The Loneliest Person at the Conference
This year’s ECREA conference is over. If you are a senior scholar, how many young researchers did you approach, include, or introduce to someone new? If you see someone standing alone, cross the room and start a conversation. It may take only a minute, but they might remember it for the rest of their career.
“You Are Also Part of Baking the Cake” – Understanding the Machines that Shape Our News
Algorithms increasingly influence which news stories reach us, what information we encounter, and ultimately how we see the world. But how much do we really understand about the systems making those choices? Jannie Møller Hartley has spent years researching algorithms from inside news organisations. In this interview, she talks about entering the world of machines, why algorithms are less mysterious than we might think – and why we should all pay more attention to them.
Review of PhD Dissertation: Infrastructuring Counterpublics: Digital Engagement and Distributed Attention in Russian Anti-War Movements
Svetlana Chuikina's Infrastructuring Counterpublics: Digital Engagement and Distributed Attention in Russian Anti-War Movements arrives at a moment when its object of study is being made and unmade in real time. The people Chuikina studies — Russians who oppose the war and try to keep that opposition alive — are doing so under conditions that shift month by month: a platform blocked, a VPN removed, an organiser detained, a border crossed. A dissertation written about such a moving target risks being overtaken by events before it is printed. This one is not, because Chuikina has understood that the durable object of her study is not any particular protest or platform, but the process by which dissent is built out of available media infrastructures, writes Tiziano Bonini from the University of Siena.
When the Scam Knows Your Work: AI Takes Academic Fraud to a New Level
Generative AI has taken scam emails targeting academics to a new level. Scammers can now be more personal, more creative, and much more convincing. The poorly written messages that once immediately raised suspicion are giving way to carefully crafted emails that seem to know who you are, what you research, and what might stroke your ego.
“We See It Everywhere” – Manuel Menke on the Growing Importance of the Past
Why are politicians, social media users, and even AI systems increasingly turning to the past? According to Associate Professor Manuel Menke, the answer may lie in a present marked by rapid change, uncertainty, and growing concerns about the future.
Celebrate 3 May Next Year on an Island in the Baltic Sea
At a time when journalism is said to be facing an epistemic crisis, the Baltic Sea islands tell a different story. On Åland, Gotland, Bornholm, and Saaremaa, local newsrooms still verify their information and connect to and sustain public life. Besides being a source of information, their journalism is also part of the islands’ shared identity – and a reminder that a free press is something worth celebrating, write Carl‑Gustav Lindén, Andreas Mattsson, and Signe Ivask-Mackových.
When AI Is Not Cheating – But Changes What Learning Is
Generative AI is not merely a tool that can be regulated from the outside. It is a technology that changes the very conditions for learning. Therefore, the education system must experiment. If students are to be able to navigate a world in which knowledge can be generated automatically, it is essential that they develop the ability to evaluate, make choices, and take responsibility, argues Jesper Tække of Aarhus University.
Rethinking Extremism in the Nordic Digital Landscape
The latest special issue of Nordicom Review examines the changing nature of extremism in the Nordic countries, with particular attention to social media, hybrid modes of engagement, and the challenges of defining extremism in digital environments.
How Digital Media Are Changing Our Democratic Societies
A new edited volume explores how platformisation, social media, and digital infrastructures are reshaping democratic societies, raising questions about power, responsibility, and what it means to be an informed citizen.
Maintaining Distance: Tobias Lindberg on the Arm’s Length Principle in Nordic Media Subsidies
Across the Nordic countries, public subsidies play an important role in sustaining news media. But how can governments support journalism financially while maintaining a clear distance from editorial decision-making? These questions are at the centre of new Nordicom report written by media researcher Tobias Lindberg, which examines how the arm's length principle is implemented in Nordic media subsidy systems.
How Should Media Literacy Be Taught in Special Education? Insights on Citizenship from an Ongoing Project
How could individuals with cognitive disabilities engage with media not only as tools for support, but also as content to be understood, interpreted, and critically reflected upon? To date, research has largely focused on how digital technologies can assist in everyday life. Ulrica Brolinson’s PhD project seeks to shift this perspective by foregrounding citizenship.
Review of a PhD Dissertation: Media Technologies and Migrants in Swedish Detention Centers
Miriana Cascone’s PhD dissertation, "Detain(ed): Media Technologies and Migrants in Swedish Detention Centers", is highly timely. In the winter of 2026, deportations have become public spectacles in the US, while pressure to expel non-citizens is rising across Europe. The EU’s Migration Pact, due in June 2026, will expand deportations to so-called safe third countries. "Detain(ed)" examines this political moment through Sweden – once seen as among Europe’s most welcoming countries – writes Karina Horsti.
New Global Report on Freedom of Expression to Be Presented – Follow via Livestream on 19 March
Press freedom around the world continues to decline. A new UNESCO report on global trends in freedom of expression and media development shows that levels of freedom of expression have fallen by 10 per cent since 2012. The report will be presented in Stockholm on 19 March and can be followed via livestream.
Doctoral Research 2025: What Did the New Nordic Doctors Study?
Algorithmic bias, social media and mental health, climate communication, newsroom innovation, and the role of AI and automated fact-checking in journalism were among the topics explored in doctoral theses defended at Nordic universities in 2025. In total, 103 researchers earned their PhDs across the region. Congratulations to all! You can see the full list, with links to the dissertations, in this article.
A Shifting Landscape for Nordic News Media
A new Nordicom report brings together fragmented knowledge on the role of journalism and news media in the Nordic countries, offering a rare comparative overview at a time when global platforms increasingly shape national media systems.
Who Gets to Speak in the News? Reflections from a Nordic Summit on Gender Equality in Journalism
Thirty years after the Beijing Platform for Action, the Nordic summit “Who Makes the News?” revisits gender equality in news media, drawing on GMMP 2025 data to examine progress, stagnation, and the media’s responsibility for more inclusive representation.
Should Scientists Optimize Research Outcomes for AI?
Tools built on large language models often use many words to say very little. We should be concerned that what truly means something risks being lost in a cloud of AI-generated filler, argues Professor Marija Slavkovik from the University of Bergen, Norway.
Who Owns the Media? Nordic Insights from Europe’s EurOMo Mapping Tool
The European Media Ownership Monitor (EurOMo) 2025 offers a new, EU-wide overview of ownership and control in the news media sector. In Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, the mapping points to relatively high transparency compared with the EU average, while also highlighting concentrated ownership structures and emerging structural risks.
Can, May, Might Media Scholars Be Utopic Activists? A Manifesto from Danish Researchers
At a national workshop, Danish scholars asked what media researchers could do differently and better, searching for cracks and gaps. Their conversations gave rise to a manifesto, published last year in MedieKultur. In the hope of sparking debate, and above all encouraging action, the NordMedia Network republishes its seven statements for the year ahead and those that follow.
Wiley Releases Comprehensive AI Guidelines after Global Survey Findings
A global survey of researchers, conducted by Wiley, reveals a striking momentum of AI adoption among researchers. Along with this increased use comes calls for clear guidelines to assist researchers in using AI responsibly. Wiley has responded to the calls with comprehensive guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers, and has introduced a “chat” series in order to discuss issues surrounding AI and research with experts.
