*CFP* "BEYOND INSTITUTIONS AND SYSTEMS", CHAPTER BOOK MEDIA CULTURE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is one of the most diverse regions with unique cultures and the media. Societal, political and technology transformations in the late 20th Century has opened up a room for democratic media and communications with a hope of professional journalism and supportive media policies development. However, the latest trends in some of the CEE countries (see for instance Hungary and Poland) have proven the weakness of media change reflected in the growing political agenda as well as polarization of media and society. 

In fact, media in CEE still functions as a watershed between the developed centers (especially Western Europe) and non-democratic regimes of Central Asian and Eastern European cultures. The blending of path-dependencies, socially-engaged media paradigm, adaptation strategies to digital age with shrunk in international press freedom ranks (Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders) call for advance approaches. The goal is to find a balance between the Western and Eastern traditions and build on a research framework that goes beyond media organizations and their accompanying internal and external systems.

CEE media are still underrepresented in the global map of communications and media studies. The region might be therefore seen as semi-periphery of academic community with only few scholars publishing internationally in top-tier periodicals. Moreover, the large number of existing studies investigated Central and Eastern Europe through the lenses of Western media systems dimensions. This approach might fail to address unique societal conditions, including conditions of political, journalism and organizational culture which have a critical impact on the way media is functioning. We argue that in order to fully understand the fabric of the CEE media one needs to focus more on people – their values, practices and mindsets. This vision has been recently argumented by Paolo Mancini (University of Perugia, Italy); he has argued that media systems perspective shall be extended by that of media culture and its significance in times of technology change and social/political volatility. The concept of media culture has also been recently tested by Sabina Mihelj and Simon Huxtable in their case study of Socialist Television .

Objective and themes

We invite experts and scholars interested in Central and Eastern European media to contribute their studies and insights to media culture as a multilayered analytical prism. We believe that with a help of diverse research scopes and methodologies, the book will go a long way in explaining critical role of culture from several points of view.

In line with this “Beyond Institutions and Systems: Media Culture in Central and Eastern Europe” welcomes comparative research as well as case study analyses which include (but are not limited to) the following subjects and sub-sections:

• Cultural path-dependencies of media in CEE countries: socialism legacy, blending of culture with media, trust, ethics, 
• Journalism culture: professional unions and organizations, journalism values and norms, missions, strategies, skills and attitudes, training, experience, serving communities, media’s attitude to internal and external collaboration; 
• Organizational culture of media: organizational change and restructuring, adaptation from broadcast to network paradigm, management systems, R and D, working conditions, strategies to support risk taking, motivation, networking, afterwork culture; 
• Political culture and decision-making processes: media regulation, political communication, power struggles and political/economic interdependencies, inclusion of civil society in public consultation, co-creating and testing of new solutions; 
• Civil society and the culture of media publics: users’ engagement in media, public demand on media accountability, ethics of work in media, non-governmental organizations, high-techn/cultural industries; 
• University/research culture (human geography of communication and media studies): partnership systems between research and practice, journalism education, new forms of knowledge share (media hubs, accelerators), idea brokers and media innovation.

Chapter submission

Paper submissions for the edited collection in the form of abstract (max. 500 words) shall address the following evaluation criteria:

1. Relevance to the academic field of media management, 
2. Theoretical background, research methodology and description of empirical data used, 
3. Originality of presented approach and practical implications (for business and/or policy).

We kindly ask to send us the abstract with the suggested paper title to Marton Demeter (demeter@komejournal.com) and Michal Glowacki (michal.glowacki@uw.edu.pl) by March 31, 2019. After a careful selection process we will ask selected authors to provide the full chapters by September 30, 2019. Detailed instructions regarding full contributions will be disseminated at the same time. Each contribution will then be sent to external double blind review in order to elaborate on final comments and adjustments. We expect the book to be submitted for publication in the Spring of 2020.

Timeline

Deadline for 500 words long chapter outlines: March 31, 2019

Decision on acceptance/rejection: April 15, 2019

Full chapters: September 30, 2019.

Review and revision: March 2020.