The past, present and future of research on communication policy and technology: An academic dialogue

Introduction: Communication Rights in the Digital Age

This special issue of Internet Policy Review brings together a hand-picked selection of articles presented in the Communication Policy and Technology (CPT) section at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Eugene, Oregon (USA), 2018. With different theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and geographical scope, the five papers in this issue address how ideal-type rights and values are translated into highly variable rules, regulations, policies and practices in different countries and regions around the world. Drawing from their respective case studies, the papers examine a number of consequences of this gap for internet users, as citizens and consumers. Building on these papers, the editorial discusses some recent evolutions of the internet policy field, and introduces the critical and ‘engaged scholarship’ approach that IAMCR and its CPT section have displayed over the years in their analyses of communication and internet policy.

The International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) is a worldwide professional organization in the field of media and communication research, whose members promote global inclusiveness and excellence within the best traditions of critical scholarship in the field. It particularly encourages the participation of emerging scholars, women, and those from economically disadvantaged regions. IAMCR has 15 thematic sections and 18 working groups. The Health Communication (HEC) Working Group is one of them and aims to provide a forum for critical thinking on health communication research as well as knowledge translation from praxis‐related interpretative health communication. The HEC Working Group formed in the year 2019 after the merger of the preexisting Health Communication and Change Working Group and HIV/AIDS and Communication (HAC) working groups during the IAMCR Conference in June 2018. It endeavors to create a network of researchers who share knowledge, ideas, methodologies, and research outcomes as well as develop international collaborative projects in the health communication space.

This paper is a report on the WSIS 10 mapping project, which was funded by the IAMCR Rapid Response Research Grant on Communication Policy by the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) with the support of the Media Program of the Open Society Foundations (OSF). The project aimed at mapping the events taking place in the framework of the 10-years review process or the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS 10), the actors involved and their concrete contributions, with a particular focus on the role of expert contributions. The report was presented at the annual IAMCR conference in India in July 2014.

The International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) is an international professional organization in the field of media and communication research. Its aims are to promote global inclusiveness and excellence in research, to stimulate interest in media and communication research, to disseminate information about research results, and to provide a forum where researchers can meet to exchange information about their work.

In the context of the Cold War that affected the first steps of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), journalism education was the topic dealt by attendees from West and East Europe during the 1968 conference in Pamplona, Spain. Paradoxically professors from communist countries spoke openly in an event partly sponsored by Spain's anti-communist regime. Indirectly, the lack of press freedom in the late dictatorship caused some incidents due to some Spanish professors’ critical speeches. Beyond these controversies related to domestic issues, depoliticisation—in accordance with the original spirit of IAMCR—became a key strategy for the conference success as a whole. The election of Pamplona, located in a non-aligned country, as the conference's venue meant a break in the struggle to gain power and influence within the organisation. This story, based on unpublished documents from the University of Navarra's School of Communication, sheds light on several intertwined issues such as international academic cooperation beyond the post World War II East–West confrontation, and press liberalisation in authoritarian regimes through journalism education. It is also a contribution for a more accurate knowledge of the life of IAMCR as a worldwide organisation in the field of communication research.

This paper presents an interview with Janet Wasko. She is a Professor and Knight Chair in Communication Research at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication and widely considered as one of the key authors working in the tradition of the political economy of communication. Currently she is serving as the President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), one of the key international associations in the field of media and communication studies. She previously held several other positions in the IAMCR and served as the head of the Political Economy-section, which she also helped to establish. Professor Wasko published several influential books on the film industry, especially on Hollywood and the Disney Corporation. We talked especially about the influences on her approach, about her position in the IAMCR, her understanding of how the cultural and media industries work, the political economy approach in media and communication studies, and issues related to the film industry, which she mostly tackles in her own research.

