Call for papers: International perspectives on community journalism

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
Special, joint issue call for papers: Community Journalism and Grassroots Editor

Submission deadline: September 2, 2014 (extended abstracts);
December 15, 2014 (full manuscript); March 2015 (publication)
Guest editor: John Hatcher of the University of Minnesota Duluth
Overview: This special, joint issue, titled “International Perspectives on Community Journalism,” will attempt to unite top scholars in the field of community journalism in an exploration of this growing and exciting area of research. This issue also will solicit articles from leading community journalists from across the globe who will offer their own analyses of the state of community journalism.

·      Grassroots Editor, the journal of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, was first published in January of 1960.

·      Community Journalism, first published in 2012, is the online, peer-reviewed journal based at Texas Christian University that is the official journal of the Community Journalism Interest Group (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication).

Peer-reviewed articles: This special issue will explore the nature of community journalism on a global scale. We seek mostly empirical work, though we welcome methodologies of all types (including well-reasoned theoretical pieces). We invite manuscripts that discuss community journalism at both the country level and in comparative, multi-country analyses.

Essays from the field: Community journalists who are members of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors are encouraged to submit pieces that offer a perspective on community journalism in their country. Ideally, these pieces will include some original reporting and look beyond the case of one newspaper or news organization.

For both peer-reviewed articles and essays from professionals, articles that broach the following kinds of topics are encouraged:

·      Does the concept of community journalism have the same meaning regardless of the cultural setting?

·      What role does community journalism play in providing a voice to communities historically overlooked by larger publications?

·      Does print journalism remain a vital medium in some countries and for some communities? Why/why not?

·      What is the historical context that defines community journalism in a given country?

Submission instructions/deadlines: Peer-reviewed articles should be no more than 8,000 words in length, excluding references etc. Please submit an extended abstract (750 words or less) and 2-3 suggested reviewers no later than September 2, 2014, to jhatcher@d.umn.edu. Abstracts should outline the proposed research and give a sense of the theoretical approach, method and timeline for completion. Full manuscripts are due December 15, 2014 (also to jhatcher@d.umn.edu), when they will be peer-reviewed and considered for acceptance by members of the editorial board of Community Journalism. The scheduled date of publication is March 2015. The journal will be available online and will be printed thanks to the support of ISWNE. Please contact John Hatcher at jhatcher@d.umn.edu with questions. Manuscripts should conform to the guidelines for Community Journalism (http://journal.community-journalism.net/content/call-papers).