Duyurular

The Past, Present and Future of Communication and Media Research: Encounters, Contestations and Imaginaries

Is communication and media research a field of study in which, like an empty signifier, everyone ascribes meaning, function, and content to it with their own baggage? Does communication and media studies qualify as a science since it cuts across and intersects with every branch of the social sciences and humanities in some way in different contexts or, on the contrary, is it a field of research strengthened by this characteristic?

Since the beginning of its institutionalization, communication and media research have been laden with doubts about its own existence, which has been questioned with a series of inward and outward-looking questions. One of the main questions these doubts raise is whether it is a science, whether it can exist as a discipline, and if it is a discipline, whether it is a multi-discipline or an inter-discipline. If it is a discipline in the traditional sense, what is the object of research in communication? Does it have core theories and methodological commitments?

These questions reemerged in the 2000s following the debates in the 60s, when Berelson declared the death of the field, and the 80s and 90s when debates around "intellectual poverty" and fermentation took place. One of the main reasons for the resurgence of these debates is the changing social structures and communication technologies. With the proliferation of the Internet and the questioning of the notion of the mass, the adequacy of theories based on mass communication for understanding and analyzing communication processes has become questionable, which has caused communication and media research to rethink and reflect on itself.

We also want to reflect on ourselves. In this issue of Moment Journal, we invite you to discuss and study communication and media research. We define communication and media research from a broad perspective, encompassing (sub)fields and/or departments such as journalism, public relations, cultural studies and radio, television and cinema, generally housed under faculties or schools of communication. This issue calls for self-reflexive texts and studies on communication and media research investigating our field(s), practices and problems. We invite submissions including, but not limited to, following topics on media and communication research:

• Current state of communication and media research in the world and Turkey
• Current trends and orientations in terms of theory, methodology, and research topics
• Institutional structures
• Institutional and academic past and history
• Societal and political roles and missions
• Relationships with non-academic fields, such as the media sector
• Major paradigms and traditions
• Relations to higher education policies
• The field’s place among other disciplines and sciences
• Interdisciplinary relations
• Educational activities
• Future of communication and media research

We look forward to your theoretical and empirical articles and contributions on the topics mentioned above. With your contributions, we aim to revitalize old debates in the light of current developments and to open new lines of discussion and questioning. We envision thinking together about the past, present, and future of communication and media research on a global or Turkish scale within the framework of all these questions and issues.

We expect full paper submissions to https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/journal/2305/submission/step/manuscript/new by March 15, 2024. Unfortunately, we will not accept any papers outside the theme.

Theme editors: Ayşe Nevin Yıldız, Umut Yener Kara, Eda Çetinkaya Yarımçam, Nusret Tongarlak