ESSACHESS Special MeDeMAP Issue
The Special MeDeMAP issue of ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies has been published and is available in open access. CULCORC members, Karolína Šimková and Jeffrey Wimmer, contributed to this issue with their article titled: “Assemblages of Trust: A Discursive-Material Analysis of Czech Citizens’ Perceptions of Media and Democracy“.
Based on the European MeDeMAP project, the studies presented within this issue highlight how citizens perceive both material threats (media ownership concentration, political and economic pressures) and discursive challenges (loss of trust, misinformation, and polarization) affecting democratic communication. Despite significant national differences, European citizens share expectations for more independent, transparent, and participatory media systems. The findings also emphasize citizens’ potential agency as active actors in democratic communication through media literacy, civic engagement, and collaborative knowledge production.