2010: Volume 3, Issue 1 -- International Perspectives on Network Neutrality

2010: Volume 3, Issue 2 -- Propaganda, Ethics, and Media

The idea of “network neutrality” has become one of the most prominent policy concerns for lawmakers, telecommunications industries, media reformers, and communication scholars. In short, neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers should afford equal interconnection among content providers and users of the network, so that those who control access to the network do not censor lawful content or enact discriminatory routing of content. The outcome of this debate has significant implications for the participatory-democratic nature of the Internet, the free flow of information and speech, user’s privacy rights, Internet governance, efficacy of independent media, and political participation, as well the continued vitality of libraries and educational systems. Given these stakes, network neutrality may well be the telecommunication policy issue of the 21st Century.

In North America, battles over network neutrality have already emerged in Canada and the United States. While mobilization for network neutrality has been slower in Canada than in the United States, in the last year alone activism has taken many forms, including online and offline actions and politicizing a range of citizens and policy-makers. Canada’s media regulator, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has issued a call for network neutrality and is holding a public hearing on issues related to traffic management in July 2009. Proponents of network neutrality in the United States scored their biggest victory to date when President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which included language supporting neutrality principles as part its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Nevertheless, any subsequent legislation seeking comprehensive enforcement of network neutrality will surely face intense opposition.

This issue will spotlight international perspectives on network neutrality that encompass such themes as empire, network economics, technological innovation, telecommunication regulation and corporate control. Any analytical approach is welcome, including comparative studies, telecommunication policy analysis, media studies, ethical examination, political economic critique, as well as others. Potential topics could include, but are not limited to the following:

• public awareness and activism about net neutrality
• ethical perspectives on network neutrality
• neutrality as a telecommunication policy norm
• network neutrality and Internet governance
• the relationship of network neutrality to other areas of communication law
• consumer disenfranchisement/power without network neutrality
• media ownership and network neutrality
• industry trends that may undermine, or support neutrality
• technologies that may undermine or support network neutrality
• examination of the relationships between competing broadband networks
• media discourses on network neutrality
• network neutrality and impact on library and education sector
• network neutrality and impact on independent media sector

The Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition (http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/) welcomes high-quality, original submissions on related topics to the above theme. Submissions are expected to develop communication and media theories, report empirical and analytical research, present critical discourses, apply theories to case studies, and set out innovative research methodologies. The Journal is bilingual (English and French) open-access online academic refereed publication that aims to advance research and understanding of communication and media in Canada and around the globe.

Deadline: March 15th, 2010

Submissions: Papers (5,000 to 7,500 words), review articles of more than one book (2,500 to 3,000 words), and book reviews (1,000 to 1,200 words).

Method: All manuscripts must be submitted electronically as Word Document attachments, directly to Dr. Jeffrey Layne Blevins (blevins@iastate.edu) or Dr. Leslie Regan Shade (lshade@alcor.concordia.ca).

Guidelines: Available at: http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/for-authors_e.html

Decision: April 30th, 2010

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A key distinction between ordinary persuasion and propaganda would be the hiding of sources or other key information that would hinder a target audience’s ability to assess the truth of the messages disseminated, including impressions formed by imagery. Following theoretical and practical approaches, potential submissions to this issue could include, but are not limited to the following topics:

• Leaks from anonymous sources, protecting a government department’s reputation or furthering its goals in some other way.
• Influence by ownership, advertisers or other key people to further special interests without the connection being revealed.
• Systematic bias regarding selection of images of political or other figures, or experts chosen for talk show panels.
• Biases in determining a newsworthiness agenda.
• The propaganda of non-coverage of events.
• Fake credentials for creating belief-worthiness of false or tendentious stories.
• Video News Releases under the guise of genuine journalistic productions.
• Staged press conferences where party-faithful plant questions and are called on to save a leader in difficulty.

Other submissions of interest would be those examining the difficulties and responsibilities of conveying pertinent information from an area of conflict to people, often in distant areas, whose judgment could end or continue that conflict. Discussions of the kinds of pressures encountered and possible methods of dealing with them could serve as suitable subjects for examination. Finally, submissions focusing on recent prominent cases could include problems of controlling propaganda through law and public opinion; such as, hate propaganda and stereotyping through the CRTC or the FCC, press councils or advertising authorities, or human rights commissions or the Criminal Code.

The Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition (http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/) welcomes high-quality, original submissions on related topics to the above theme. Submissions are expected to develop communication and media theories, report empirical and analytical research, present critical discourses, apply theories to case studies, and set out innovative research methodologies. The Journal is bilingual (English and French) open-access online academic refereed publication that aims to advance research and understanding of communication and media in Canada and around the globe.

Deadline: September 15th, 2010

Submissions: Papers (5,000 to 7,500 words), review articles of more than one book (2,500 to 3,000 words), and book reviews (1,000 to 1,200 words).

Method: All manuscripts must be submitted electronically as Word Document attachments, directly to Dr. Randal Marlin (marlin@ncf.ca).

Guidelines: Available at: http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/for-authors_e.html

Decision: October 30th, 2010

Publication: December 15th, 2010