- Call for papers -
Ordinary Citizens in the News
ICA 2017 Preconference, 25 May 2017
Co-sponsored by the Political Communication Division
Christina Peter & Thomas Zerback
Over the past decades, scholars have observed a rise of ordinary citizens as actors in everyday
news coverage: Common people state their opinions on political issues, or their personal story is
told in order to exemplify a social problem. This trend is caused by several developments, such as
personalization and the increasing importance of social media, and it has far reaching
consequences for the audiences as well as political actors. But although the representation of
common people surely is one of media’s central democratic functions, the depiction of ordinary
citizens has often been criticized due to their one-sided selection, e.g. as opportune witnesses. In
addition, with political developments such as the rise of populism, political actors strategically
refer to “the people” to legitimize their actions and to gain public support.
Research on ordinary citizens as part of media coverage has traditionally been conducted in the
realm of media effects. Surprisingly, there have been comparatively few studies on how common
such depictions are in the media and which forms they take (e.g. social media comments, polls,
exemplars). Moreover, the different strands of research have seldom been linked to each other,
for example exemplification and personalization. In addition, scholars often investigate the direct
effects of citizen depictions on perceived public opinion, personal opinion, and behavior without
examining the underlying causal processes (e.g. the role of perceptual phenomena).
The aim of the preconference is to shed light on the role of citizens in the media from an
integrative perspective and to gain greater insight in the selection, perception, and effects of
citizen depiction in news coverage. Therefore, we encourage submissions relating to the following
areas:

Normative and ethical considerations as well as implications of citizen representations, e.g.,
diversity / equality of citizen voices, possibilities for citizens to express their opinions, use of
online user comments without permission

Journalistic selection of ordinary citizens as actors in the news, e.g., news value of citizens,
selection processes, opportune witnesses

Presentation of ordinary citizens as actors in the news, e.g., episodic framing, roles and
functions of citizens in the news (e.g. as exemplars, opportune witnesses, vox pops, polls,
popularity indicators), personalization of news, role of social media comments in the news

Strategic use of ordinary citizens by political and non-political actors, e.g. by populist actors

Effects of ordinary citizen presentations on recipients and political actors, e.g. on attitudes,
perceptions of social reality, and behavior respectively political decision making
Submissions: Extended Abstracts (max. 1200 words plus references) should be sent to Christina
Peter ([email protected]). The deadline for submission is 30 November 2016. Notification of
acceptance will be sent to authors before 15 January 2016.
The preconference will take place on 25 May 2017 (9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.) in the ICA conference hotel
(Hilton San Diego Bayfront). The conference fee will be $50.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organizers Christina Peter
([email protected]) and Thomas Zerback ([email protected]).