[Air-L] CfP - ICA26 preconference ‘Practicing Trust: Media, Machines and Methods’

[Agata Stepnik]

With apologies for cross-posting.



Submissions for the ICA 2026 Preconference ‘Practicing Trust: Media,
Machines and Methods’ are now open.

*Date:* Thursday 4 June 2026, 8:30am-4.30pm

*Location:* Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South
Africa

Communication as a discipline has long been engaged with questions of
trust, although the connection has often been implicit rather than
explicit. In recent years, the popularity of generative AI tools has
accelerated a sense of urgency around how different media technologies and
media systems reframe issues of trust, from addressing hallucinations
within chat tools, to identifying deepfakes and algorithmic actors, to
questions around how much is too much AI in professional media content?

The Practicing Trust: Media, Machines and Methods ICA pre-conference aims
to develop new frameworks for understanding the relationship of trust to
our understanding of contemporary news and journalism, media industries and
practices, and communications and media policy. It seeks to locate trust as
being shaped within specific contexts, communities and environments, and to
consider how trust is actively influenced by the actions of media
organizations, public institutions, and technology companies.

The one-day symposium will draw speakers from around the world, in a
dialogue about how media, machines, and institutions concretely affect
social trust and digital communication, and methods for researching such
trust. We are particularly interested in transformations arising from the
development, deployment and use of AI platforms and tools for the
transformation of information and communications practice, and what this
may mean for the future of news industries and societal and institutional
trust.

Confirmed keynote speakers for the event are *Professor Herman
Wasserman* (Professor
of Media Studies: University of Cape Town) and *Professor Admire Mare*
(Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of
Johannesburg).

*Pre-conference sponsors*: Media and Communications Discipline, The
University of Sydney; Communication Law & Policy Division, ICA; Journalism
Studies Division, ICA; Media Industry Studies Interest Group, ICA.

*Abstract length*: 250-400 words

*Deadline for Abstracts*: 31 January 2026, 11:59 GMT

*Notification of acceptance*: 23 February 2026



*Topics:*

We welcome contributions that engage with questions of trust arising with
relation to:

   - Communication professions (such as journalism, public relations,
   policymakers, and influencers);
   - Media platforms and conglomerates;
   - Governments and cultural institutions;
   - Technologies, transparency, and data justice;
   - Human-machine communications and AI generated information and
   misinformation;
   - The future of communications and tech policy;
   - Audiences, publics and civic participation;
   - Historical and comparative perspectives;
   - Research methods and reflexivity.

Papers accepted for the preconference may be considered in a special issue
of a peer-reviewed academic journal.

*Click here to submit an abstract*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeymucE7VRY9V2-UsEkV8sm885TUXnZmdPNh3HYn9fFkOdCzQ/viewform?usp=header>

*Registration Fee:* USD $60 full fee or $30 concession. Fee includes lunch
and refreshments on the day.

**Please note this is an in-person event only.**

*Questions?*

Please email the conference team at mediated-trust
<mediated-trust.conference at sydney.edu.au>.
<mediatedtrust.conference at sydney.edu.au>conference
<mediated-trust.conference at sydney.edu.au>@sydney.edu.au
<mediatedtrust.conference at sydney.edu.au>

Professor Terry Flew, The University of Sydney
Professor Sora Park, University of Canberra
Dr Michael Davies, University of Technology, Sydney
Dr Harry Dugmore, University of the Sunshine Coast
Dr Timothy Koskie, The University of Sydney
Dr Agata Stepnik, The University of Sydney
Dr Wenjia Tang, The University of Sydney