Journal of Media Economics

Reinventing Media Economics for Turbulent Times: Confronting the Next Wave of Digital Disruption (Special Issue for World Media Economic and Management Conference 2025)

Call for Papers

Background

Media economics studies have widely reacted to transformational changes in media industries, analyzing their impact on consumers, media companies, organizations, business, as well as national and global economies. There is now a considerable body of published research examining the dynamic media landscape and industry activities through an economic lens, highlighting how they adapt to these evolving terms.

Regardless of geographical location, media industries continuously refine strategies and practices to adapt to the so-called the shift between the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions. More evidence and deeper understanding are needed regarding causes, drivers, and implications, including characteristic path dependencies that affect and may be affected by media consumers, with ramifications for future generations. As we deal with the multifaced uncertainties of today’s media environment, deeper understandings are especially needed to clarify a complex and turbulent context characterized by global crisis, climate change, military conflicts, misinformation and propaganda, cybercrime, AI, populism, an erosion of democratic values, perforations of media ethics and imbalances in the plurality of voices.

Media economics in turbulent times is a timely focus for the WMEMC2025 conference (www.wmemc2025.wdib.uw.edu.pl). The WMEMC community will investigate, discuss and develop insights on contemporary conditions and emerging challenges in the media environment for media industries and organizations, business and revenue, consumers and societies, platforms and technologies, regulations and policies, as well as other industries and national economies. By placing media economics (and management) research at the center of a troubled context, the conference invites critical interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary analytical perspectives on the influences and implications of pressing contemporary challenges that will reshape the future.

Focus and Objectives

This special issue closely aligned with the WMEMC 2025 topics, which center on examining, analyzing and developing insights to deepen our understandings of the rapid pace and complexity of change in media industries and their broad economic influences. The goal is to both advance theory in the field and support practical efforts to develop media across various key aspects of key interest.

Due to the Journal of Media Economics’ specialization, we aim to focus on economic contexts of confronting the next wave of digital disruption both in the media industries and media-society relations. We seek answers to questions of fundamental importance for understanding what and how media industries, organizations, and professionals need to economically and financially prepare for the future. Additionally, we aim to explore how both professional practice and media research and education must adapt to remain relevant and useful.

We want to underline that only WMEMC2025 participants’ papers will be considered for publication in this special issue.

The Purview of Research

We are keen to invite interdisciplinary and diverse approaches to answering questions about the effects of turbulence on economic aspects of media. We believe multidisciplinary and cross disciplinary exploration is crucial for fostering innovation in both theory and practice. We therefore invite paper proposals focusing on the following areas specifically, while remaining open to exploring other aspects as well:

1. Economic implications of turbulent times for companies, organizations and strategies within and across media industries, as well as related cultural, creative, communications, and other economic sectors.
2. Implications of technological developments in AI, AR/VR/MR, algorithms, data and metadata, platformization and networked organizations, smart zones and consequences for the media economy.
3. Changes in the profile of media users and audiences, in user expectations, and implications related to patterns across generations and how they impact media economy.
4. Challenges for interconnections between media ethics and media economics.
5. Projects and initiatives related to media economics that are pertinent to innovation in media industries in turbulent times.
6. Other questions and issues that challenge, extend and/or add to contemporary knowledge in the fields of media economics.

Calendar

September 1, 2024                      Submission system for the WMEMC2025 opens (a possibility to express an interest in submitting full paper for the special issue)

October 30, 2024                         Submission system for the conference closes

November 15, 2024                    Notifications of conference papers acceptance and reviews

December 1, 2024                       Registration and payment system opens (Early Bird, in Euro)

March 7, 2025                                   Early Bird closes (12:00, noon, London time)

March 8, 2025                                   Regular Bird (Euro)

April 15, 2025                                    Regular Bird closes (12:00, noon, London time)

April 16, 2025                                    Late Bird opens (Euro)

May 15, 2025                                      Late Bird closes (12:00, noon, London time)

May 20-23, 2025                             WMEMC

May 24, 2025                                      Post-WMEMC social activity

June 30, 2025                                    Submission system for the special issue opens (only for WMEMC2025 participants)

July 30, 2025                                      Submission system for the special issue closes

August-December, 2025       Reviews

January, 2026                                   Authors’ revisions

February, 2025                                Information about Acceptance or Rejection

June, 2025                                            Publication

If you have any questions, please contact the special issue coeditors:

• Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska (leading co-editor), ginalska@uw.edu.pl

Associate Professor in the Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, and the deputy director at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences (both at University of Warsaw, Poland). She is the WMEMC2025 Organizer and Local Host Representative. Her research focus on media management & economics and the impact of new technologies on media and audiences. She is the author of numerous papers, a member of the Boards/Councils in Journal of Media Business Studies, Styles of Communication, Revista Multidisciplinar, and JOCIS. She served as a Board member of the of the European Media Management Association. In 2023, she received the title of Polish Congresses Ambassador.

• Bjørn von Rimscha, b.vonrimscha@uni-mainz.de

Professor of media business and vice dean at the faculty of social science at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany. His research interest is in structural, organizational and individual drivers of (entertainment-)media production and advertising. He is (co-)editor of two handbook in the context of media economics and management as well as associate editor of the Journal of Media Business. Her served on the board of the European Media Management Association (emma) and as Secretary of the former World Media Economics Conference.

• Miao Guo, Associate Professor, guo@uconn.edu

Associate Professor in the Digital Media & Design Department at the University of Connecticut, USA. Her research interests include audience behavior analysis, data analytics, communication technologies, media economics and management. She has published in many prestigious international journals. She received the BEAs Research Grant Awards and AEJMC’s Emerging Scholar Award. She is a Faculty Fellow of the National Association of Television Program Executives, International Radio and Television Society, and AEJMC’s Institute for Diverse Leadership. She has held leadership positions in associations including the BEA and AEJMC.