the 
editorial process. We recommend reviewing the Author Guidelines, 
Submission Conditions, and the journal's Editorial Policy.

All of the journal’s content is available to the public free of charge 
under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial 4.0 International 
license. It adheres to the ethical principles of publication based on 
the Code of Conduct and Standards of Good Practice for Journal Editors 
of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE 
(http://publicationethics.org/ <http://publicationethics.org/>).


The authors do not need to pay any article-processing charge (APC)

If you have questions, please contact the assistant editorial: Patrícia 
Contreiras (pariciacontreiras /at/ fcsh.unl.pt <http://fcsh.unl.pt>) 
<malito:(patriciacontreiras / at / fcsh.unl.pt <http://fcsh.unl.pt>)



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