Call for chapters: Edited volume Media and the War in Ukraine

In many ways, the war in Ukraine represents a turning point in history. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has upset world international relations and shattered the foundation of security in Europe. The war is likely to have far-reaching economic and environmental consequences. Most importantly, it is a rapidly evolving humanitarian emergency with a massive scale of death, destruction and displacement.

This edited volume (Global Crises and Media Series, Peter Lang) examines the numerous ways in which the media are involved in and shape the war in Ukraine. The war represents the complex relationship between contemporary conflict and the expanding mesh of media—from mainstream broadcasting and press to political communication in street protests and the latest digital technologies and their creative uses. The internet is flooded with news, viral messages and disinformation campaigns. At the same time, social media platforms are playing an unprecedented role in the war by restricting access to Russian state-run media and scaling up fact-checking efforts. This edited volume aims to deepen understanding of the dynamic intersections of war and media by focusing on the continuities and changes in the media platforms, practices and meanings of war in the current post-digital era.

I invite you to submit abstract proposals for theoretical and empirical chapters that address different facets of the communication war in and surrounding Ukraine. Subjects include, but are not limited to, the responses of (inter)national TV/radio and press, the responses/uses of various audiences, the accountability of social media platforms, propaganda and disinformation campaigns, fact-checking, censorship and the politics of internet shutdown, global (h)acktivism, and memes and other vernacular expressions of war.

Are you working on or thinking about the relationship between the media and war in Ukraine? Please submit abstract proposals of approximately 400 words (tomervi.pantti /at/ helsinki.fi) by 15 April 2022. The authors will be notified by 15 May 2022. The deadline for the final chapters (6000–7000 words) is at the end of 2022. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mervi Pantti, Editor
University of Helsinki