Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT)

Deadline (EXTENDED): October 31, 2020

Editors:

• Fábio Ribeiro, University of Trás-os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) – Portugal, Communication & Society Research Centre – University of Minho (Portugal) , fabior@utad.pt
• Luís Bonixe, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre – Portugal, ICNOVA – Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal), luisbonixe@ipportalegre.pt

As Bob Franklin (1998) put forward in his book Local Media, academic appraisals of the local and regional media typically emphasise the declining number of local papers, their diminishing readerships and circulations, constant monopolies that tend to centralise media productions in large regional centres. Globalization, funding models (commercial, public or independent/grassroots), the insufficiency of human resources are often regarded by academics in this area. In his iconic Local Radio, Going Global, Guy Starkey (2011) enthusiastically defined local radio as “the sleeping giant”, baffled with concentration models and repressions, but still resisting: “a world-wide phenomenon”, Starkey asserted.

This special issue of The Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT) intends to contribute for a systematic review of worldwide experiences regarding the social, cultural, political impacts of local and community media within societies. In addition, it does not intend to romanticize these media, but rather a positive and empirical approach of experiences, examples of how local media engage with societies: what kind of experiences are being followed to involve local audiences? Is it possible to identify several key aspects to be define a valuable engagement with those communities?.

Taking this context as an inspiration, editors welcome all articles focusing the following range set of topics, not excluding other suitable ones:

• Citizens’ participation in the local/community media
• Economic models and audiences
• Journalism and audiences
• Community representations in local/community media
• Heritage/historical preservation
• Memory and local media
• Politics in a local/community media framework
• Rural ramifications of local media
• Hyperlocal media
• Local/community audiences and social networks.

Important dates:

• Start submission: May 1, 2020
• Manuscript Due: October 31, 2020
• Double blind reviewing process: from November 1, 2020 to December 30, 2020
• Authors’ notification towards decision: January 1, 2021
• Authors’ final versions: until February 28, 2020
• Editor’s final checks: from March 2021 to April 2021
• Publication: May 2021

Submissions: To submit your manuscripts, go to https://www.editorialpark.com/ojcmt and select special issue "Discussing local and community media: positive experiences and impacts on societies".

About the journal:

The Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT) is an international open access journal, rigorously peer-reviewed journal in the field of Communication and its related fields. OJCMT is interested in research not only on Theory and Practice of Communication and Media Studies but also new trends and developments, Communication in Education, Visual Communication and Design, Integrated Marketing Communication and Advertising.

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies is listed by the following indexes/databases/directories/libraries.

• Web of Science - Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate)
• Database for statistikk om høgre utdanning (DBH)
• Google Scholar
• International Association for Media and Communication Research - IAMCR
• ROAD

Full call for papers: https://www.ojcmt.net/home/special-issues

Author Guidelines: https://www.ojcmt.net/home/author-guidelines