Publications

Democracy and Media in Europe

A Discursive-Material Approach

Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach is a theoretical reflection on the intersection of democracy and media, through a constructionist lens.

https://bit.ly/DemoMediaEurope


Working papers


Deliverables




Media texts and blog posts

Komunitní média v Česku chybí, sociální sítě je nenahrazují

by Kateřina Straková (with Nico Carpentier)


The State of Community Media in the Czech Republic

by Karolína Šimková


Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act: Good in theory, but in practice?

by Jeffrey Wimmer


Premature conclusions? What (we think) we know about European democracy and media

by Kirill Filimonov


Videos and podcasts

De Facto Podcast with Nico Carpentier

In this episode of the De Facto Podcast, Alice Němcová Tejkalová talks with Nico Carpentier from the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism about the recently published book Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach.


MeDeMAP Podcast – Nico Carpentier

In this episode of the MeDeMAP Podcast, host Ana Oliveira speaks with Nico Carpentier, an extraordinary professor at Charles University and leader of Work Package Two, on theoretical embedding. They discuss the importance of theory in understanding media and democracy, emphasising the fluidity of these concepts, the struggles they entail, and their interconnectedness. Nico highlights how theory can make hidden societal processes visible, explores the evolving relationship between media and democracy in Europe, and reflects on the implications for research and practice within the MeDeMAP project.


MeDeMAP Podcast — Nico Carpentier

In this episode of the MeDeMAP Podcast, host Ana Oliveira speaks with Nico Carpentier, an extraordinary professor at Charles University and leader of Work Package Two, on theoretical embedding. They discuss the importance of theory in understanding media and democracy, emphasising the fluidity of these concepts, the struggles they entail, and their interconnectedness. Nico highlights how theory can make hidden societal processes visible, explores the evolving relationship between media and democracy in Europe, and reflects on the implications for research and practice within the MeDeMAP project.


Conference presentations

ŠIMKOVÁ, KAROLÍNA; WIMMER, JEFFREY (2025) “A horde of elephants in the room: Perceived threats to Czech media landscape”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


DOUDAKI, VAIA (2025) “Techno-pessimistic and techno-optimistic visions of surveillance and resistance in Europe”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


CARPENTIER, NICO; MICONI, ANDREA (2025) “Imaginings of the Future of Conflict and Communication Technologies: From Armed to Democratic Conflict”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


HROCH, MILOS (2025) “Futures of algorithms and choices: Structuration of algorithmic imaginaries and digital platforms in Europe”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


DOUDAKI, VAIA; CARPENTIER, NICO (2025) “Conditions of possibility for democratic media in Europe”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


CARPENTIER, NICO (2025) “Political struggles over media’s democratic roles: A discursive-material approach”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


WIMMER, JEFFREY (2025) “Decentralisation, disclosure and collectiveness: Discursive-material characteristics of Mastodon as a current example of a counter-hegemonic platform”, ReMeD Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (10-11 February 2025).


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “Imaginings of the Future of Conflict and Communication, Technologies: A Map of Six Anxiety- and Hope-Driven Scenarios”, ECREA Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia (24-27 September 2024).


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “PARifying Citizen Parliaments –The Reconciliation of Two Participatory Models”, Mapping Media for Future Democracies – MeDeMap, Fourth Plenary Meeting, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (18 – 20 September 2024).


HROCH, MILOŠ (2024) “Czech Citizen Parliament Participant Recruitment Strategies”, Mapping Media for Future Democracies – MeDeMap, Fourth Plenary Meeting, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (18 – 20 September 2024).


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “Democratic Hybridities: A Model to Emphasize Struggles of Democracy and Media”, Mapping Media for Future Democracies – MeDeMap, Fourth Plenary Meeting, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (18 – 20 September 2024).


DOUDAKI, VAIA (2024) “Conditions of possibility for democratic media”, Mapping Media for Future Democracies – MeDeMap, Fourth Plenary Meeting, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (18 – 20 September 2024).


WIMMER, JEFFREY (2024) “Countering the threat of the colonization of the public sphere: The case of Mastodon as a set of small-scale counter-hegemonic discursive and material practices”, Mapping Media for Future Democracies – MeDeMap, Fourth Plenary Meeting, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (18 – 20 September 2024).


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “Democratic hybridities: A Model to Emphasize Struggles of Democracy and Media”, 7th Conference on Communication, Culture and Media Studies (CCCMS), Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (28 – 29 August 2024), invited keynote.


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “Imaginings of the Future of Conflict and Communication Technologies: From Armed to Democratic Conflict”, IAMCR conference, Christchurch, New Zealand (30 June – 4 July 2024).


DOUDAKI, VAIA (2024) “Imagining futures of un/democratic surveillance and resistance in Europe through collaborative scenario building”,  IAMCR conference, Christchurch, New Zealand (30 June – 4 July 2024)


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “The Struggle over Participation: How to Rescue Participation from the Online Media Practices and Critiques”, Communication as Co-Creation IAMCR preconference, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia (27 June 2024), invited keynote.


CARPENTIER, NICO (2024) “The Contingency of Media’s Democratic Roles: A Discursive-Material Perspective”, ICA conference, Gold Coast, Australia (20-24 June 2024).


Panels and debates

10th MCAP-BNU International Media Conference 2025
TTIS-VII- Global Approaches to Media and Democracy

Discussion centred on the book Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach by Nico Carpentier and Jeffrey Wimmer.


Book Seminar
“Democracy and the media at a crossroads: what are the goals, and who is in charge?”

05 February 2025

Nico Carpentier (Charles University) with Mari-Liis Jakobson (Tallinn University, Associate Professor of Political Sociology), Piret Ehin (University of Tartu, Professor of Comparative Politics). Chaired by Andres Jõesaar (Tallinn University, Associate Professor of Media Policy).

Archive: PDF


IMWK Research Talk
“Democracy and media in Europe”

31 January 2025 @ 10am

Nico Carpentier (Charles University), Anne Grüne (Uni Erfurt), Tanja Thomas (Uni Tübingen) and Jeffrey Wimmer will discuss the new book, Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach, by Nico Carpentier and Jeffrey Wimmer.

Archive: https://archive.ph/Up0Xt


Webinar on Democracy and Media
IAMCR Webinar Series
Democracy and media: Reflections from around the world. A roundtable discussion

In this webinar, four communication and media studies scholars will reflect on the intersection of democracy and media using the recently published book “Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach”(*), authored by Nico Carpentier and Jeffrey Wimmer, as a source of inspiration. https://iamcr.org/webinars/democracy-media