[Air-L] Deadline Extended: Social Media, Money, Elections and Democracy

[Richard Denny Taylor]

CALL FOR PAPERS - EXTENDED DEADLINE!

 

New Media, Old Money: Digital Technology, Social Media and the New

Challenges to Campaigning and Democracy

 

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JULY 17, 2015.

 

A by-invitation experts' workshop to be held at The Embassy of

Switzerland in the United States of America Washington, DC, September

27-29, 2015

 

Electronic media have played a central role in politics almost since

their introduction. The role of media in election campaigns is often

seen as the origin of media and communication studies. The variety of

political systems worldwide, the wide range of media systems that

operate within them, and the extensive array of regulatory schemes that

govern this association raise thought provoking questions about the role

of media in democracy. The media-politics-capital triad has raised

concerns about the effect of money on the health and fairness of

political and media structures. The use of digital technologies and

collaborative media has now become a critical part of these complex

relationships. 

 

Increasingly, political campaigns are built around digital strategies

rather than on traditional broadcast ad buys. The internet offers many

additional groups cheap access to the public sphere and new

possibilities for information and discussion. Accordingly, much of the

most "impactful" money is spent "online," calling on expertise in

building networks, conversations and communities using social networking

platforms, combined with applications designed to amplify messaging as

well as volunteers and users generating their own content. In addition,

the ability to find, analyze and apply personal information from "big

data" is becoming more important than market research and the focus has

shifted to the development of comprehensive social media strategies for

young, ethnic, gendered and special interest groups. Finally, legacy

media and their traditional business models are affected by change as

well, raising questions about implications of the internet for

journalism and democracy.  

 

As a result, any current understanding of campaign spending and

political communication must incorporate not just traditional

advertising, but equally spending on internet and social networking

platforms and the use of information technologies to identify and reach

voters through multiple platforms. The same "Old Money" is being used to

try to gain influence, but new media offer new approaches both to

enhance and conceal its effects. Moreover, the same media brands with

the same powerful owners prevail online as well.

 

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State, the Department of

Communication and Media Research DCM at the University of Fribourg and

the Journal of Information Policy, are pleased to announce this call for

paper proposals. Authors of selected papers will be invited to present

them during a two day (September 28th and 29th, 2015) by-invitation

workshop designed to bring together up to a dozen American and

international experts and to be held at the Embassy of Switzerland in

Washington, DC. The workshop will open with a reception on September

27th. Presenters at the workshop will be invited to submit their

completed papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy

(www.jip-online.org). By focusing on the media-politics-capital triad,

and taking place a year before the presidential elections in the US and

only weeks before the national elections in Switzerland, the workshop is

ideally suited to provide important insights not only for scholarly

research but also for policy-makers in both countries.

 

Invited topics include, but are not limited to: 

 

-       The role of media in election and referendum campaigns

 

-       The (democratic) need for regulation of media and campaigns

 

-       The role of money in campaigning and political communication

 

-       The role of money in media policy and regulation

 

-       Commercialization of the media and its effect on political

coverage

 

-       Ownership structures of new and old media and their implications

for democracy, political communication and media policy

 

-       Changes of political communication and journalism due to

digitization

 

-       The strategic use of social media by political actors

 

-       Comparative studies of media regulation, political communication

and campaigns

 

-       New metrics for campaign expenditures in the digital age

 

-       Political campaign money spending in online campaigns

 

-       Limitations on campaign spending 

 

-       Limitations on contributions; on sources of contributions;

requirements for disclosure; regulation of spending by advocacy groups;

by political parties; and by individuals

 

-       The challenge of diversity of views and voices in the digital

age

 

-       Applying broadcast political speech rules be applied on the

Internet 

 

-       Should social media, blogs, listserves and websites be subject

to political speech rules?

 

-       How have the larger changes in the economics of media affected

political news and commentary?

 

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be

submitted to pennstateiip at psu.edu by July 17, 2015. Please write

"IIPFUWS: Your Last Name" in the subject line. 

 

Accepted presenters will be notified by July 31, 2015.