[Air-L] CFPs for a Special Issue of Digital Journalism: Engaging News Audiences (Abstracts by 30 April 2019)

[Sora Park]

*Call for papers for a special issue of Digital Journalism*


*Engaging news audiences: Exploring the links between digital platform
affordances, selective exposure and social endorsement*


*Editor-in-Chief: *Oscar Westlund


*Guest editors:*

Sora Park, University of Canberra

Yoonmo Sang, University of Canberra

Jaemin Jung, KAIST

Natalie Jomini Stroud, University of Texas at Austin


*Call for papers:*

Digital platforms and mobile technologies are diversifying the ways in
which audiences are exposed to and engage with news, ranging from news
avoidance to active news sharing (Newman et al., 2018; Park et al., 2018).
Among different types of news engagement, the act of ‘sharing’ encourages
the culture of social endorsement where audiences signal to others and are
influenced by their social networks in encountering news. This creates a
social news environment where audiences are inadvertently exposed to news
that may not match their political beliefs or interests (Anspach, 2017). On
social media, audiences are oftentimes incidentally exposed to different
perspectives and views (Fletcher & Nielsen, 2017; Lu & Lee, 2018; Weeks et
al., 2017). Yet, whether they will engage with the news they encounter
incidentally is a different matter; news audiences may or may not choose to
consume or engage with the news that they have discovered. Exposure to
diverse information from counter-attitudinal sources does not automatically
lead to the consumption of such information (Anspach, 2017).

In the context of news sharing, there exist two closely linked dimensions.
First is the technological affordances offered by digital platforms (Feraj
& Azad, 2012; Evans, Pearce, Vitak, & Treem, 2017). Technological
affordances can influence news consumers’ levels of news exposure,
consumption and engagement. As yet, relatively little is known about the
extent to which and how different technological affordances lead to
different types and levels of news engagement. This is further complicated
by the fact that audience behavior is an outcome of a contextual and
multi-faceted relationship between the technology and the user (Evans et
al., 2017). The second dimension is the human factors that come into play
in the uptake, reception, and sharing of news. Consistent with the theory
of selective exposure, how news consumers consume and interact with news
are also dependent on their political beliefs (Shin & Thorson, 2017; Stroud
et al., 2017). The phenomenon of selective exposure can lead to a decrease
in opportunities for news consumers to consume and engage with diverse news
and information (Messing & Westwood, 2012; Stroud, 2008, 2010).

On digital platforms, there is a third, moderating factor—social
endorsements—that bridges technological affordances and human factors.
Social endorsements serve as a heuristic cue that signals news audiences as
to which news deserves their attention (Anspach, 2017; Messing & Westwood,
2012). This is a key trend in the digital platform environment among news
audiences who interact with others through news sharing.

To date, the link between affordances of digital platforms and news
audiences’ selective exposure remains largely unknown as the interplay
between technological affordances associated with news engagement and human
factors remains understudied. To further develop this area, this special
issue of *Digital Journalism* invites scholars to investigate the interplay
between the structural and human factors that influence news consumers’
exposure to and engagement with news. Among different types of digital news
engagement, this special issue focuses on news sharing behaviors that
epitomize how news consumers interact with technological affordances
offered by digital platforms. We welcome quantitative, qualitative and
mixed-methods approaches.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

·         Different types and levels of news engagement;

o   News avoidance

o   Passive versus active sharers of news

o   Public versus private news sharing on social media and messaging apps

·         How different tones of news stories influence news sharing

·         Personalized news and its impact on news engagement

·         Technological affordances of digital platforms and their linkage
to sharing of news

·         Proprietary and non-proprietary news platforms and sharing of news

·         Socio-demographic and cultural factors that influence news sharing

·         Social endorsements and news sharing

·         The interplay between selective exposure and social endorsements


*Information about submission:*

Proposals should include the following: an abstract of 500-750 words (not
including references) as well as background information on the author(s),
including an abbreviated bio that describes previous and current research
that relates to the special issue theme. Please submit your proposal as one
file (PDF) with your names clearly stated in the file name and the first
page. Send your proposal to the e-mail address
engagingnewsaudiences at gmail.com and sora.park at canberra.edu.au by the date
stated in timeline below. Authors of accepted proposals are expected to
develop and submit their original article, for full blind review, in
accordance with the journal's peer-review procedure, by the deadline
stated. Article submissions should target 7,000 words in length. Guidelines
for manuscripts can be found here
<https://tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rdij20&page=instructions>
.


*TIMELINE:*


Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2019

Notification on submitted abstracts: 30 May 2019

Article submission deadline: 30 November 2019


*If you have any questions regarding the special issue, please contact *
sora.park at canberra.edu.au.