Representations of Journalistic Practices in Anglophone Literature, Film and Other Media

deadline for submissions: 
March 31, 2025
full name / name of organization: 
ANGLICA: An International Journal of English Studies_Thematic Issue 2026
contact email: 

Call for Papers

ANGLICA: An International Journal of English Studies

Thematic Issue 2026

 

Representations of Journalistic Practices

 in Anglophone Literature, Film and Other Media

 

Guest Editors: Beatriz Valverde (Universidad de Jaén) and Barbara Korte (Universität Freiburg)

 

Journalists and the practices of their profession have been the object of cultural scrutiny and fascination since the nineteenth century, when the news industry developed into a mass communication system. Novels, films and television series about the ethics and intricacies of news communication have been released in great numbers, but such representations of journalistic practice are rarely discussed in academic studies and invite further attention.

Journalism studies have discussed journalism with respect to historical change and systemic questions such as media-specific conditions or the interrelationship of different agencies and agents in journalistic communication: political powers, powers of the information markets, media owners, editors, individual journalists and, not least, audiences/recipients. Much attention has also been dedicated to the journalist’s role vis-à-vis society and politics, their power to influence public opinion, and measures that control or suppress journalistic activity. This is often linked to questions of professional and individual ethics (commitment to ‘truth’ and morals) and its opposite, unethical behaviour when journalists act in their own interest or are partisan to a doubtful cause (see Stephen Ward, The Invention of Journalism Ethics, 2015). Journalists have lost their freedom and their life for their endeavour to bring the truth to light, but they have also been involved in major scandals such as that around the now defunct News of The World in the UK.

Apart from journalism-specific theory, the discussion of journalists and journalism invites larger framings in terms of gender studies, trauma studies and sociology: What challenges have female journalists faced in the history of the profession? What psychological impact does the reporting of injustice, crime and atrocities have on the individual journalist? To what extent are journalists “social figures” (Schlechtriemen) that not only address but also indicate urgent issues of their time? Certainly, the figure of the journalist has received renewed cultural and social significance considering the current crisis of democracy and rise of authoritarian regimes, growing distrust of the media (in connection with such phenomena as fake news, pseudoscience, populism) but also the need for reliable journalism in times of mis- and disinformation and the change effected by digital media in the information field.

Fictional(ized) representations of journalists and journalism engage with these aspects, but fiction is not a mirror of real-life practices. Fictions provide a level for observing journalism and assessing its social relevance; fictions can raise awareness among their readers or viewers of the importance of ethical journalism and the role media play in the self-understanding of modern cultures. At the same time, fictions project images according to the interests, structures of feeling and values of their time as well as existing cultural conceptions of journalists and journalism. They create representations that frame (in the Goffmanian sense) journalism in specific ways – from idealization to spectacularization to critique – and portray journalists as protagonists of heroic, villainous or tragic narratives to which audiences respond intellectually and affectively. Fictional representation is inevitably also shaped by the affordances of its medium and form (genre, conventions, narrative and visual techniques, meta-elements). Fictional representation often focuses on individual journalists and the way they – as human agents involved with body and mind, feelings and conscience – act as mediators and interpreters of events. Other agents and agencies in journalistic communication tend to be underrepresented. An important question, therefore, is what aspects of the journalism system, including audiences, are part of a representation, and which are not.

We invite contributions that examine how fictional representations across a range of media and genres negotiate the role(s) of, and challenges for, journalism in modern, postmodern and transmodern cultures. Contributions should pay attention to one or several of the aspects outlined above but are by no means limited to them. Contributions should be carefully contextualized and informed by theory both relating to the journalism portrayed, and the specific kind of representation.

Proposals of no more than 300 words should be submitted by 31 March 2025 to: bvalverd@ujaen.es and barbara.korte@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de. Please include your name, affiliation, ORCID, and contact information. Full articles should be submitted by 31 October 2025, and closely follow the ANGLICA stylesheet.

 

Timeline:

Proposals: 31 March 2025

Notifications of acceptance: 15 April 2025

Deadline for complete papers: 31 October 2025

 

CONTACT:

bvalverd@ujaen.es and barbara.korte@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de

 

 

ANGLICA: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES is an open-access, annual, peer-reviewed journal in literary, cultural, linguistic and translation studies published both in print and online under the auspices of the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland. The journal is indexed in SCOPUS, DOAJ, CEEOL, MLA, BazHum, EBSCO, MIAR, Index Copernicus, ERIHPLUS, Sherpa Romeo, and the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers.