International Journal of Communication Publishes a Special Section on Unpacking Property: Media, Ownership, and Power in Transformation

How does who owns the media shape what we see, read, and believe?

Property is a cornerstone of modern capitalist societies, shaping the distribution of wealth, power, and access. Yet, in media and communication studies, it has long been overlooked as a subject in its own right. This Special Section on Unpacking Property: Media, Ownership, and Power in Transformation, guest edited by Sebastian Sevignani and Hendrik Theine, sets out to change that.

The Special Section explores how property in the media intersects with today’s social and economic shifts. It delves into transformations in media ownership, the implications for public interest, and how narratives around property and wealth are constructed and legitimized. Key topics include media concentration, feminist political economy, and the expanding dominance of global tech giants in the media landscape.

Through these lenses, the contributions offer fresh perspectives on pressing questions: How does media ownership shape journalistic content? What happens when Big Tech extends its grip to the media, influencing everything from the value chain to the working conditions of journalists? How do surveillance capitalists justify large-scale data dispossession? And can philanthropy-funded journalism provide a viable alternative to commercial media?

This Special Section broadens the scope of property research within communication studies, showing why it’s an essential lens for understanding media’s role in a rapidly changing world. The articles in this special section address crucial intersections—examining how gendered ownership structures link to authoritarian-populist politics and uncovering how the rich use media to construct and legitimize their wealth and property.

Contributors include: Sebastian Sevignani (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany), Hendrik Theine (Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; University of Pennsylvania, USA), Mandy Tröger and Nils S. Borchers (University of Tübingen, Germany), Julia Bartsch (University of Leipzig, Germany), Marlene Radl and Birgit Sauer (University of Vienna, Austria), Burçe Çelik (Loughborough University London, UK), Mojca Pajnik (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Louisa Lincoln (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Stefan Wallaschek (Europa University Flensburg, Germany), and Nora Waitkus (London School of Economics, UK).

We invite you to read these articles that published in the International Journal of Communication on January 27, 2025. Please log into ijoc.org to read the papers of interest. We look forward to your feedback!  

____________________________________________________________________________________

Media Property: New Explorations in Media and Communication Studies—Introduction
Sebastian Sevignani, Hendrik Theine

Toward Media Environment Capture: A Theoretical Contribution on the Influence of Big Tech on News Media
Sebastian Sevignani, Hendrik Theine, Mandy Tröger

The Internet of Things Presents: A Case Study on Ensuring Legitimacy for Building Data Supply Routes in Surveillance Capitalism
Nils S. Borchers

Structural Masculinism and Women’s Media Ownership in the Context of Authoritarian Populism: A Feminist Political Economy of Communication Perspective
Marlene Radl, Burçe Çelik, Mojca Pajnik, Birgit Sauer 

Does Media Ownership Matter for Journalistic Content? A Systematic Scoping Review of Empirical Studies
Hendrik Theine, Julia Bartsch, Mandy Tröger

Examining the Journalism Philanthropy Model: A Literature Review
Louisa Lincoln

The Past, the Present, the Future: Self-Portrayals of Wealthy Business Owners in the Media
Stefan Wallaschek, Nora Waitkus 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Silvio Waisbord, Editor 
Kady Bell-Garcia, Managing Editor
Chi Zhang, Managing Editor, Special Sections
Sebastian Sevignani, Hendrik Theine, Guest Editors

Please note that according to the latest Google Scholar statistics, IJoC ranks 7th among all Humanities journals and 9th among all Communications journals in the world — demonstrating the viability of open access scholarly publication at the highest level.