[Commlist] CfP Special Issue Journalism Practice: Journalism, Platforms and Public Interest Technologies

*Special Issue: Journalism Studies*
*Call for Papers: Journalism, Platforms and Public Interest Technologies*

In recent years, Public Interest Technology (PIT) has emerged as a field 
devoted to rethinking institutions, infrastructures, and services 
embedded in technology for the common good. As defined by Tara Dawson 
McGuinness and Hana Schank (2021), PIT is “the application of design, 
data, and delivery to advance the public interest and promote the public 
good in the digital age.” While PIT has primarily focused on governments 
and nonprofit sectors, journalism and media studies have recently begun 
to explore the possibilities that arise when this framework is applied 
to their field.

That should not be a surprise. Journalism’s focus on holding the 
powerful accountable has historically been positioned as fundamental to 
democracy (Helberger, 2019). However, this mission is currently facing 
significant challenges. The evolution of privately owned digital 
infrastructures, platform architectures, metrics-centric paradigms 
(Dodds et al., 2023a), and the rapid advancement of automation systems 
in the newsroom are reshaping the operational landscape in which 
journalism can effectively fulfill its role for the public (Sevignani et 
al., 2025).

Additionally, the proliferation of dis-/misinformation across different 
media, hate speech, and affective polarization coincides with a steady 
decline in sustainable business models for local journalism, a trend 
that has contributed to the emergence of ‘news deserts’ documented in 
both the EU and the US (Gulyas et al., 2023). At the same time, this 
widening gap has prompted a range of counter-initiatives by public 
actors—particularly in the wake of the withdrawal of platform funding 
and the downstream effects of shifts in international donor support 
(including USAID). This phenomenon is further exacerbated by the 
targeting and harassment of reporters (Dodds et al. 2023b). All within 
an increasing reliance on privately owned digital platforms. As a 
result, the democratic function and public service orientation of 
journalism are significantly undermined.

These challenges affect journalism globally but are particularly acute 
in the Global South and peripheral and marginalized media ecologies. In 
these contexts, structural inequalities, limited resource availability, 
and reliance on digital platforms exacerbate the precariousness of the 
media landscape. These very conditions also catalyze innovation, 
creative problem-solving, and the emergence of alternative media models.

Adopting a PIT perspective deepens and enhances journalism’s role as a 
steward of the public interest amid digital advancements. It positions 
journalism as a facilitator and mediator of the socio-technical and 
organizational infrastructures that foster public knowledge, 
accountability, participation, and deliberation.

Consequently, many questions arise: What becomes possible when we 
explore the relationship between journalism and Public Interest 
Technology? This special issue invites reflection on the role PIT can 
play for journalism—how its methods, tools, and infrastructures might 
intersect with and support journalism’s normative functions. In doing 
so, we aim to encourage contributions that theorize and conceptualize 
this intersection.

What is working, what is changing, and what tensions emerge as 
journalism adapts its public mission through design, data, and delivery? 
And how might this vision reshape journalistic practices, media 
organizations, platform relationships, and collaborative models within 
newsrooms, across media systems, with platforms, and alongside publics 
and civic actors?

*Themes & Areas of Contribution*

In this Special Issue, we welcome theoretical and empirical 
contributions, whether computational, ethnographic, comparative, 
historical, or case-based works.

*Proposed Topics:*

  *
    Journalistic practices, in a broad sense, include fact-checking,
    open-source investigations, data journalism, visual investigations,
    and others, particularly when they advance the public interest.


  *
    New theorizations of the intersection between journalism,
    technology, (digital) infrastructure, power, and publics.


  *
    Experimentation in newsrooms (investigative collaboration,
    innovation labs, participatory and community-centered design,
    alternative distribution models) that reflects journalism’s evolving
    role as an architect of public-interest infrastructures.


  *
    The integration of AI and automation generates tensions between
    platform-driven technological logics and public-oriented visions of
    journalism grounded in equity, accountability, and good public 
outcomes.


  *
    New organizational, financial, technological, and collaborative
    models that are reshaping possibilities for journalism oriented to
    design, data, and delivery for the public.


  *
    Platform governance, algorithmic visibility, content moderation, and
    data control that directly influence journalism’s capacity to
    function in the public interest.


  *
    Publics and communities emerging as co-designers, co-producers, and
    evaluators of journalistic knowledge and delivery systems,
    redefining trust, legitimacy, and shared meaning.


  *
    Global South and peripheral media ecologies, which illuminate
    vulnerabilities and innovations that help rethink journalism’s
    future beyond Western-centric assumptions.


  *
    The political economy of the infrastructure and technology ecosystem
    within which PIT and journalism operate, including relations of
    dependence that influence their capacity to serve the public interest.


  *
    New forms of data governance, openness, and interpretations that are
    allowing critique of traditional journalistic (or news) structures
    and opening avenues for alternative and innovative organizations,
    processes, and partnerships.


*Important Dates*
Deadline for abstract submission: 01 April 2026

Deadline for full papers: 15 October 2026

*Submission Instructions*
Please submit an extended abstract (500 words) along with a 100–150-word 
biography for each author. Extended abstracts should be sent by email to 
(doddsrojas /at/ wisc.edu).

Selected authors will be invited to submit full papers of approximately 
8,000 words. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review and 
must be submitted via ScholarOne, selecting this Special Issue on the 
submission system. There are no publishing costs for the authors.

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