This paper presents an interview with Janet Wasko. She is a Professor and Knight Chair in Communication Research at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication and widely considered as one of the key authors working in the tradition of the political economy of communication. Currently she is serving as the President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), one of the key international associations in the field of media and communication studies. She previously held several other positions in the IAMCR and served as the head of the Political Economy-section, which she also helped to establish. Professor Wasko published several influential books on the film industry, especially on Hollywood and the Disney Corporation. We talked especially about the influences on her approach, about her position in the IAMCR, her understanding of how the cultural and media industries work, the political economy approach in media and communication studies, and issues related to the film industry, which she mostly tackles in her own research.

Unter dem Titel Crises, ‚Creative Destruction‘ and the Global Power and Communication Orders fand vom 25. bis 29. Juni 2013 die Jahrestagung der International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Dublin statt. 1.400 Delegierte aus über 80 Nationen machten den Kongress zu einer beeindruckenden Veranstaltung. Von den Herausforderungen aktueller Publikumsforschung bis Online-Aktivismus, von alternativem Journalismus bis zu historischer Kommunikationswissenschaft, von Medien im Kalten Krieg bis zur Erforschung sozialer Netzwerkdienste und ihrer Bedeutung für aktuelle politische Bewegungen: Die 16 Sektionen der IAMCR widmeten sich dem Themenkomplex von Machtverhältnissen, Krisen und den Herausforderungen für die Sozialwissenschaften in unterschiedlicher Ausrichtung und methodischer Vielfalt. Zu den Themenbereichen der Medienerziehung und der Medienforschung zur Zielgruppe Heranwachsende fanden sich ebenfalls eine Vielzahl an Vorträgen unter anderem aus Deutschland, der Schweiz, Österreich, Neuseeland, Australien und dem EU Kids Online-Netzwerk. In ihrem Selbstverständnis ist die IAMCR sowohl internationaler wissenschaftlicher Dachverband als auch NGO und beim diesjährigen Tagungsthema waren damit die Stichworte Prism und Tempora, aber auch der Blick auf globale Zusammenhänge in vielen Keynotes gegenwärtig. Auf der Website zur Konferenz gibt es die vollständigen Keynotes und Plenary Sessions als Videodokumentation. www.iamcr2013dublin.org

Since the mid 1990s the field of crisis communication research has grown substantially as a topic of international communication studies. Especially in public relations journals a growth of the publication output has been observed recently, whereas broader communication journals still publish scarcely on crisis communication (An & Cheng, 2012; Ha & Boynton, 2014). The increasing number of conferences and specialized working groups at major academic communication associations such as the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) as well as the publication of specialized journals such as the Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication indicate the ongoing institutionalization of the field (Schwarz, Seeger, & Auer, 2016a). Moreover, an increasing number of academic and public research centers, primarily at American and European universities, point to the rapid growth and societal relevance of the field (Palenchar, 2010). Within the field of public relations and strategic communication research the management of crisis communication already counts as a vital sub-discipline (Coombs, 2012b). This gain in importance can also be explained by the numerous devastating crisis events which do not only have tremendous social, political, ecological, and economic impact, but also reveal in many cases the complexity and limitations of managing crisis communication as practiced by organizations in various fields of society. This complexity and scope of crises go along with the interdisciplinarity and multiperspectivity of the research field, which in most cases lacks reciprocal reference (Coombs, 2012a; Loffelholz & Schwarz, 2008).

The Dossier entitled “(Audio)Visions: photography, cinema and memory” is edited by Thomas Wiedemann on behalf of the Visual Culture Working Group (VIC) of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Within IAMCR, VIC focuses on artistic, cultural, socio-cultural and technological studies in visual media and communication—pictures and photography, respectively, but also cinema, audiovisuals and arts—from a critical view point that might enhance the international field of communication studies. In this spirit, after the IAMCR Conference 2019 held in Madrid, Spain, the idea arose to publish some of the research papers by members of the working group that dealt with the themes of the dossier.

