[NOTE: See especially the section toward the end regarding the Fictional Identities In Digital Space panel. –Matthew]

Call for Papers:

Conference – ‘The Role of Journalism in Endangered Democracy’
June 5-6, 2026
Communication and Media Department, University of Split
Split, Croatia
http://commlist.org/archive/all/2026-all/msg00527.html

Deadline for submission of abstracts: April 25, 2026

RATIONALE:

During the 2016 US presidential campaign the publication of inaccurate and, in particular of intentionally inaccurate information, through social media and fake websites became a salient reality of the digitized information world (Palczewski, 2017; Parkinson, 2016; Silverman & Singer-Vine, 2016). It further polarized American society and confused voting citizens. The proliferation of the term “fake news” – which is in itself an oxymoron – opened up spaces for the interpretation of disinformation, or, to deal with what Kellyanne Conway phrased “alternative facts”. Both the US Congress and the EU reacted with a series of activities and guidelines. Indeed, the EU invested heavily in establishing fact-checking organizations that have proven to be largely ineffective in preventing the spread of disinformation.

Irresponsible amateur publication of information on social media gained credibility and acceptance (protected by the concept of “citizen journalism”), causing systematic and long-term damage to both professional journalism and the quality of citizens’ information (Glasser, 1999), but also to long-standing traditions of non-professional news production (e.g., in community media). Andrew Keen describes this attribution of journalistic value to amateur citizens’ sharing of information as a democracy-degrading democratization (Keen, 2007: 69). Still, amateur information has proven its value during particular moments, such as the Arab Spring (2011-2012), with the mobilisation of citizens for mass protests against totalitarian regimes being assisted through social networks.

Although such information-sharing practices arguably fulfils an important political and democratic function, a large part of this content cannot be considered journalism, simply because this communication does not meet the standards of the journalistic profession. This is reflected in the Reuters Institute’s (2025) recent use of the term “news creators”, seemingly seeking to shift away from the concept of “citizen journalism”. As it is, user-generated content was quickly recognized as a low-cost source of information due to its speed and accessibility; and tabloids and news portals with limited human and financial resources exploited that type of content en masse. It is a practice that has provoked significant critiques. For instance, Glasser (1999), already some time ago, has gone so far as to criticize journalists and editors for leaving the political agenda-setting power to citizens, thereby compromising their profession and abandoning their role of the “fourth estate” through critical reporting.

Today, “news creators” confusingly offer a complex mix of quality content alongside vast amount of pseudo-scientific and intentionally or unintentionally false content. Identifying quality within this content can be challenging for (social) media users, especially in the light of the fact that social media audiences for such abundant sensationalised and trivial content exceed those of legacy media (Allcott and Gentzkov, 2017).

The emergence of citizen-generated information has also been accompanied by the growth of alternative and partisan online news sources fuelled by populism (Grossmann, 2018). This has, in turn, influenced a shift of legacy journalism towards increasingly partisan reporting and agenda-setting practices (e.g. Kantola, 2012; Esser and Umbricht, 2014; Levendusky and Malhotra, 2016). As a consequence, the ideals of journalistic impartiality and detachment from politics have become object of political struggle in their own right (Vozab, 2017).

Nowadays, many media organisations have been, or are threatened to be, captured by political and financial interests. Cognitive captivity occurs when journalists associate themselves with those they report on (Schiffrin, 2017), but also self-censorship has become an even more present reality among journalists. The existence of external fact-checking services problematically suggests that fact-checking is a task internal to news organisation. We also face a new trend in journalists leaving legacy media houses to launch their own self-branded media channels through social media platforms (e.g. Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, Bari Weiss, Megyn Kelly, Matt Taibi, …).

In an attempt to occupy the symbolic communication centre of a democratic society, while still remaining outside the ruling powers, journalists thus face substantial challenges. It remains logical to continue asking how the profession of journalism is recognized, and what its capacities are for the 21^st century (and will be)? There are also other questions: Should fact-checking be returned more to the newsrooms, and shouldn’t the mechanisms of media regulation and self-regulation be strengthened? Where should we draw the line between “news creators” and “journalists”? Can non-professional journalists still exist? What is the social and ethical responsibility of non-journalist news creators, and their audiences?

GOALS AND TOPICS:

The conference aims to bring together an international mix of journalism and media scholars and practitioners to discuss the complexities, rewards, challenges and limitations of journalism as profession in the 21st century and its role in democracies. We are also committed to facilitating meaningful interactions between scholars, educators and media industry professionals, through a combination of traditional academic panels, seminars, workshops and exhibitions.

We welcome proposals on topics including but not limited to: 

• Journalistic freedom on the edge of survival
• Quality journalism and the value of accountable information – experiences from newsrooms
• Approaches in constructive and solution journalism
• The role of social media in shaping democratic majorities – the trend of news avoidance and the responsibility of journalists
•  Challenges in journalism education – professional knowledge and skills
• Fragmented media audiences – how to engage citizens in quality journalism
• Virtual identities and democracy – with a special call for the panel Fictional Identities in Digital Space*

* FICTIONAL IDENTITIES IN DIGITAL SPACE:

As part of the Communication and Media Split 2026 conference, we invite you to a panel focused on the phenomenon of fictional and digitally constructed identities – avatars, aliases, and virtual characters without grounding in reality – that operate and communicate in the digital space.

