ournalism has long been a field caught up in discussions of trends and changes. Technological changes, in particular, have been highlighted as well as changes in media structures, alongside changing political, economic, and social trends all playing out in changing societies. This has led – understandably – to a preoccupation within industry and scholarship with journalism’s future, as it tries to navigate each new development to both stay afloat, economically, and stay relevant in the societies where journalism operates.
However, an overemphasis on novelty and change at the same time makes it “difficult to discern passing fads from deeper shifts” within journalism (Carlson and Lewis, 2019: 644). Behind each headline-grabbing development is a larger set of dynamics, from societal forces and public values to technological opportunities and business decisions. Highlighting and scrutinizing these dynamics provides a better understanding of the complex context that shapes the nature and pace of journalistic change and can elucidate structural impediments to, for instance, diversity, inclusion and representation, journalists’ wellbeing and mental health, and the ongoing contestations over journalism’s boundaries.
With this conference, we aim to weave together the threads beneath these trends, situating change in context with an eye towards journalism’s future.
Scholars can opt for either thematic or open submissions:
1. Thematic submissions
The conference aims to bring together a diverse mix of scholars from the field of journalism studies. It invites papers that focus on key developments and trends in journalism and put these in a broader perspective. Both theoretical/conceptual and empirical contributions to journalism studies are welcome.
Submissions responding to the conference theme can address (but are not limited to) the following areas that are currently at the cutting edge of the field (cf. Westlund et al., 2025):
- Digital innovation, adaptation and changing journalism practices;
- journalism and algorithmic culture;
- datafication of audiences;
- journalism’s position in platform societies;
- hybrid storytelling forms;
- changing patterns of news use, news avoidance and non-use;
- spread of online mis- and disinformation;
- digital press and media criticism;
- epistemologies of digital news production;
- journalism, emotion and subjectivity
- new business models for digital journalism;
- alternative media and peripheral journalistic actors;
- rise of anti-media populism;
- social media journalism;
- digital hate and online threats to the safety of journalists;
- novel methodological approaches to studying digital journalism.
Please emphasize in your abstract how you see your paper responding to the conference theme – «the threads behind the trends».
2. Open submissions
While we encourage thematic submissions, we also hope to create an open forum for the latest research in journalism studies in its many facets. Contributors can also submit abstracts for open sessions, for which there are no thematic requirements. Again, both theoretical/conceptual and empirical contributions to journalism studies are welcome.
