Special Issue: Electronic Journal of Communication
Journalism in The Age of Partisan Politics, Political Protests, and President Trump
The current news environment is saturated with political tension and divisive issues. Legacy news media and contemporary news outlets race to publish compelling content as they struggle to maintain their audiences. Political leaks have become a staple of modern news. Journalists have found themselves covering ideologically charged protests involving immigration reform, Black Lives Matter, the KKK, environmental issues, and Civil War statues, while at the same time finding their authority and credibility challenged by persistent accusations of ethical violations, bias, and corruption.
Meanwhile, social media sites provide an avenue for the public to present their own coverage and commentary related to all of these issues. Indeed, President Trump has turned toward social media as a way of presenting his own perspective on daily events. Further, online media and traditional news providers compete with the rumors, conspiracies, and “fake” news that permeates information space. Increasingly, social media readers fail to distinguish fabricated news from authentic news.
This special issue will focus on journalism during this time of social upheaval and political partisanship. All theoretical and methodological perspectives are welcome.
Possible topics for papers might include, but are not limited to:
* ethical coverage of politics
* journalistic credibility/ audience trust in the current political climate
* political cartoonists’ response to political protests
* The challenges of “fake news” to legacy and online news sources
* The relationship between journalists and politicians
* The role of political leaks in news coverage
* Journalistic safety while covering political protests
* Citizen journalists’ use of social media to share political content
* The use of social media as a newsgathering tool
* Audience perception of news coverage
* The role of objectivity/fairness in political coverage
* The significance of political experts as news sources
* The role of the news pundit in political coverage
* The value of political news and information
Deadline: Submit manuscripts through EJC’s online submission system at http://ejcojs.cios.org<http://ejcojs.cios.org/> by January 15, 2018 for consideration. Please be sure to submit to the journal section entitled: Special Issue: Journalism in The Age of Partisan Politics, Political Protests, and President Trump.
Format: Papers should be prepared in APA 6th Ed. Style. Remove all author-identifying information from the main manuscript for blind review. Manuscripts should be single spaced with tables/figures inserted where they belong; double-space between headings, subheadings, and adjacent sections; avoid breaking tables across pages. Please send manuscripts in .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats (not html).
Questions: Please address any questions to the Special Issue Editor, Jenn Burleson Mackay, Va Tech, email: jemackay@vt.edu. The call can also be found at: http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/calls/mackay.htm
Mark Carrigan 