[Air-L] CfA 2025 Conference of the Italian Association of Political Communication (AssoComPol)

[Antonio Martella]

*** 2025 Conference of the Italian Association of Political Communication
(AssoComPol) ***

Theme: *Media and politics: Reconfiguring authority and trust.*

3-5 July 2025, University of Milan, Italy

https://www.compol.it/eventi/convegno/convegno-2025/

In recent years, political communication has undergone a profound
transformation, shaped by the interplay of media innovation, evolving
public expectations, and shifting socio-political dynamics (Humprecht et
al. 2022; Štětka & Mihelj, 2024). Traditional authority structures are
being reconfigured as new actors and platforms redefine who holds influence
and credibility in the public sphere (Bartsch et al. 2022; Carlson, 2017).
Trust – essential for democratic processes and discourse – has become a
central focus, as audiences increasingly navigate a fragmented and
contested information ecosystem. Simultaneously, political trust faces
significant challenges, with growing polarization and skepticism toward
institutional actors. These developments compel us to interrogate the
evolving dynamics of trust and authority: who is trusted, how trust is
built and maintained, and how authority is conferred and legitimized in
mediated political contexts. By exploring these questions, we can better
understand the mechanisms underpinning a functioning public sphere and
identify pathways for fostering democratic resilience in an era of rapid
change.

Media trust represents a pivotal dimension of political communication,
encompassing the audience's confidence in the accuracy, fairness, and
reliability of news media. As articulated by Strömbäck et al. (2020), media
trust significantly shapes how individuals engage with and interpret media
content, influencing broader patterns of media consumption and public
opinion formation. Tsfati et al. (2022) argue, research must move beyond
general notions of media trust to explore topical media trust—how trust
varies across specific issues and contexts. This approach not only reveals
the complexity of audience perceptions but also provides a richer framework
for analyzing trust’s role in mitigating issue-based misperceptions and
fostering informed public discourse. Recent work by Garusi and Leonhardt
(2024) advocates for a processual understanding of trust, highlighting
trust-building as a dynamic and iterative procedure rather than a static
condition (see also the related Eyal 2024). This perspective underscores
the importance of examining how trust is cultivated through ongoing
interactions between media organizations and their audiences, particularly
in contexts emphasizing transparency and constructive journalism.

The legitimacy and stability of democratic systems does not depend only on
media trust, but also on more generalized levels of political trust,
broadly defined as citizens’ confidence in political institutions and
actors. In an era of increasing polarization and institutional skepticism,
understanding the factors that influence political trust has become
paramount and media trust emerges as a key determinant in this equation, as
the media serves as the primary conduit through which citizens encounter
political information. As Hanitzsch, Van Dalen, and Steindl (2018)
highlight, public trust in the media and political trust are deeply
intertwined, often reinforcing or undermining one another. A decline in
media trust can erode confidence in political actors, while skepticism
toward politics can amplify doubts about the media’s credibility. This
nexus underscores the importance of examining trust as a multidimensional
phenomenon, where the interplay between media and politics shapes the
broader contours of public opinion and democratic engagement.

Authority is a foundational concept in understanding the structure and
dynamics of public discourse. As explored by Carlson (2017), authority
represents the capacity to be recognized as a legitimate source of
knowledge or power in a given context, often contingent on social norms,
institutional structures, and cultural expectations. In the digital era,
journalistic authority—historically rooted in professional norms and
organizational prestige—faces significant challenges. The democratization
of information production and dissemination has disrupted traditional
hierarchies, forcing journalists to continually renegotiate their
legitimacy amidst increasing competition from non-traditional actors and
platforms. Carlson's work highlights the importance of viewing authority
not as a static property but as a dynamic process shaped by interactions
between journalists, audiences, and the broader information ecosystem.

Building on this perspective, Bartsch et al. (2024) introduce the concept
of epistemic authority in the digital public sphere, emphasizing the role
of credibility in the negotiation of truth claims. Their integrative
framework underscores the complexity of authority in a fragmented media
landscape, where trustworthiness must be earned and sustained across
diverse and sometimes polarized audiences. Wahl Jorgensen (2024) further
advances this discussion by exploring how entrepreneurial journalism
leverages local knowledge to assert epistemic authority, demonstrating the
evolving strategies employed by media actors to legitimize their claims.
Finally, Vos and Thomas (2018) emphasize the discursive nature of
journalistic authority in the "post-truth" age, where the traditional
boundaries of expertise are increasingly contested. Together, these
perspectives highlight the pressing need to analyze authority as a
relational and contextual phenomenon, particularly in its implications for
public trust and the functioning of democratic discourse.