These identities are becoming increasingly present in contemporary culture: from artificially created “persons” designed for entertainment, marketing, or art, to complex digital constructions that live their own “lives” online. They raise questions about the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the ways in which audiences communicate and identify with them, and the cultural, sociological, and other processes they initiate.

We invite all researchers interested in this topic to contribute to the discussion from the following perspectives:

• Communication studies – how these identities shape communication practices and standards in digital media.
• Cultural studies – which cultural values and processes are represented by fictional digital identities.
• Sociology – how audiences and communities respond to and identify with them.
• Economics – how fictional identities are monetized through the attention economy, new forms of digital labour, and business strategies related to virtual characters.

The panel is part of the institutional project Digital Identities, Virtual Masks – Communicational, Cultural, and Economic Aspects of Virtual Subject Representation (DIVIR), which focuses on examining virtual extensions of identity as constructions reflecting the possibilities and the risks of contemporary technology. These extensions condense the potential and limitations of today’s digital culture, resulting from certain strategies, spreading through innovative communication practices, and causing wide-ranging impact on culture, society, and the individual.

We welcome and encourage wide contribution from the academic community, practitioners, and all interested participants to join the discussion on this intriguing topic that reveals how digital media are redefining the very notions of identity and reality.

Selected papers will be published in special issue of Communication Papers, journal published at University of Girona (https://communicationpapers.revistes.udg.edu/)

SUBMISSIONS:

Please send an abstract of between 450 and 500 words, along with the title of your paper, a short biographical note (up to 200 words) in an email with the subject Communication and Media Days 2026, to the following address: kim@kim.unist.hr

We welcome papers from both early-career researchers and established academics.

Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes. 

Conference fee: 100 EUR (50 EUR for PhD students with the certificate of enrolment in a PhD study program)

Travel and accommodation expenses are to be covered by the participants.

Please note the conference will be held in person not hybrid format.

TIMELINE:

Abstract submission deadline: 25 April 2026
Notification of acceptance: 5 May 2026
Registration deadline: 15 May 2026

CONFERENCE PROGRAM COMMITTEE:

Viktorija Car, University of Split, Communication and Media Department, President

Nico Carpentier, Charles University, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Prague, Czech Republic & Visiting Professor at Tallinn University, Baltic Film, Media and Arts School

Antonija Čuvalo, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science

Jelena Jurišić, University of Split, Communication and Media Department

Nebojša Lujanović, University of Split, Communication and Media Department

Nicole Talmacs, University of Malta, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences

Natalia Vedrić, Deakin University, Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Communication and Creative Arts

CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (UNIVERSITY OF SPLIT, COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA DEPARTMENT):

Viktorija Car, Antea Boko, Vanja Pavlov & Branka Šegvić

SOURCES:

Allcott, H. & Gentzkow, M. 2017. Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives 31, 211-235. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211

Esser, F. & Umbricht, A. 2014. The Evolution of Objective and Interpretative Journalism in the Western Press. Comparing Six News Systems since the 1960s. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 91 (2): 229-249.

Glasser, T. (Ed.). 1999. The Idea of Public Journalism. New York: Guilford Press.

Grossmann, M. 2018. Partisan Media and Political Distrust. Miami, FL: Knight Foundation.

Kantola, A. 2012. From gardeners to revolutionaries: the rise of the liquid ethos in political journalism. Journalism 14 (5): 606-626. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884912454504

Keen, A. 2007. The Cult of the Amateur. New York: Doubleday/Currency.

Levendusky, M. & Malhotra, N. 2016. Does media coverage of partisan polarization affect political attitudes? Polit Commun 33: 283-301.

LSE. 2018. Tackling the Information Crisis: A Policy Framework for Media System Resilience. The Report of the LSE Commission on Trust and Technology. London: LSE.

Newman, N., Arguedas, A.R., Mukherjee, M. & Fletcher, R. (2025) Mapping news creators and influencers in social and video networks. Reuters Institute, University of Oxford. http://doi.org/10.60625/risj-44pf-1k13

Palczewski, M. 2017. Fake news. A continuation or rejection of the traditional news paradigm? Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica (https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/polonica/index). 43(5): 23-34.

Parkinson, H.J. 2016. Click and Elect: How Fake News Helped Donald Trump Win a Real Election. Guardian.com. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/14/fake-news-donald-trump-election-alt-right-social-media-tech-companies (11.08.2022.).

Schiffrin, A. (Ed.) 2017. In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Treath to Democracy. Washington, DC: CIMA.

Silverman, C. & Singer-Vine, J. 2016. Most Americans Who See Fake News Believe It, New Survey Says. BuzzFeedNews. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/fake-news-survey (11.08.2022.).

Vozab, D. 2017. Pristrani i neprijateljski mediji te polarizacija u novom medijskom okolišu. Političke analize 8 (30): 3-9.