Dear colleagues,



We are seeking expressions of interest to participate in a special edited pamphlet focusing on the UK 2015 election campaign.



The aim of the publication is to capture the first thoughts, reflections and early research insights of leading scholars in media and politics in the UK; and to use this to contribute to public understanding of the 2015 election. In particular we are interested in what ways different forms of media, journalism and political communication contributed to people’s engagement with the democratic process during the election - and crucially the relationship between media, citizens, and politicians.



The pamphlet will provide a forum for both academics and practitioners to discuss emerging and established forms of news reporting and political communication during the 2015 UK election. It will be jointly published by the Political Studies Association’s Media and Politics Group<http://www.psa.ac.uk/psa-communities/specialist-groups/media-and-politics> and the Centre for Journalism, Culture and Community<https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/journalism-culture-and-community/> at Bournemouth University.



Key features of the pamphlet:

1.     short articles, typically around 500 words.

2.     therefore we are seeking reflections and snap analysis: typically on a narrowly defined topic. We are not expecting empirical data or the depth of analysis typical of academic publications, unless you want to flag preliminary or headline findings.

3.     it will be published no more than 10 days after the election on May 7th

(if a hung parliament results in a new government being formed after 10 days, then we would publish the day after the new government is formed).

4.     it will be made available for free both online and in print (with registered ISBN).

5.     we will disseminate it to academic, political and media communities, and host a launch event at Westminster in late May 2015, to which contributors and key stakeholders will be invited.



Given the very tight publication date we are committed to, it means that we need contributions no later than May 11th. Whilst this is a tight turnaround following the election, we are also only seeking approx 500 words!



Suggested areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

·       Candidate and political party communication (e.g. political advertising, marketing, spin, individual party campaigns, campaign in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland)

·       News media and the election (e.g. topical focus, key media events, bias, agendas etc)

·       Popular media and the election (e.g. satire, visual culture, celebrity, cynicism and anti-politics etc)

·       Voters (e.g. opinion polls, salient issues, patterns of participation etc)

·       The digital campaign (e.g. social media, UGC, citizen voices, online party campaigns)



We appreciate that some colleagues may be already conducting scholarly research on the election and/ or contributing to public debate through media commentary. We are happy for you to draw on or repurpose such work for this collection should you wish.



If you would like to be part of the collection then please email Dan Jackson ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Einar Thorsen ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) with an expression of interest including the topic you propose to cover by Monday 6th April. Deadline for final contributions is Monday 11th May 2015.



If you have any questions or want to discuss an idea for the edited pamphlet, please do not hesitate to get in touch.



All the best,



Einar Thorsen and Dan Jackson (editors)

Bournemouth University



Further info



The Political Studies Association<http://www.psa.ac.uk/> is the UK's leading association in the study and research of politics. The Media and Politics Group (MPG) is one of the Political Studies Association's largest specialist groups. The MPG aims to act as a forum for discussion between a wide variety of academics with interests in the study of media policy, journalism, political communications, new information technologies and other topics.



The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community<https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/journalism-culture-and-community/> brings together the Journalism Research Group and the Narrative Research Group, both based in the Media School at Bournemouth University. The Centre is also home to NewsLab<http://newslab.bujournalism.info/>, an industry facing staff/student co-creation and knowledge exchange hub, the Civic Media hub<http://www.civicmedia.io/>, and the Science and Media cluster.



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Einar Thorsen, PhD

Principal Lecturer in Journalism and Communication



Associate Director, CsJCC

http://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/journalism-culture-and-community/



Twitter:   http://twitter.com/einarthorsen

Phone:   +44 (0)1202 968838



Communication Officer of MeCCSA:

http://www.meccsa.org.uk/



Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives, Volume 2

http://citizenjournalism.me



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