מסגרות מדיה: קול קורא למאמרים לגיליון מיוחד בנושא “קיטוב פוליטי ותקשורת בישראל: דינמיקות, מנגנונים והשלכות””

Media Frames – Israeli Journal of Communication

Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Political Polarization and Media in Israel: Dynamis, Mechanisms and Implications

Background

Israeli society has been grappling in recent years with escalating levels of political, social, and identity-based polarization. These processes manifest in public attitudes toward state institutions, in the media landscape, and in the political system, as well as in relations between groups.

The media system — both traditional and digital — plays a central role in shaping, reflecting, and at times deepening polarization. Coverage patterns, framing, social media algorithms, group-specific media environments, and processes of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation all influence public perceptions, political identity, and willingness to engage in political action (or to abstain from it).

Media outlets, in turn, respond to political and social processes through the ways in which they produce content. An increasing number of news outlets have adopted explicit political orientations, functioning as ideological amplifiers and polarizers — a phenomenon that challenges the traditional conception of journalism as an independent critical watchdog vis-à-vis those in power. At the same time, social media platforms have created a space in which numerous independent news sites operate, disseminating information to younger audiences while taking political stances that are at times undeclared. In this environment, questions also arise about the place of journalistic professionalism at a moment when the boundaries between journalism and propaganda are becoming increasingly blurred.

This special issue seeks to advance empirical and theoretical research examining the interrelationship between political polarization and media in Israel — across their psychological, social, institutional, and normative dimensions.

Possible Topics for Submission (Non-Exhaustive List):

• Ideological versus affective polarization in the Israeli media landscape
• Coverage patterns of protests and social movements and their effects on public attitudes
• Polarization in news coverage: bias metrics, partisan discourse, and comparative content analysis
• Social media, algorithms, and information ecosystems and echo chambers
• Disinformation, misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories
• Trust in institutions and media during periods of crisis (security, political, health)
• Public perceptions of different media outlets
• Intergroup communication and its implications for Jewish–Arab, religious–secular, and center–periphery relations
• Polarization and the relationships between media consumption, political participation, protest, or political apathy
• Cross-national comparisons with other democracies, and with democratic backsliding cases in particular
• Normative dimensions: freedom of expression, regulation, and journalistic ethics
• Selective exposure and the active audience: media consumption choices and their contribution to “bottom-up” polarization
• The erosion of the critical journalism model: between statism, institutional propaganda, and deference to power
• Independent news sites: shifting boundaries, hidden agendas, and their influence on young audiences’ political views

Types of Submissions

• Empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods)
• Experimental and survey-based research
• Content analyses and digital media analyses
• Theoretical papers and systematic literature reviews
• Comparative studies
• Big data studies

Researchers are welcome to email the special issue editors to discuss the suitability of their proposed submissions.

Please send an abstract of up to 300 words by email to the editors by April 24, 2026. The abstract should briefly describe the research topic and methodology. Authors whose abstracts are accepted will be invited to submit a full manuscript by September 1, 2026. All articles will undergo a standard blind peer-review process.

Issue Editors:

Prof. Doron Shultziner, Editor-in-Chief, Media Frames, doronsh@jmc.ac.il

Dr. Matan Aharoni, Special Issue Editor, Ariel University, matanaha@gmail.com