Media and Politics

The Media and Politics Group (MPG) aims to act as a forum for discussion between a wide variety of academics with interests in the study of media policy, journalism, political communications, new information technologies and other topics.

The Group always contributes a stream of panels to the PSA annual conference, as well as running its own successful annual conference. The Media & Politics Group operates an open and inclusive policy, and empirical, theoretical, and practice-based research dealing with any aspect of media and politics is welcomed. This may include areas of political communication and journalism, but also includes a broader view of the political within such areas as online media, television, cinema and media arts, both factual and fictional.

You can request lifetime membership of the MPG through the PSA website. If you are a PSA Member, then membership of the MPG is free.

The Group convenors are Dr Jen Birks, Dr James Dennis, Dr Katy Parry, Dr Abi Rhodes, and Dr Ellen Watts.

Follow Updates from the Media and Politics Group

Newsletter: If you would like to join our mailing list, please email Katy Parry (k.j.parry@leeds.ac.uk).

If you have items for our newsletter, including announcements of publications, call for papers and contributions, and relevant job advertisements, please email Abi Rhodes (a.j.rhodes@bham.ac.uk).

Twitter: @psampg

YouTube: PSA Media and Politics Group

PSA MPG Annual Conference — October 26-27, 2023 — University of Portsmouth

The School of Film, Media and Communication at the University of Portsmouth will host the PSA Media & Politics Specialist Group Annual Conference in October 2023. This will be a hybrid event. The deadline for abstracts is Monday, 26 June 2023. The full Call for Papers can be accessed here.

PSA MPG Seminar Series

In 2021 we launched a virtual seminar series. These monthly meetings offer an informal, supportive, and friendly space for colleagues to share their work, network with others, or even just to come along and listen. Past seminars include:

09/06/2021: Dr Lone Sorensen’s (University of Leeds) in conversation with Dr Katy Parry, discussing her new book Populist Communication: Ideology, Performance, Mediation (Palgrave). Watch here.

14/07/2021: Dr Paul Reilly (University of Sheffield) in conversation with Dr Emily Harmer, discussing his new book Digital Contention in a Divided Society: Social Media, Parades and Protests in Northern Ireland (Manchester University Press). Watch here.

15/09/2021: Panel — Uses and Abuses of Information and Disinformation: Power, Politics and Media with Dr Emma Briant (Bard College) and Dr Natalie Martin (University of Nottingham). Watch here.

13/10/2021: Professor Darren Lilleker (Bournemouth University) in conversation with Dr James Dennis, discussing his paper co-authored with Anastasia Veneti (Bournemouth University) entitled Overcoming the Crises and Reversing the Crisis of Political Communication: Towards a More Three-Dimensional Model. Watch here.

17/11/2021: Dr Abi Rhodes (University of Nottingham) — Social Movements in Elections: UK Anti-Austerity and Environmental Campaigning 2015-19. Watch here.

12/01/2022: Professor Cristian Vaccari (Loughborough University) in conversation with Dr James Dennis, discussing his new book co-authored with Augusto Valeriani (University of Bologna) entitled Outside the Bubble: Social Media and Political Participation in Western Democracies (OUP). Watch here.

15/03/2022: Dr Emily Harmer (University of Liverpool) in conversation with Dr Katy Parry, discussing her new book entitled Women, Media, and Elections: Representation and Marginalization in British Politics (Bristol University Press). Watch here.

11/05/2022: Dr Bernadine Jones (University of Sterling) in conversation with Dr Emily Harmer, discussing her new book entitled Elections and TV News in South Africa: Desperately Seeking Depth (Palgrave). Watch here.

08/06/2022: Dr Nick Anstead (LSE) in conversation with Dr James Dennis, discussing his new book entitled What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Fake News? (SAGE). Watch here.

14/09/2022: Dr James Morrison (Robert Gordon University), discussing his new book entitled What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Fake News? (Pluto Press). Watch here.

14/12/2022: Dr Declan McDowell-Naylor (Surrey County Council) and Dr Nikki Soo (TikTok), discussing their career paths post-PhD. Book a ticket here.

13/02/2023: Caroline Leicht (University of Southampton) in conversation with Dr Emily Harmer, discussing “Nasty Women” and “Bad Hombres”: The Role of Gender in Candidate Representations in Political Satire. Watch here.

27/03/2023: Dr Natalie Jester (University of Gloucestershire) in conversation with Dr Katy Parry, discussing her new journal article entitled Making martial politics palatable: Constructing neoliberal feminist subjects in arms manufacturers’ social media feeds. Watch here.

16/05/2023: Dr Brendan Lawson (Loughborough University) in conversation with Dr Lone Sorensen, discussing his new book entitled The Life of a Number: Measurement, Meaning and the Media. Watch here.

14/11/2023: Dr Charlotte-Rose Kennedy (Birmingham City University) in conversation with Dr Abi Rhodes, discussing her research rooted in linguistics with a focus on protest coverage in the press. Watch here.

05/12/2023: Prof Stephen Coleman (University of Leeds) in conversation with Professor Katy Parry, discussing "What do we mean when we speak about political mood?". Watch here.

28/02/2024: Prof Stephen Cushion (Cardiff University) in conversation with Dr James Dennis, discussing his new book entitled Beyond Mainstream Media: Alternative Media and the Future of Journalism. Book a ticket here.

16/04/2024: Prof Florian Toepfl (University of Passau) in conversation with Dr Lone Sorensen, discussing "Entertainment Interspersed With Propaganda: How Non-News Accounts Deliver Explicitly Political Content to Mass Audiences on Russia’s Most Popular Social Network VKontakte" (co-authored with Julia Kling (University of Trier) and Professor Pascal Jürgens (University of Trier)). Book a ticket here.

We will announce our upcoming speakers in the Media and Politics Group newsletter. 

You can watch previous seminars on the PSA MPG YouTube channel.