However, despite their centrality, the concept of media and political
trust, and their interconnections with conferred authority remain
underexplored in key areas. Current research often overlooks the dynamic
and relational nature of trust, failing to adequately account for how it
evolves over time and across different media ecosystems. Moreover, studies
have yet to fully integrate the impact of digital and algorithmically
driven platforms, which have redefined the boundaries of journalistic
authority and credibility. To advance the field, it is crucial to develop
innovative frameworks that address these gaps, emphasizing the interplay
between structural factors—such as ownership models and regulatory
environments—and individual-level perceptions shaped by identity, ideology,
and lived experience.

Starting from this framework, or also beyond this framework, we encourage
the submission of papers investigating the trends linked to media trust,
political trust, and authority as well as their interactions in the field
of political communication. We are interested in both theoretical essays
and empirical studies, and we welcome different methodological approaches
and research designs (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods). Issues
of interest include (but are not limited to):


   - Changes and trends linked to media trust, political trust,
   institutional trust and authority as well as in their interactions.
   - How the artificial intelligence environment, the role of data,
   platforms, algorithms, shape and change trust in the new political
   communications environment.
   - Relationships between media and political trust from one side and
   trust in platforms from the other side.
   - Trust and public opinion dynamics, voting behavior, electoral
   campaigns in democracies facing a crisis of trust.
   - Electoral abstention: trust as precondition for electoral
   participation and democratic processes.
   - How trust and authority is conferred according to new (digital)
   political communication actors (such as digital parties, social digital
   movements as well as “social journalism”).
   - Which strategy apply political actors to increase trust.
   - Epistemic authority in digital political communication: How authority
   is constructed, contested, and legitimized in the digital public sphere,
   with a focus on journalistic, political, and algorithmic actors. Distrust
   and communication strategies for gaining consensus from parties and
   movements of the radical sovereignist Right-Wing in Europe, especially from
   a Comparative Perspective (e.g., RN in France, AfD in Germany, FPÖ in
   Austria, Vox in Spain).
   - Comparative approaches to media and political trust: Examining how
   trust and authority vary across cultural, national, or institutional
   contexts and their implications for global political communication.
   - Actors and issues of the EU - supranational and national - political
   debate, with a particular focus on EU institutions, especially, though not
   exclusively, in electoral contexts.
   - The role of misinformation, disinformation, polarization as well as
   incivility in trust dynamics: How affect trust in media, political actors,
   and institutions, and strategies to mitigate these effects.
   - Public perception of journalistic authority: How audiences evaluate
   the credibility and legitimacy of journalistic actors in a fragmented and
   polarized media environment.
   - Trust-building strategies in mediated political campaigns: Exploring
   innovative methods used by political actors to build and maintain trust
   through traditional and digital media.
   - Trust and authority in times of crisis: Investigating how trust in
   media and political institutions fluctuates during crises (e.g., pandemics,
   natural disasters, or political instability).
   - The role of influencers and alternative media in shaping authority:
   How non-traditional communicators (e.g., influencers, citizen journalists)
   redefine authority in the public sphere.
   - The emergence of innovative forms and practices of political
   participation and the empowerment of digital citizenship as a product of
   online trust networks.
   - Intersectionality in trust dynamics: How factors such as gender, race,
   class, and ideology interact to influence trust in media and politics.
   - Ethical challenges in fostering trust: Analysing ethical dilemmas for
   journalists, political actors, and platforms in building or maintaining
   public trust and authority.
   - Future-oriented perspectives on trust and authority: Conceptual and
   methodological innovations for studying trust and authority in rapidly
   evolving media and political environments.



*Useful information*

Paper proposals should include name, affiliation, and email address, a
title, an extended abstract (600/800 words excluding references), and
bibliographical references.


Authors should also explicitly indicate whether they request the paper to
be considered for publication (after the conference) in “ComPol -
Comunicazione Politica”, the flagship journal of the Italian Association of
Political Communication *at the end of the abstract*. In the case of ex
aequo in the evaluations provided by referees, priority will be given to
authors who have expressed interest for publication on ComPol -
Comunicazione Politica.


*Useful information on how to write an abstract for AssoComPol conferences
can be found in the section “Abstract instructions”: *
https://www.compol.it/eventi/convegno/convegno-2025/


   - Deaddline for submission of proposals: *March 21 *
   - Notification of acceptance: *April 15*
   - Full papers must be submitted by *June 16 *in the conference paper
   room (accessible by login)

*Scientific Committee: *Roberta Bracciale, Patrizia Catellani, Cristopher
Cepernich, Gianpietro Mazzoleni, Marco Mazzoni, Rossella Rega, Cristian
Ruggiero, Sergio Splendore, Augusto Valeriani.

*Local organizers: *Giorgia Aiello, C.W. Anderson, Mauro Barisione,
Federico Boni, Diego Ceccobelli, Giulia Giorgi, Paolo Natale, Milan School
of Media and Communication (MSMC).

*Secretary: *Junio Aglioti Colombini, Alice Fubini, Antonio Martella,
Melissa Mongiardo, Celeste Satta.



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