This chapter examines the paradigmatic debates and theoretical diversity in communication studies through the history of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Six philosophical and research traditions underline the sociology of knowledge in the communication discipline including the new and emerging monistic/emancipatory paradigm. The chapter shows that, while these different approaches involve struggle, compromises, idealization, and deft maneuvering, they also embrace a vast tangle of interrelated theoretical strands.

This special issue of Critical Arts consists of a selection of papers accepted into the Health Communication and Change and the Communication and HIV/AIDS Working Groups at the conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) held in South Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The conference brought together academics and practitioners from around the world to Durban, from 15-20 July 2012. The two IAMCR working groups aim to create a space for dialogue, reflection and critical analysis facing the areas of health communication, HIV/AIDS communication and social change. Participants in the working group represent academics, practitioners and students from around the world, who are engaged in critical thinking to understand and improve the engagement between health and communication. The theme of the conference, 'South-North Conversations', is at the heart of the articles published in this issue. The contributions in this special issue represent a cross-section of conversations taking place within the working group. They are geographically, thematically, methodologically and theoretically diverse, reflecting the diversity of perspectives present at the conference in Durban, and in the field of health communication, HIV/AIDS communication and social change communication as a whole. This issue would not have been possible without the support of Johns Hopkins Health and Education South Africa (JHESSA). Their support is deeply appreciated. The theme of the conference, and of this issue, holds at its core the concept of dialogue across power and information asymmetries. The theme recognises that relationships between countries--'developed' versus 'underdeveloped'--are changing and need to be further problematised. Similarly, the notion of 'core-periphery' relationships needs interrogating. Media and communication--from a variety of communication perspectives--are changing with these shifting relationships. Media --be they mass media or mediums of communication--are embedded within the social context in which they operate, and have different meanings within different histories, cultures, infrastructures and technological orientations. These meanings are also changing, influencing and being influenced by different systems of social differentiation. For instance, mobile telephony and its applications globally can be seen to alter socio-economic, cultural and technological relationships with the medium, as it has an impact on areas such as systems of communication, financial transactions and education systems. And yet, these changes are happening at such a pace that we may not yet fully appreciate the implications. What are the implications for spatial divides (e.g. rural-urban) or systems of social differentiation (e.g. gender, age, ability)? The theme also implies, however, that inequalities persist, and need to be evaluated in a process of dialogue which recognises the unequal power relations that provide the context for communication interactions. For the working groups, this means recognising that the greatest effects of health inequalities--and this is particularly true of the HIV/AIDS epidemic--are felt most dominantly by marginalised sectors of society in 'developed' and 'developing' countries. Processes of inequality are produced and reproduced across a range of health conditions, within the context of unequal information flows and histories that play a role in how communication is understood and used to address the 'problems' (indeed, influencing even how the 'problem' is constructed). These articles explore the resulting inequalities in knowledge, media constructions and interventions, between cores and peripheries and 'south-north'. Exploring the dynamics of power in health, Nicole Bulled looks at the positionality and challenges in the use of biomedical knowledge in HIV/AIDS interventions. Knowledge and the interpretation thereof are embedded in social structures, and have socio-political dimensions in terms of how knowledge is actioned. …

This paper underscores the importance of national communication policy in any nation. It examines the national mass communication policies in Nigeria and Ghana looking at the issue of ownership, content and funding and how it can be used to achieve development objectives of the Nations. It argues that national communication policies should be implemented to the letter especially in Nigeria. The paper recommends that a national communication policy should be formulated in accordance with the development priorities of the country.

Herbert I. Schiller is one of the founding figures of the political economy of communication tradition (→ Political Economy of the Media). Schiller was born in 1919 and died in 2000. Beginning with his book Mass communication and American empire (1969) and ending with his posthumously published Living in the number one country (2000), he had an impact on several generations of scholars, policymakers, media practitioners, and media activists. His work provided a principal inspiration for the global movement to create a → new world information and communication order (NWICO). Schiller was also a leading figure in the → International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the scholarly association most strongly identified with international and political economic research (→ International Communication).